frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Made with ♥ by @iamnishanth

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

Show HN: Stop paying for Dropbox/Google Drive, use your own S3 bucket instead

https://locker.dev
66•Zm44•2h ago
Last week SWYX nerd-sniped me into building an Open-source Dropbox.

Here is Locker: the ultimate open-source Google Drive/box/Dropbox alternative - Provider agnostic (S3, R2, vercel blob, local) - BYOB (Bring your own bucket) - Virtual file system - QMD Search plugin

Comments

pluc•1h ago
I'd love a local offline alternative, maybe I'll get AI to build it for me
dwedge•1h ago
Not trying to be snarky but what is offline dropbox more than a directory?
atrus•1h ago
Syncthing? I'm taking 'offline' to mean 'not requiring the internet', which means you can have plenty of computers!
pprotas•37m ago
Samba share?

Old technology still works, even if it is old!

axelthegerman•23m ago
Works so great on new devices like smartphones. Except not.

And so easy to set up on a home computer. Except it's not always on and doesn't come with backups.

I'm not saying S3 is where it's at but might need a bit more than just Samba. Or maybe you don't but people who need Dropbox do.

dewey•1h ago
The selling point of Dropbox/Google Drive isn't the storage itself, but that there's app for mobile and desktop operating systems which deeply integrates it in the OS so it's just like a local folder that's magically synced.

So it's a cool project, but not really what I'd say is a Dropbox replacement.

Tepix•1h ago
On the other hand when a Dropbox user shares a file with you these days, the nudges have so gotten out of hand that it's a pain to use.
CAmosisKilduff•1h ago
Isn't that the scenario for Nextcloud?
whalesalad•49m ago
Yep. Open source Dropbox is really Nextcloud - https://nextcloud.com
PunchyHamster•36m ago
Given how many fuckups sync had over lifetime of it (at one point it basically asked for re-log every day, at other it just corrupted data/didn't finish sync), no
ajsnigrutin•43m ago
https://syncthing.net/ <- like this :)

Free, opensource, works on computers and phones, can in most cases puncture nat, supports local discovery (lan, multicast).

No googles, no dropboxes, no clouds, no AI training, no "my kid likes the wrong video on youtube, now our whole family lost access to every google account we had, so we lost everything, including family photos", just sync!

(not affiliated, just really love the software)

mleo•13m ago
This is my go to solution for code sync across macOS laptop, Windows VMs, and Linux VMs to build and run/debug across environments. Unless something has changed, exclusions of build artifacts was always an issue with cloud sync providers. I have been doing more cross compilation on macOS, copy and run on those other machines lately for prototypes, but for IDE based debugging it’s great to edit local or remote and get it all synced to the machine to run it in seconds.
throwaway5465•41m ago
We can just all use rsync, no need for an app.
nickjj•18m ago
Yep, I use rsync to sync files / directories between my desktop, laptop and even phone (Android). Also an external drive.

I ended up creating https://github.com/nickjj/bmsu which calls rsync under the hood but helps you build up a valid rsync command with no surprises. It also codifies each of your backup / restore strategies so you're not having to run massively long rsync commands each time. It's 1 shell script with no dependencies except rsync.

Nothing leaves my local network since it's all local file transfers.

bitexploder•13m ago
Until I want to share with say… anyone that isn’t on HN :)
dangus•11m ago
To me, integration with the Apple files app on iOS is critical for any Dropbox replacement (among other things).
Eikon•1h ago
See also: https://github.com/Barre/ZeroFS

Doesn’t require an external database (just a s3 bucket) and is a single binary. A webui is shipping in the next few days.

ledauphin•1h ago
this doesn't seem like it allows multiple writers?
vgr-land•1h ago
Looks like a good light weight solution to front object storage with a front end and auth. One suggestion is to add the license to the repo. The readme says License: MIT, but there’s no license file.
aitchnyu•1h ago
What happens if the server disappears permanently and only the bucket is up?
noja•1h ago
Why not just use an FTP server?
PunchyHamster•35m ago
coz FTP is garbage protocol that should die 2 decades ago
1a527dd5•1h ago
Absolutely not. The value isn't in the cloud storage. The value is in the client (DropBox in my case) seamlessly working across all my devices.
Saphyel•1h ago
S3 is costly and carries significant political baggage.

For a better alternative, run MinIO on a cloud provider of your choice, or stick with a secure option like Proton Drive.

ketzu•56m ago
> S3 is costly

> run MinIO

When people say "s3", they mean "any s3 compatible storage" in my experience, not "amazon s3 specifically" or just "s3 as a protocol".

wiether•45m ago
Suggesting MinIO as an alternative to something with "significant political baggage" seems weird given the recent rug pull?
b3lvedere•5m ago
I use a cheap alternative to the 3-2-1 rule[1].

I use a mini pc with small smb shares (less than 1 TB). This thing is on 24/7, but runs energy efficient.

When it's time to move data, i copy it to a Synology NAS that holds lots of TB's. Then it's also time to backup the really important stuff, which goes to a Hetzner Storage Box[2].

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup#3-2-1_Backup_Rule [2]: https://www.hetzner.com/storage/storage-box/

filleokus•1h ago
Neat! Pricing wise it might not always make sense though to use the commercial blob storages, especially for solo usage.

1 TB is roughly 20-30 USD per month at AWS/GCP only in storage, plus traffic and operations. R2 is slightly cheaper and includes traffic.

Compared to e.g a Google AI plan where you get 5 TB storage for the same price (25 USD/month) + Gemini Pro thrown in.

HardwareLust•1h ago
Just don't spin up your machines in Bahrain or the UAE...
jrochkind1•55m ago
what am i missing?
bovermyer•50m ago
Iran made those AWS data centers... unhappy.

The comment is disingenuous, though, since Locker doesn't need AWS S3 to function.

8fingerlouie•48m ago
Probaly this : https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/1rl8rxw/aws_datacenter...
data-ottawa•48m ago
It’s a reference to Iran attacking AWS data centres in those countries.
kristianc•58m ago
We've officially come full circle

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224

ryangittins•51m ago
Hah, wow. A post with an ID under 10k. Meanwhile this one is over 47M.

I didn't realize I've been reading HN nearly its whole existence. For all my complaining about what's happened to the internet since those days, HN has managed to stay high quality without compromising.

bitexploder•16m ago
At least, here the biases are well known. I have been here since the beginning as well. :)
giarc•14m ago
I think a big reason is you are not notified when someone replies to your comment. It reduces heated back and forth arguments.
ryangittins•5m ago
Interesting, I hadn't considered that! You're probably right.
PunchyHamster•37m ago
this is cloud to different cloud thing not physical to cloud thing tho
bitexploder•17m ago
Every so often someone is like, Dropbox isn’t that hard. Look at this amazing ZFS/whatever! So simple. Yeah, I keep paying Dropbox every year so I don’t have to think about it. I shoot a sync off to backblaze every once in a while.
freedomben•12m ago
at the risk of a comment that doesn't age well, for most people on HN I would definitely look into just using rclone. I also has a GUI for people who want that. rclone is mind-blowingly good. You can set up client-side encryption (so object storage never sees the data or even the filename) to be seamless. I'm a huge fan
npodbielski•58m ago
I bought 35$/mo 16TB server from OVH. I am running 2 replicas of Garage, one on this server. I am using this for backup for now but probably I will also move my Nextcloud files there and websites. This is fine for now and less pricey than any S3 provider I was able to find.
chirau•51m ago
Honest question, what do you need/use 16TB for? 4K video?
whalesalad•48m ago
Lots of files with 2160p.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.Atmos.DV.HDR.H.265-FLUX[TGx] in the name.
weberer•36m ago
Back in my day, we downloaded 20mb episodes of Naruto in .rmvb format and liked it. Uphill!
tskulbru•34m ago
both ways!
jrochkind1•56m ago
I wonder if it would be possible to do something like this that had transparent end-to-end encryption.
bovermyer•51m ago
Very cool idea, but without background file syncing from/to my local machine, it can't replace my cloud storage provider.
kardianos•50m ago
Another option is https://github.com/drakkan/sftpgo

This is in Go, exposes both webdav and SFTP servers, with user and admin web interfaces. You can configure remotes, then compose user space from various locations for each user, some could be local, others remote.

flanked-evergl•48m ago
Stop paying for clothes, make your own instead!
ks2048•42m ago
I pay Dropbox $120 per year for 2TB. No transfer fees, solid Apps, macOS integration, free APIs.

How much on S3? A LOT more.

scolson•35m ago
I think the idea is any s3 compatible api endpoint can be used. The code also clearly supports both backblaze, and more importantly, local blob storage
hvb2•12m ago
Just saying, but this is not really fair. It's not like you use that 2TB. So you shouldn't compare it to a 2TB bucket. Most of these plans have limits to prevent abuse but they're well beyond the 'I need to care' level.

Maybe you use 1TB, maybe just 10GB. As a user on this site I expect you know that a 10GB plan and a 1TB plan won't be that much different.

hidelooktropic•6m ago
I don't know what you're talking about. I always reserve right up to the knife's edge of what I actually use.
voidUpdate•41m ago
"Stop paying for Dropbox/Google Drive, pay for an S3 bucket instead"
vitalscope•38m ago
That is a bit like saying “Don’t use a medical analysis app, just interpret your lab results yourself.”

Sure, ChatGPT can help, but to use it reliably, you still need enough medical knowledge to ask good questions and evaluate the answers.

redat00•35m ago
funny enough the guy behind the project also has an app like that https://github.com/zmeyer44/OpenVitals

(and regarding contributors for all of his projects, it's mostly vibe-coded)

Zm44•20m ago
Think of OpenVitals more as "Don't pay $300/yr for a chatGPT wrapper medical app, just use this with your existing test results for free"
gargan•33m ago
May I recommend the excellent https://s3drive.app/ which is compatible with S3 and also providers like Proton Drive
rkagerer•28m ago
Why would I want to replace my reliance on them with reliance on Amazon or another cloud provider?

I'd rather control the whole stack, even if it means deploying my own hardware to one or more redundant, off-site locations.

Edit: Are there robust, open source, self-hosted, S3-compliant engines out there reliable and performant enough to be the backend for this?

ovaistariq•23m ago
The critical part of Dropbox is not just the storage layer but a combination of their client and server. Even small things like how do you handle conflicting writes to the same file from multiple threads, matter a great deal for data consistency and durability.
dangus•12m ago
A lot of the backend bucket providers can handle file versioning.

I too would like the answer to this concern because the features page doesn’t mention it. I want to be able to handle file version history.

I’m currently using Filen which I find very reasonable and, critically, it has a Linux client. But I wish it was faster and I wish the local file explorer integration was more like Dropbox where it is seamless to the OS rather than the current setup where you mount a network share.

BordairAPI•17m ago
this is rlly cool
lain98•15m ago
I use archive storage class on google cloud, to store old movies and wedding videos, pictures of old vacations.

For everything else I use paid onedrive subscription. The biggest problem is user interface with s3 like storage and predictable pricing because remember you also pay for data retrieval and other storage apis, with dropbox etc you pay a fixed amount. Every year or so I roll over data into the bucket.

But for infrequently accessed data its fine.

More likely than not you're using bubble wrap wrong

https://bookofjoe2.blogspot.com/2026/03/imore-likely-than-not-youre-using.html
1•surprisetalk•1m ago•0 comments

Weeds and Bozo Explosions (2023)

https://taylor.town/bozo-explosions
1•surprisetalk•1m ago•0 comments

Envying a Simple Man

https://prickly.oxhe.art/simplicity/
1•surprisetalk•1m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Yumi Reader – Turn any article into distraction-free pure text

https://github.com/uscne/Yumi-Reader
1•ML0037•2m ago•0 comments

Cognichip is designing new chips that power AI

https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/01/cognichip-wants-ai-to-design-the-chips-that-power-ai-and-just-r...
2•gmays•2m ago•0 comments

Japan Investing More in Oil and Gas. American Drillers Need Capital

https://www.governance.fyi/p/japan-and-east-asia-investing-more
2•guardianbob•3m ago•0 comments

Earthset (Artemis II)

https://images.nasa.gov/details/art002e009288
1•trothamel•3m ago•1 comments

An AI Robot in My Home

https://allevato.me/2026/04/07/an-ai-robot-in-my-home
1•kukanani•3m ago•0 comments

Top Innovators 2026: SAP innovation award finalists

https://news.sap.com/2026/04/top-innovators-2026-sap-innovation-award-finalists/
1•salkahfi•4m ago•0 comments

Figma-to-Mobile – AI agent skill that turns Figma designs into Android/iOS code

https://clawhub.ai/timeaground/figma-to-mobile
1•Li_Lin•4m ago•0 comments

The Miller Principle

https://puredanger.github.io/tech.puredanger.com/2007/07/11/miller-principle/
2•FelipeCortez•6m ago•0 comments

How to Support Notebooks in a Language Server

https://pyrefly.org/blog/notebook/
2•ocamoss•7m ago•0 comments

Show HN: I used NLP to turn UK planning PDFs into a clean CSV

https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/strictschema/uk-planning-decisions-schema-sample
1•david_s_data•7m ago•1 comments

Model-Based Testing for Dungeons & Dragons

https://www.loskutoff.com/blog/model-based-testing-dnd/
1•Firfi•7m ago•2 comments

Recurring patterns aren't problems to solve. They're signals to read

https://medium.com/@genady_awarelife/why-today-looks-exactly-like-yesterday-6424362a80d4
1•genadym•7m ago•0 comments

Millions Across Europe Urged to Work from Home

https://www.newsweek.com/millions-across-europe-urged-work-from-home-energy-crisis-iran-war-11766442
1•robtherobber•7m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Fleet – I built a multi-agent dev team that runs as a bash script

https://danrex.github.io/blog/replaced-dev-team-with-bash-script/
2•christiangraf•8m ago•1 comments

ArtistKit – Free WordPress plugin for musicians Press kits

https://promotracker.fr/artistkit
1•davidabakan•8m ago•0 comments

Amesh – Replace static API keys with device-bound ECDSA identities

https://github.com/ameshdev/amesh
3•yau2026•11m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Nexulta – AI-powered crypto price predictions and market analysis

https://nexulta.com
2•enesz•11m ago•0 comments

Octopoda open source agent OS with memory, loop detection, and audit trails

https://github.com/RyjoxTechnologies/Octopoda-OS
3•Josephjackjrob1•13m ago•0 comments

Newsletify – Newsletter Sponsorship

https://newsletify.com/
2•ivanclaudiu•13m ago•0 comments

Free AI Video Generators in 2026: What Works

https://frameloop.ai/blog/free-ai-video-generator-tools-2026
2•avinashvagh•14m ago•1 comments

The best tools for sending an email if you go silent

https://blog.alcazarsec.com/posts/best-email-dead-mans-switches
3•alcazar•14m ago•1 comments

Show HN: Rac-delta – open protocol for differential dir sync (Rust/Node SDKs)

https://raccreative.github.io/rac-delta-docs/
2•Raccreative•14m ago•0 comments

Trump's next budget once again calls for cuts to science

https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/04/trumps-next-budget-once-again-calls-for-massive-cuts-to-s...
1•tartoran•14m ago•0 comments

An experimental Linux distribution that Redefines the filesystem hierarchy

https://www.gobolinux.org/
3•rainingmonkey•15m ago•0 comments

Attention Is All You Need, but All You Can't Afford – Hybrid Attention

2•JohannaAlmeida•16m ago•0 comments

Show HN: AgentLint – ESLint for your coding agents

https://github.com/samilozturk/agentlint
4•onurkanbkrc•17m ago•1 comments

Live Life on the Edge: A Layered Strategy for Testing Data Models

https://www.chiply.dev/post-data-model-testing
3•chiply•17m ago•1 comments