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47 open-source file sync and transfer apps

Open Source File Sync, Transfer & Torrent Apps

The most popular open-source file sync and transfer apps for Windows, macOS and Linux on GitHub are LocalSend, Syncthing and Rclone. appsgit lists 47, including free alternatives to AirDrop, Dropbox and uTorrent, each with its platforms, license and install commands.

Updated Oct 8, 2026

Open Source File Sync, Transfer & Torrent Apps

FAQ

File sync & transfer: FAQ

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What are the best open-source file sync and transfer apps?

By GitHub stars, LocalSend is the most popular (93,622 stars), followed by Syncthing and Rclone. People often use these instead of AirDrop, Dropbox and uTorrent. Each page lists the platforms, license and last commit.

Which of these run on Windows, Mac and Linux?

40 of the 47 open-source file sync and transfer apps listed here run on Windows, 45 on macOS and 39 on Linux; on a Mac, the most starred is LocalSend. 19 can be installed with a package manager such as Flathub, Homebrew, winget or Chocolatey.

Are these open-source file sync and transfer apps free?

Yes. All 47 use an open-source license (OSI-approved or FSF-free), so you can use, copy and change them for free.

How are these open-source file sync and transfer apps chosen?

Apps come from desktop awesome lists (Awesome Linux Software, awesome-mac, awesome-windows, awesome-electron and the media and file sections of awesome-cli-apps), more than 70 GitHub topics such as desktop-app, electron-app, tauri-app, gtk, qt, macos-app, pdf-editor, cad and remote-desktop, and a hand-picked list of flagship apps. An app is listed only if it has a license (one GitHub detects, or one appsgit checked by hand), a README and a commit in the last six months, is not archived or a fork, and has 1000+ GitHub stars (topics), 500+ (awesome lists) or 100+ (hand-picked). It must also be an end-user application with a desktop signal: installers in its releases, install instructions for Windows, macOS or Linux, or a Flathub, Homebrew, winget, Chocolatey, Snap or AUR package. Libraries, frameworks, themes, plugins and servers are left out, and source-available apps are labelled as such.