Rclone is a command-line application for managing files across local storage, cloud services and remote systems. It provides a common interface to a wide range of storage providers, including Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Amazon S3, Backblaze B2 and services supporting standard protocols such as WebDAV and SFTP.
Users configure storage locations known as remotes, then perform operations such as copying, moving, synchronizing and checking files. Rclone can transfer files between two cloud services without storing them permanently on the local computer, and many providers support direct server-side transfers.
The application is particularly useful for scripted backups, cloud migrations and keeping directory trees synchronized. Its one-way synchronization command makes the destination match the source, including removing files that no longer exist at the source. Bidirectional synchronization is also available, although this requires more careful configuration.
Rclone can mount remote storage as a filesystem, giving ordinary Linux applications access to files held in the cloud. Its functionality can be extended through virtual storage backends that add encryption, compression, chunking and other capabilities.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Supports numerous cloud storage providers and standard protocols including S3, SFTP, SMB, FTP and WebDAV.
- One-way directory synchronization through the sync command.
- Bidirectional synchronization using bisync, with change tracking and conflict-handling facilities.
- Copy and move operations between local directories, remote systems and separate cloud accounts.
- Encrypted remote storage using the crypt backend, protecting file contents and names.
- Mount remote storage as a filesystem using FUSE on Linux.
- Check file integrity using hashes and other provider-supported verification mechanisms.
- Resume interrupted operations and use multi-threaded downloads where supported.
- Filter transfers by filename, directory, size, age and other criteria.
- Use server-side copy and move operations when supported by the storage provider.
- Combine storage locations through virtual backends, with support for compression, chunking and hashing.
- Serve files through protocols including HTTP, WebDAV, FTP, SFTP and DLNA.
- Offers an experimental browser-based interface and a remote-control API.
- Provides logging, bandwidth controls, dry-run operations and scripting facilities for automation.
Website: rclone.org
Support:
Developer: Nick Craig-Wood and contributors
License: MIT License
Rclone is written in Go. Learn Go with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Google Drive Clients | |
|---|---|
| Rclone | Sync files and directories to and from Google Drive and more |
| google-drive-ocamlfuse | FUSE filesystem over Google Drive |
| Rclone UI | Cross-platform graphical interface for rclone |
| Grive2 | Fork of the original "Grive" |
| RClone Manager | Graphical interface for managing Rclone remotes |
| KIO GDrive | KDE KIO worker that lets KDE applications access Google Drive |
| jdrivesync | Simple command line tool |
| Drive | Google Drive client for the commandline |
| Celeste | GUI file synchronization client |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
| File Synchronization Tools | |
|---|---|
| Syncthing | Continuous file synchronization program |
| Unison | File-synchronization tool for POSIX-compliant systems |
| Rclone | Command line program to sync files and directories |
| rsync | Fast incremental file transfer |
| Cryptomator | Multi-platform transparent client-side encryption of files in the cloud |
| FreeFileSync | Folder comparison and synchronization software |
| syncBackup | Backup and mirror your drives |
| Seafile | Coud storage system with privacy protection and teamwork features |
| Grsync | Graphical user interface for rsync |
| Lsyncd | Live Syncing Daemon |
| luckyBackup | Backup & sync tool |
| YARsync | Yet Another Rsync |
| Sync-in | File sync and server management |
| osync | Two way filesync script running on Bash |
| Celeste | GUI file synchronization client |
| ByteSync | File synchronization, backup, and deduplication |
| bita | Differential file synchronization over HTTP |
| Spacedrive | File manager powered by a virtual distributed filesystem |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
| S3 File Systems | |
|---|---|
| SeaweedFS | Fast distributed storage system |
| JuiceFS | Distributed POSIX file system |
| ZeroFS | Filesystem that makes S3 your primary storage |
| s3fs | Mount an S3 bucket via FUSE |
| Mountpoint for Amazon S3 | High-throughput file client |
| GeeseFS | POSIX-ish S3 file system |
| gcsfuse | Cloud Storage FUSE |
| rclone | Command line program to sync files and directories |
| Garage | S3-compatible distributed object storage service |
| S3QL | File system that stores all its data online |
| Goofys | S3 backend filey-system interface |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
| S3 Terminal Tools | |
|---|---|
| s5cmd | S3 and local filesystem execution tool |
| claws | Terminal user interface for managing AWS resources |
| s3cmd | Manage objects in Amazon S3 storage |
| Rclone | Command line program to sync files and directories |
| STU | Browse buckets and objects directly from your terminal, preview files, and more |
| stree | Visualize the directory tree structure of an S3 bucket |
| MinIO Client | Work with object storage from a Unix-style shell |
| s3tui | Simple S3 CLI client for file transfers |
| S3ry | AWS S3 interactive terminal client |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
| Command-line FTP Clients | |
|---|---|
| NcFTP | Popular console based user interface File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client program |
| LFTP | Mature open source file retrieving tool |
| termscp | Feature rich terminal file transfer and explorer, with support for SCP/SFTP/FTP/S3 |
| Rclone | Command-line tool for syncing files with cloud storage |
| SuppaFTP | FTP/FTPS client library and built-in command-line FTP client |
| tnftp | Based on the original BSD FTP client |
| cbftp | Advanced, multi-purpose client that focuses on efficient large-scale data spreading |
| lssh | List-based ssh, scp, sftp client |
| lazyftp | Keyboard-driven terminal client for managing FTP transfers |
| atftp | Client/server implementation of the TFTP protocol |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
 LinuxLinks helps you discover the best free and open source software for Linux. Explore our extensive collection of recommended applications, including alternatives to popular proprietary software.We also publish software reviews, Linux tutorials, hardware reviews, free programming books and articles covering the wider open source community. Browse our Linux resources to discover more. Know a useful free and open source Linux application we haven't covered? Suggest a program for inclusion. Has your software been featured on LinuxLinks? Display one of our Featured on LinuxLinks badges on your website or GitHub README. |
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.