For years, I have used mainstream cloud storage services, including Google Drive, OneDrive, and iCloud. They are all convenient, but rely on centralized servers. This creates reliance on centralized infrastructure, and once I started thinking more about cost, control, and avoiding vendor lock-in, I knew I had to consider other options.

I recently replaced Google Drive with a self‑hosted NextCloud server, but there are several other options to explore. So, I tried Syncthing.

Using Syncthing has paid off in several ways, most notably through superior synchronization speed and efficiency for large files and folders, as well as true decentralization and local redundancy.