Top Open Source Cloud Storage Software
- Category: Cloud Hosting
- Author: Admin
- Publisher:
Psychz Networks
- October 21,2015
Can you imagine being at an industry conference or cocktail party, and casually dropping this bomb: “No, we aren’t on the cloud yet! to a group of horrified onlookers? Of course not; you’d be laughed out of the room.
If you’ve been delaying because of security concerns, laziness or uncertainty over why you should be using cloud storage – or if you’ve only been dabbling with applications like Dropbox and Google Drive – it’s time to get your act together. There are many open source solutions which let you set up your own cloud storage, giving you full control over your important data stored remotely. Here are a few of the best.
This versatile option allows you to choose from several levels of service. If you don’t want to bother setting up your own cloud you can use the company’s own cloud service (SeaCloud.cc), you can set up a free open source personal server, or you can get your own business server for $25 per year (which also gives you many other options including a rich online editor). Seafile allows you to sync all of your data with either your computer or mobile devices, use their web interface as a management tool, and have virtually unlimited storage space and connected users. This solution offers clients for OS X, iOS, Linux, Windows, and Android, as well as server software for Linux, Windows, and Raspberry Pi.
If you’ve used Dropbox in the past, OwnCloud will feel quite familiar. It provides file storage like Dropbox does, but lets you set up the storage on your own server or website, instead of someone else’s. (It means you’ll have to get a cheap server or other webspace, though.) This versatile application lets you do a lot more than just store stuff, though; you also can use it as a task manager, text editor, calendar and music player. OwnCloud lets you share files and sync data just like Seafile, is completely open source, and works with Windows, Android, iOS, OS X, and Linux.
This open-source alternative is still being built out but holds great promise because it uses the GIT system as its backbone. That means that files won’t just be stored remotely on your cloud server, but that you’ll have great flexibility if you’re a developer who needs to track the changes made to your files, or simply if you want to see a version history of your uploads. Sharing and syncing is available, similar to the other solutions we’ve previously mentioned, and remote cloud hosting can be done either on your own server or a shared service. Git-annex assistant is a variation of SparkleShare better suited to larger files because of the way it handles data. Windows, OS X and Linux are supported, with apps for mobile devices said to be on the way.