copyparty vs SFTPGo

copyparty and SFTPGo are both tiny file servers that you can run on the smallest VPS you can buy, and both can serve files over more than one protocol. They are not the same kind of tool. copyparty turns a folder into a browser-first file share. SFTPGo is a file-transfer server that puts SFTP, FTP/S, WebDAV and HTTP in front of the storage you already use, including cloud object storage, and gives you an admin panel for managing the users. On our test box both idled at a few tens of megabytes of RAM.

What each one is built around

copyparty is a single Python program. Its README says the server needs only Python and all dependencies are optional. It speaks HTTP(S), WebDAV, SFTP, FTP(S), TFTP and SMB, and its centre of gravity is the browser: resumable, multithreaded uploads with no file size limit, folder downloads as zip or tar, thumbnails, a media player, file search, temporary share links, and an "unpost" undo for accidental uploads. Accounts and per-folder permissions are defined with command-line flags or a config file, using permission letters such as read, write, move and delete. The SFTP server is optional and needs the paramiko library, which the official ac image variant includes; by default it accepts SSH keys only.

SFTPGo is a Go program with a different centre of gravity. Its README calls it an event-driven file transfer solution, serving SFTP, HTTP/S, FTP/S and WebDAV, with storage backends for the local filesystem, an encrypted local filesystem, S3-compatible object storage, Google Cloud Storage, Azure Blob Storage and other SFTP servers. It ships a web admin to create and manage users and a web client where users upload and share links. If you need partners to push files over SFTP into an S3 bucket, this is what it is built for.

Licences and editions

copyparty is MIT-licensed. SFTPGo's Community Edition is AGPL-3.0 with additional terms, and its web interfaces use a proprietary theme that may not be reused in derivative works without a grant. A commercial Enterprise Edition adds features such as antivirus and DLP scanning, PGP encryption, email ingestion and in-browser document editing, and gets major new features first. The Community Edition remains maintained and covers the core protocols, storage backends and web interfaces.

Footprint and setup

Both are light. copyparty measured about 37 MB of RAM idle on our GCP test box and SFTPGo about 26 MB, and each is a single Docker container. We estimate 256 MB for both. copyparty's quickstart is one docker run with an account and a shared folder, and we rate it 1 out of 5; SFTPGo is 2 out of 5, because you create the first admin in the browser, then add users and decide which protocols and ports to expose. Either way, open only the ports you need, since both can serve FTP or SFTP to the internet.

Which to choose

Choose copyparty if you want a fast, no-database way to share and upload files from a browser, with media browsing and a permissive licence, and accounts defined in a config file are enough.

Choose SFTPGo if the job is protocol-first: SFTP or FTP/S endpoints for partners or devices, many users managed from a web UI, or cloud object storage behind a familiar file-transfer interface.

Not the only two options

If you want a full sync-and-share platform instead of a transfer server, see our Nextcloud vs ownCloud comparison. The copyparty deploy guide covers the install, and the copyparty and SFTPGo pages list both side by side with the rest of the file-sharing tools.