# Pydio Cells review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Open-core, self-hosted document sharing and content platform Checked Nov 13, 2026 ยท graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. Pydio Cells is a self-hosted platform for sharing and managing documents, sold by Wire France SAS. It describes itself as open-core, with a free Home edition and Connect and Enterprise subscriptions priced by number of users. It supports real-time editing through Collabora Online or OnlyOffice and single sign-on through OpenID Connect, SAML and LDAP. - **Category:** File Storage & Sync - **Made by:** Wire France SAS - **Website:** https://www.pydio.com/en - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Not for you if you do not want to run a server. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, Pydio Cells has a free plan. - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Pydio Cells Home is free, for home use and evaluation. - **Free trial:** Trial key available for a limited period on request. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Pydio Cells Home | Free | For home use and evaluation, with web only, next business day support as the entry tier. | | Pydio Cells Connect | Custom | Subscription for connecting all collaborators; priced by number of users, free trial and quote on request. | | Pydio Cells Enterprise | Custom | Subscription aimed at privacy-conscious industries, priced by number of users; quote on request. | Read from https://www.pydio.com/en/pricing on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Pydio Cells before buying. ## Key features - **Real-time document editing:** Co-author standard document formats in the browser, powered by Collabora Online or OnlyOffice. - **Workspaces and Cells:** Files are grouped in workspaces and shared collaboration spaces, with access extended to external collaborators. - **Single sign-on and policies:** OpenID Connect, SAML and LDAP/Active Directory sign-in, with access rules by user, group, IP address, location or time. - **Multi-tenancy:** Separate configuration, data and identity per tenant on a single deployment. - **Cells Flows:** A workflow engine for automating tasks around files. - **Storage options:** The pricing page lists file system, S3, Google Cloud Storage and Azure Blob support. ## Good for - Organizations needing self-hosted document sharing with compliance controls - Teams that want to try a free edition before buying support ## Worth knowing - Prices for Connect and Enterprise are not published; they are quoted by number of users. - You host and maintain the software yourself, or buy a subscription for support. - Which features sit in Home versus Enterprise is shown in a separate comparison table. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.2 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. Pydio Cells is self-hosted document sharing with live editing and single sign-on. The free Home edition is only for home use and evaluation, Connect and Enterprise are quoted by user, and you run the server yourself. - **Value for money: C.** Home is free but self-hosted, and Connect and Enterprise are quoted by user count, so there is no figure to compare. - **Free plan and trial: C.** Free Home edition for home use and evaluation, plus a trial key on request. You host it on your own server. - **Features: B.** Sharing, Collabora or OnlyOffice editing, SSO through OIDC, SAML and LDAP, and S3, Azure and Google storage back ends. - **Ease of use: D.** You install and maintain it yourself. No store rating is on record. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web only, with real integrations: Collabora, OnlyOffice, SSO and cloud storage. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Pydio Cells's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among file storage and sync services - Pydio Cells's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 34 of the 91 other file storage and sync services we grade, and level with 9. - It stands best on features (B, above 70 of 91) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0). The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/file-storage ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace Pydio Cells you would be making files kept in step across devices without losing one. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. Pydio Cells is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself. - You could not: Files kept in step across devices without losing one. - You could not: Connections to other products, each kept working as those products change. - You could not: Storing and serving files for other people. - You could not: Several people working in it at the same moment. - You could not: What a company asks for before it lets staff use something: single sign-on. - You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Collabora Online, OnlyOffice, OpenID Connect, SAML, LDAP, Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage **Tags:** Open source, Self-hostable, File sharing, File sync, Real-time collaboration, Workflow automation ## Alternatives - [Nextcloud](https://toolgpa.com/tools/nextcloud): Open source, self-hosted file sync and collaboration platform. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/nextcloud-vs-pydio-cells) - [ownCloud](https://toolgpa.com/tools/owncloud): Open-source file sync and share you can host yourself. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/owncloud-vs-pydio-cells) - [Seafile](https://toolgpa.com/tools/seafile): Open-source file sync and share, self-hosted or in the cloud. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/pydio-cells-vs-seafile) - [FileRun](https://toolgpa.com/tools/filerun): Self-hosted file sync and sharing app that runs on your own server. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/filerun-vs-pydio-cells) - [FileCloud](https://toolgpa.com/tools/filecloud): Business file sharing and sync you host yourself or buy as SaaS. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/filecloud-vs-pydio-cells) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://www.pydio.com/en/pricing - https://www.pydio.com/en/pydio-cells/overview Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/pydio-cells Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).