SeaweedFS
Distributed file system supporting WebDAV, S3 API, FUSE mount, HDFS, etc, optimized for lots of small files, and easy to add capacity.
Best self-hosted File Transfer - Object Storage & File Servers software in 2026
Object storage is a computer data storage that manages data as objects, as opposed to other storage architectures like file systems which manages data as a file hierarchy, and block storage which manages data as blocks within sectors and tracks.
We track 8 open-source, self-hosted File Transfer - Object Storage & File Servers apps. 8 of them had commits in the last 90 days, 7 can run with Docker, and the most common licenses are Apache-2.0 (4), AGPL-3.0 (2), MIT (2). The most-used languages are Go, Nodejs, Rust. Below are the top picks by GitHub stars, followed by every app ranked by stars weighted by maintenance health.
Top 5 by GitHub stars
| # | App | Stars | Health | Last activity | License | Language | Docker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SeaweedFS | 36.1k | Active | 2026-11-10 | Apache-2.0 | Go | – |
| 2 | Harbor | 29.7k | Active | 2026-11-10 | Apache-2.0 | Docker, K8S | ✓ |
| 3 | sftpgo Community Edition | 12.8k | Active | 2026-11-09 | AGPL-3.0, ⊘ Proprietary | Go, deb | ✓ |
| 4 | ZOT OCI Registry | 3k | Active | 2026-11-09 | Apache-2.0 | Go, Docker | ✓ |
| 5 | Zenko CloudServer | 2k | Active | 2026-11-09 | Apache-2.0 | Docker, Nodejs | ✓ |
- SeaweedFS — Distributed file system supporting WebDAV, S3 API, FUSE mount, HDFS, etc, optimized for lots of small files, and easy to add capacity.
- Harbor — Cloud native image registry that stores, signs, and scans content.
- sftpgo Community Edition — Flexible, fully featured and highly configurable SFTP server with optional FTP/S and WebDAV support.
- ZOT OCI Registry — Production-ready vendor-neutral OCI-native container image registry.
- Zenko CloudServer — Implementation of the Amazon S3 protocol on the front-end and backend storage capabilities to multiple clouds, including Azure and Google.
Head-to-head comparisons
Harbor vs SeaweedFSSeaweedFS vs sftpgo Community EditionHarbor vs sftpgo Community EditionSeaweedFS vs ZOT OCI RegistryHarbor vs ZOT OCI Registrysftpgo Community Edition vs ZOT OCI Registry
All 8 self-hosted File Transfer - Object Storage & File Servers apps
Ranked by GitHub stars weighted by maintenance health.
Harbor
Cloud native image registry that stores, signs, and scans content.
sftpgo Community Edition
Flexible, fully featured and highly configurable SFTP server with optional FTP/S and WebDAV support.
ZOT OCI Registry
Production-ready vendor-neutral OCI-native container image registry.
Zenko CloudServer
Implementation of the Amazon S3 protocol on the front-end and backend storage capabilities to multiple clouds, including Azure and Google.
GarageHQ
Geo-distributed, S3‑compatible storage service that can fulfill many needs.
Flare
Nonbloated, modern, and highly configurable file/screenshot vault server with support for ShareX, Flameshot, and Spectacle. Offers OCR search and more.
s3-orchestrator
Storage orchestration layer presenting many cloud providers as a single S3 endpoint, keeping N copies across them with read failover, plus optional per-backend byte, request, ingress and egress limits, zstd compression and envelope encryption.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best self-hosted File Transfer - Object Storage & File Servers software in 2026?
By GitHub stars, the most popular self-hosted File Transfer - Object Storage & File Servers apps are SeaweedFS (36,070 stars), Harbor (29,730 stars), sftpgo Community Edition (12,787 stars). Popularity is only one signal: also check maintenance health, license and whether it fits your setup.
How many self-hosted File Transfer - Object Storage & File Servers apps are actively maintained?
8 of the 8 apps listed had commits in the last 90 days.
Which self-hosted File Transfer - Object Storage & File Servers apps can I run with Docker?
7 of the 8 apps can run with Docker; 1 publish an image on Docker Hub, including sftpgo Community Edition.
Which licenses do self-hosted File Transfer - Object Storage & File Servers apps use?
The most common licenses in this category are Apache-2.0 (4 apps), AGPL-3.0 (2 apps), MIT (2 apps).
How much does it cost to self-host File Transfer - Object Storage & File Servers software?
The software itself is free to download. Based on our rough hardware estimates, the cheapest suitable VPS plan starts at about $5/month (median $5/month across apps in this category). Several light apps can share one server.
Figures from GitHub and Docker Hub as of 2026-11-15; hosting costs are rough estimates.