---
title: Resilio Sync alternative: Varsto and Resilio Sync compared
nav: Compare
output: compare/resilio-sync/index.html
description: Looking for a Resilio Sync alternative with end-to-end encryption on your own storage (S3, NAS, disks, rclone)? What Resilio Sync is for, how it works, and how it compares with Varsto.
---
    <p class="back-link"><a href="{{P}}compare/">All comparisons</a></p>
    <h1>Varsto and Resilio Sync</h1>
    <p class="lead">Resilio Sync syncs and shares folders between devices peer to peer, built on BitTorrent technology. The free Sync Home edition is for individuals; the company's main business is enterprise file transfer. Resilio was acquired by Nasuni in March 2026.</p>

    <h2>How Resilio Sync works</h2>
    <p>Devices connect directly; there is no account, and folders are shared with keys or links (read-only or read-write). Resilio-run trackers and relays help peers find each other. Data lives on the peers only; Sync Home has no S3 or rclone backend. Selective sync with placeholder files is available, and an "encrypted folder" lets a peer on an untrusted machine store data it cannot read (that peer is read-only and has no selective sync).</p>

    <h2>Side by side</h2>
    <table class="compare-table">
      <thead><tr><th scope="col"></th><th scope="col">Resilio Sync</th><th scope="col">Varsto</th></tr></thead>
      <tbody>
      <tr><th scope="row">Where your files live</th><td>Only on the peers (a NAS or server counts if it runs Resilio).</td><td>On your own devices and on storages you choose: S3-compatible buckets, any rclone remote, local or network directories, and pools of removable disks.</td></tr>
      <tr><th scope="row">Account or central server</th><td>No account; Resilio-run trackers and relays.</td><td>None. There is no Varsto server; devices find each other through your storages and on the LAN.</td></tr>
      <tr><th scope="row">Encryption</th><td>Encrypted in transit; encrypted folders for untrusted peers. Closed source, so not independently verifiable.</td><td>End-to-end, client-side, before anything leaves the device; hybrid post-quantum (ML-KEM for sharing keys, Ed25519 + ML-DSA-65 signatures). Not independently audited yet.</td></tr>
      <tr><th scope="row">Devices online together</th><td>Yes, unless an always-on peer is kept.</td><td>Not needed: devices sync through your storages, and directly peer to peer when they can reach each other.</td></tr>
      <tr><th scope="row">Knows where every copy is</th><td>No tracking of copies or copy counts.</td><td>Yes: a signed ledger records which storage and device holds every block; durability policies (by default 1 copy anywhere, 1 external, 1 on your own devices or disks, checked by another device within 30 days) warn when a rule is not met.</td></tr>
      <tr><th scope="row">Removable and offline disks</th><td>No removable-disk workflow.</td><td>Yes: disk pools are filled, checked and recognised when they come back; files on a disk that is away ask for that disk.</td></tr>
      <tr><th scope="row">Licence and price</th><td>Proprietary; Sync Home is free.</td><td>Source-available (PolyForm Shield 1.0.0), free; you pay only your storage provider.</td></tr>
      <tr><th scope="row">Maturity</th><td>Mature commercial product; its future after the 2026 acquisition is not yet stated.</td><td>Alpha: not for production data, formats may still change.</td></tr>
      </tbody>
    </table>

    <h2>Which one fits</h2>
    <div class="grid two">
      <div class="card"><h3>Resilio Sync</h3><p>Choose Resilio Sync when you want fast BitTorrent-style transfer between always-on machines and easy sharing by key or link, and a closed-source vendor product is acceptable.</p></div>
      <div class="card"><h3>Varsto</h3><p>Varsto's peer-to-peer transfer is modelled on the same idea (encrypted blocks from several peers at once), but it adds your own storages as the always-available copy, a record of where every copy is, durability policies and an open specification of the formats.</p></div>
    </div>
    <p class="note">Varsto is alpha software: do not trust it with data you have no other copy of, and its cryptography has not been independently audited. The other products here are mature. Facts about them were checked from their own documentation in October 2026; prices and plans change often, so see their own pages for current figures. Corrections are welcome on the <a href="{{P}}forum/">forum</a> or on GitHub.</p>

    <h2>Sources</h2>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="https://www.resilio.com/sync/">Resilio Sync website</a></li>
      <li><a href="https://www.resilio.com/blog/understanding-the-sync-encrypted-folder">Encrypted folders</a></li>
      <li><a href="https://www.resilio.com/news/nasuni-acquires-resilio/">Nasuni acquires Resilio</a></li>
    </ul>