Rclone vs Syncthing (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Rclone grades higher than Syncthing: 2.8 against 2.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Rclone grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Which one is for you
Pick Rclone if
- Fits if you are comfortable in a terminal and want to move files between many providers
- Works for people who want to mount cloud storage as a drive
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a point-and-click app, as it is a command-line program
- Not for you if you need hosting, because it does not store files itself
- Too light for people wanting a polished GUI, since the web interface is labelled experimental
- Watch out: Android is only available as separate builds
- Tight if you want vendor support: it is a free open-source project
Pick Syncthing if
- Fits if you want folders in step between your own computers with no cloud provider involved
- Works for people with a home server who want a desktop's folders copied to it
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want your files on your iPhone, as there are no plans for an official iOS app
- Not for you if you want a cloud copy, since files live only on your own devices
- Not for you if a command-line program with a browser settings page sounds like hard work
- Watch out: devices swap files only when both are online at the same time
- Watch out: there are no sharing links, and help is a community forum unless you pay Kastelo, a separate company
How we grade them
| 2.8GPARcloneGood | 2.6GPASyncthingGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree under the MIT licence, with no paid plans. Anyone can download and run it, and you pay only the storage providers you connect. | AFree software with no paid plans at all, where the rest of this category charges around $5 a month for ever. The project lives on donations, and if you want somebody to call, a separate company, Kastelo, sells commercial support. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe whole program is free with no caps. You do need an account with a provider, as it hosts nothing. | AFree outright on every operating system it supports, source code and all, with no paid tier above it holding anything back and no account to make in the first place. |
| Features | BCopy, sync, bisync, mount as a drive, encryption, compression, hash checks and serving files, across 70+ providers. Nothing in the listing is missing from the job. | CIt does its one job completely: continuous sync of as many folders as you like, over encrypted and authenticated connections, at home or across the internet. But that one job is smaller than this category's. There's no cloud copy, no sharing links, and devices swap files only when both are online. |
| Ease of use | DIt is run from the command line and set up with configuration files. The web GUI is labelled experimental. | DWhat you download is a command-line daemon you configure through a page in your browser, on every machine, with tray icons and file-browser integration as separate downloads. Devices do pair by ID with no network fiddling, but this is not install and go. |
| Platforms and integrations | CA program for computers: Mac, Windows and Linux, with Android only as separate builds. Many storage backends but no phone or web app of its own. | CComputers only: Mac, Windows, Linux and several BSD systems. No phone apps are listed and the team says it has no plans to support iOS officially, so your photos and your phone are out of the picture. |
| Best for | syncing and mounting cloud storage from the command line | syncing your own computers with no cloud |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Rclone and Syncthing. How we grade
Price against what you get
Rclone has no paid plan and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Syncthing has no paid plan and scores 1.7.
Rclone scores higher for the same starting price. Of the other file storage and sync services on the chart, none scores higher than Rclone for less, and none scores higher than Syncthing for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Rclone is end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
- Rclone also covers file management.
In commonFree planmacOSWindowsLinuxOpen sourceFile sync
At a glance
| Rclone | Syncthing | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Free and open source under the MIT license; no paid plans. | Syncthing is free software with no paid plans. The project's servers and development grants are funded by donations. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Nick Craig-Wood and contributors | The Syncthing Foundation |
| Price read from | rclone.org | syncthing.net |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Rclone
- It is a command-line program; the web GUI is labeled experimental.
- Android is mentioned only as separate builds, not as a main download.
- It does not host storage itself: you need an account with a supported provider.
- The site points third-party developers to the command line and API for GUI and backup front ends.
Syncthing
- There is no cloud storage: files live only on your devices, and devices exchange data only when they are online at the same time.
- The Syncthing team says it has no plans to officially support iOS; a separate open source iOS app incorporates Syncthing.
- The base download is a command-line daemon with a web interface. Tray icons and file browser integration come from separate downloads.
- Support is through the community forum; commercial support is sold by a separate company, Kastelo.
Key features
Rclone
- Copy, sync and bisync
- One-way sync makes a destination match a source; bisync keeps two directories matching in both directions.
- Wide provider support
- The site says over 70 cloud storage products support it, including S3 object stores, plus SFTP, WebDAV, FTP and HTTP.
- Mount as a disk
- Mounts local, cloud or virtual filesystems as a drive on Windows, macOS, Linux and FreeBSD.
- Crypt, compress and chunk backends
- Virtual backends wrap another remote to encrypt, compress, chunk or merge it.
- Integrity checks
- Checks MD5 or SHA1 hashes and preserves timestamps, and interrupted transfers can be restarted.
- Serve and remote control
- Can serve files over HTTP, WebDAV, FTP, SFTP and DLNA; an experimental web GUI and a remote-control API are listed.
Syncthing
- Continuous synchronization
- Folders are kept in sync between two or more computers in real time. You can sync as many folders as you need, with other people or only between your own devices.
- No central server
- Data is never stored anywhere other than on your own computers, so there is no cloud account or third-party server holding the files.
- Encrypted, authenticated connections
- All communication is secured with TLS and perfect forward secrecy. Each device has a cryptographic certificate, and only devices you explicitly allow can connect.
- Browser-based interface
- Syncthing is configured and monitored through a responsive web interface served by the program and opened in a browser.
- Works over LAN and Internet
- Devices find each other by ID without IP addresses or advanced configuration. UPnP is used where available, and relays carry traffic when no direct connection is possible.
- Open protocol and source
- The sync protocol is a documented specification and all source code is public, with development and bug reports open for anyone to read.
Plans
Rclone
Rclone$0
Free MIT-licensed software; you pay only the storage providers you connect it to.
Syncthing
SyncthingFree
The full program for every supported operating system, with source code available on GitHub.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Rclone or Syncthing?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Rclone and Syncthing are free to use.
Which has a free plan, Rclone or Syncthing?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Rclone and Syncthing have a free plan.
Which platforms do Rclone and Syncthing run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Rclone lists an Android app. Both list macOS, Windows and Linux apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.