FileBrowser
Ranked 5 of 6 self-hosted file managers by recommenders
Free, lightweight self-hosted file browser that people use as a simple Dropbox alternative. Critics note it has fewer features than similar tools.
Free, lightweight self-hosted file browser that people use as a simple Dropbox alternative. Critics note it has fewer features than similar tools.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Replaces Dropbox-style file sharing
“found Syncthing + Filebrowser to be a sufficient substitute for Dropbox”
Comment from 3 Nov 2025 in “Why Nextcloud feels slow to use” “minimal self-hosted Dropbox clone”
Comment from 3 Nov 2025 in “Why Nextcloud feels slow to use” Gets the job done day to day
“I've been daily-driving it on my setup and it gets the job done”
Comment from 13 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: I made an alternative to the archived filebrowser” “it has been serving me well for similar quick usecase”
Comment from 3 Nov 2025 in “Why Nextcloud feels slow to use”
Other self-hosted file managers people recommend
The four most recommended other self-hosted file managers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 6 self-hosted file managers, rankedWhat people said
8 of the 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“But worth it to be always on and these consume little resources.”
“with a better ui/ux in my opinion”
“I've been daily-driving it on my setup and it gets the job done”
“seemingly has more features than FileBrowser and similar”
“Can’t quite endorse it yet, but it’s promising so far”
“found Syncthing + Filebrowser to be a sufficient substitute for Dropbox”
“minimal self-hosted Dropbox clone”
“it has been serving me well for similar quick usecase”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.