copyparty is an extremely feature-rich file upload and sharing server. Like FriendNet, it has multi-user support and allows downloading files. Unlike FriendNet, users upload and download files to and from the central server rather than sharing files peer-to-peer.
While copyparty is like a feature-packed and compatible Google Drive, FriendNet is a peer-to-peer sharing protocol with servers that only coordinate peer discovery and relay.
| * | FriendNet | copyparty |
|---|---|---|
| Who Stores Files? | Users | Server |
| Sharing Model | Peer-to-peer | Centralized |
| Self-Hosted? | Yes | Yes |
| Users Need to Port Forward? | No | No |
| Supported Platforms | Desktop OSes | Anything with a browser |
Should you use copyparty over FriendNet? Depends on your use-case.
If you only want to share your own files, or you want to allow people to upload to a server directly, copyparty is a better choice.
If you and your friends want to share large collections of files with each other, FriendNet is a better choice. You and your friends do not need to upload any files to share them, as they are downloaded directly from each other.