Still Unbuilt

All 100 ideasFiles and backup

#17 of 100 · Files and backup

Your own Dropbox, minus the hassle

A simple, reliable Dropbox or iCloud replacement on their own server or devices, lighter than Nextcloud, including peer-to-peer sync.

19asks, each re-read
19separate threads
12of 19 years
3since 2024
2012first asked

Asks per year

’08’101’1221’1411’161’1821’2032’221’243’26

What the askers want

  • Would pay16%
  • Want it local or private84%
  • Object to subscriptions11%
  • Want it open source or self-hosted68%
  • Want AI to do it0%

Share of the 19 asks that say so, as judged by Jev.

What exists on Show HN

Built, still asked for21 Show HN launches do this job, and 12 more do part of it. People still ask, so the launches are missed, unknown, or not what they want. Ask what they’re missing before you build.

Instead of: Dropbox, Google Drive, Nextcloud, Syncthing

The idea, as matched

An easy self-hosted replacement for Dropbox, Google Drive or iCloud that runs on my own server, NAS or devices (including peer-to-peer sync), lighter and more reliable than Nextcloud, or hosted for me.

Jev first matched 24 requests to this idea; a second reader kept 19 of 24.

Every ask, newest first

Each line is an AI paraphrase of what the writer wanted. The link goes to their own words on Hacker News.

Reader’s note. Photo-library asks excluded; Nextcloud often named as too heavy.

  1. Oct 2025Wants hosted versions of self-hostable open-source tools like Immich, so non-technical people can use them affordably. Read it: a comment in “Immich v2.0.0 – First stable release”
  2. Apr 2025Hopes someone builds a Google Drive alternative where users truly own their data and would pay for it. Read it: a comment in “Tailscale has raised $160M”
  3. Mar 2025Wants a self-hosted Dropbox or OneDrive alternative other than Nextcloud, tired of broken shared-folder sync. Read it: a comment in “OneDrive shared folder syncing has been broken for months, with no fix in sight”
  4. Feb 2023Wants a slimmed-down Nextcloud that installs easily on cheap shared PHP hosting. Read it: a comment in “Nextcloud and OpenBSD = <3”
  5. Dec 2022Wants to host iCloud backups on their own hardware rather than paying monthly for extra storage. Read it: a comment in “Apple blocks Coinbase Wallet”
  6. Jan 2022Wants simple personal cloud storage for old projects, easy to set up, not a project in itself. Read it: a comment in “Computers as I used to love them”
  7. Dec 2021Seeks an alternative to Resilio Sync because development there looks stalled. Read it: a comment in “Show HN: SlikSafe – A decentralized, end-to-end encrypted alternative to Dropbox”
  8. Sep 2021Asks about Nextcloud conflict handling as a Dropbox replacement, tired of Dropbox file locking and ads. Read it: a comment in “Disable Google Drive drive letter”
  9. Jul 2021Wants Google File Stream style drive mounting that streams files on demand, including on Android and iOS, self-run. Read it: a comment in “Syncthing: Syncing All the Things”
  10. May 2020Seeks an encrypted remote filesystem they run themselves, to replace Keybase files for sharing with collaborators. Read it: a comment in “Zoom Acquires Keybase”
  11. Feb 2019Wants permissively licensed folder sync across computers plus cloud backup, which Syncthing lacks. Read it: a post: “Ask HN: MIT/BSD/Apache cloud file sync?”
  12. Jan 2019Wants a personal iCloud: a home box that syncs Apple devices locally only. Read it: a comment in “Things Apple Isn’t Doing”
  13. May 2017Wants a trustworthy peer-to-peer sync that never stores data in the cloud, replacing Cubby. Read it: a post: “Ask HN: Alternative to Cubby peer-to-peer (no cloud storage) sync?”
  14. Jul 2016Wants an open-source, well-designed home server with good mobile apps to rival Synology. Read it: a comment in “Upthere raises $77M to put a new spin on personal cloud storage”
  15. Feb 2015Wants a better self-hosted file sync alternative to OwnCloud that avoids its flaws. Read it: a comment in “OwnCloud Server 8.0”
  16. Oct 2014Wants an open-source stack replacing Google mail, calendar and cloud file sync on a cheap VPS. Read it: a comment in “Atlantic.net launches $0.99 SSD-based VPS servers”
  17. Oct 2013Wants file hosting built into the OS so their own computer hosts files instead of iCloud. Read it: a comment in “April 5, 2007: "Show HN, Dropbox"”
  18. Jun 2013Wants a Dropbox-like app they can install on their own server, open source. Read it: a comment in “US intelligence mining data from 9 US Internet companies in broad secret program”
  19. Jan 2012Wants a Dropbox replacement as good as Dropbox, since it costs too much for a small team. Read it: a comment in “Open-source Dropbox alternative powered by Git”

Building this?

Read ten of the asks above first, because they say what the existing launches miss. If you ship it, post it as a Show HN so the next run of this list finds it.

See all 100How the counts work

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