# polar vs Syncthing

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | polar | Syncthing |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 71/100 | 90/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #1 of 13 in Billing | #1 of 15 in File Sync |
| GitHub stars | 10 436 | 89 854 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +157 | +944 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 8 ✓ |
| Latest release | @polar-sh/cli@3.0.0 · 16 Oct 2026 | v2.1.7 · 21 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Advanced | Easy ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Main language | Python | Go |

## Which one should you pick?

Syncthing scores 90/100 against 71/100 for polar, so it is the safer default.

Syncthing ships more often: 8 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for polar.

If you want the quickest setup, Syncthing is easier to run; polar needs more configuration.

Syncthing is growing faster right now (+944 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [polar](https://selfhost.directory/project/polar) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/polar.md)
- [Syncthing](https://selfhost.directory/project/syncthing) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/syncthing.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/polar-vs-syncthing