The verdict
The choice of a sync and storage server depends on a variety of factors. In our opinion the two paramount factors are the type of data you’ll be sharing and your level of comfort deploying network software.
If these matter to you as well then we’ll suggest you use Pydio. It’s straightforward to install and has a pleasing and intuitive user interface. It also scores for certain user-centric administrative features such as user roles, and we also like its ability to send notification when shared files are viewed or modified. However, if you can trade a little bit of convenience for security then look at Seafile.
Seafile has client-side encryption and a functional version control system. You can use its web interface to preview videos, audios, PDFs, images and text files. Furthermore, Seafile has a featurerich client for the desktop and a mobile client that does the job. It’s also got a professional version for enterprise deployments and can connect with the Collabora Online server as well as Microsoft Office Online Server. The server also gets into our good books for producing a version especially for the Raspberry Pi.
From a security point of view, there’s no beating SparkleShare. It’s very secure because it uses SSH, but isn’t intuitive enough for the average desktop user since connecting the clients to the server is a more involved process and you’ll have to find a way to securely transfer the public SSH keys from the client to the host.
And because of their nature, both SparkleShare and Syncthing are more useful for sharing data between your own machines, such as the office laptop and the desktop at home. While they can be made to emulate the datasharing features of the other options, they aren’t really the right tools for backing up or sharing holiday images with your family, for example.
All said and done, there’s really no topping Nextcloud in terms of the features it offers. The only people we wouldn’t recommend it to is the average home user with a handful of users. Everyone else will appreciate the malleability offered by Nextcloud, which can easily manage a network of 10 users, or even 100 users. Plug-in a few add-ons and you’ve got yourself a one-stop solution for all your data and collaboration needs. The server boasts of an extensive list of features that makes it ideal for all kinds of deployment tasks.