Show HN: Stop paying for Dropbox/Google Drive, use your own S3 bucket instead
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
Discussion Highlights (20 comments)
pluc
I'd love a local offline alternative, maybe I'll get AI to build it for me
dewey
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.
Eikon
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.
vgr-land
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
What happens if the server disappears permanently and only the bucket is up?
noja
Why not just use an FTP server?
1a527dd5
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
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.
filleokus
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
Just don't spin up your machines in Bahrain or the UAE...
kristianc
We've officially come full circle https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224
npodbielski
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.
jrochkind1
I wonder if it would be possible to do something like this that had transparent end-to-end encryption.
bovermyer
Very cool idea, but without background file syncing from/to my local machine, it can't replace my cloud storage provider.
kardianos
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
Stop paying for clothes, make your own instead!
ks2048
I pay Dropbox $120 per year for 2TB. No transfer fees, solid Apps, macOS integration, free APIs. How much on S3? A LOT more.
voidUpdate
"Stop paying for Dropbox/Google Drive, pay for an S3 bucket instead"
vitalscope
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.
gargan
May I recommend the excellent https://s3drive.app/ which is compatible with S3 and also providers like Proton Drive