Maestral
Shares rank 11 of 14 file sync apps by recommenders
Free, open source Dropbox-compatible client for Linux and macOS that people find reliable and use on low-end machines. Caveat: block-level sync is lost and the project appears unmaintained.
Free, open source Dropbox-compatible client for Linux and macOS that people find reliable and use on low-end machines. Caveat: block-level sync is lost and the project appears unmaintained.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 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
Works reliably on Linux
“have been using it for about a year on my Linux install and it works seamlessly”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “Linux is good now; to feel like you actually own your PC, put Linux on it” “Works like a charm for me.”
Comment from 1 Jan 2026 in “Linux is good now; to feel like you actually own your PC, put Linux on it” Open source cross-platform Dropbox client
“a cross platform implementation of the Dropbox client API which I use on low end Linux machines”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: Replacing my OS process scheduler with an LLM” “I use the open source client https://maestral.app/ on the Mac for workstation use”
Comment from 7 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Stop paying for Dropbox/Google Drive, use your own S3 bucket instead”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Block-level sync lost; appears unmaintained
“Using Maestral as a client made things better (at the loss of block-level sync + now unmaintained)”
Comment from 20 Sep 2026 in “Dropbox's Jan 1st 2027 terms of service” “it appears to have been archived and no longer maintained”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “Nothing at all like the bloated app that Dropbox's Mac client has grown into”
Other file sync apps people recommend
The four most recommended other file sync apps, 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 14 file sync apps, rankedWhat people said
All 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Using Maestral as a client made things better (at the loss of block-level sync + now unmaintained)”
“Also bypasses the free Dropbox account's limitations on 3 devices.”
“it appears to have been archived and no longer maintained”
“I use the open source client https://maestral.app/ on the Mac for workstation use”
“a cross platform implementation of the Dropbox client API which I use on low end Linux machines”
“have been using it for about a year on my Linux install and it works seamlessly”
“Works like a charm for me.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.