Difference between P2P and self-hosted server based file syncing reddit / selfhosted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- GroundbreakingAir462 · 2023-11-17 13:42 Just learned about P2P and syncthing. Is there a difference between P2P file-sharing and a self-hosted server with hosting something like nextcloud? Is one easier to setup/maintain than the other? More secure?Hardware requirements for scaling up? Or is there no difference if its all smaller scaled and self-hosted? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MeCJay12 · 2023-11-17 14:02 The difference is that with a self-hosted file sharing service, you have to have a central server that hosts the files where as with a P2P program, each client connects directly to other clients and keeps its own local copy of files. Neither is more or less secure, it's just different use cases. If you have a large archive of data that you want to access from your phone, you probably want the filer service since you don't want to use all that space on your phone but if you want to say keep all share all your phones to your spouse's phone and back them up at once, P2P is your solution. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- KeyBlogger · 2023-11-17 15:16 P2p: easy But If a Client ist turned Off, No syncthing for you ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MrFlibble1980 · 2023-11-18 00:10 Nextcloud is more like a "star" configuration, where Nextcloud is the server, with multiple clients. Of course the clients can cache data from Nextcloud. Syncthing is more like a mesh, where each client serves data to others (although this is configurable), Nextcloud has way more features, like shared calendars, video conferencing plugins etc, which is great, but may be overkill for your needs. I use both, although NextCloud/OwnCloud fits my needs better. I would say syncthing is easier to set up. There is more admin overheard (esp upgrades) with NextCloud/OwnCloud.