Foldr vs FileCloud

Remote access to your file servers: Foldr or FileCloud?

FileCloud is an enterprise file sharing and sync product that can also work in front of your Windows file servers. Foldr starts from the file servers and the cloud storage you already have, and puts one web, drive and mobile front end on top of them.

Both can be self-hosted or hosted, and both can carry NTFS permissions through to remote users, so the useful questions are how much of FileCloud’s sync-and-share product you need, and which of the two fits the rest of your storage. See the other comparisons.

Topic
Foldr
FileCloud
Where files live
Wherever they already do: SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, Google Drive, S3, Azure Blob, SMB, Box, Dropbox and more. Foldr is a layer in front. On Foldr Cloud you can also start with storage we host.
FileCloud Server supports local storage, network shares (CIFS and NFS) and object storage such as S3 and Azure Blob. FileCloud describes its product as “a file repository for your business providing team folders, sync, secure sharing, and collaboration.”
Migration
None for files on your own storage. You connect it, or disconnect it, without moving a file.
Optional. FileCloud supports a managed storage mode and a network-share (file gateway) mode, and says network share integration helps “reduce migration costs and carry over network share permissions.”
Permissions
Where Foldr connects as the signed-in person (SMB, Microsoft 365, and Google Drive when it uses their account), the storage’s own permissions can still say no. Where Foldr uses a service or machine account with ACL checking switched on (an SMB share can be set that way), it reads the file server’s ACLs and checks the person’s NTFS permissions itself, and the share’s own permissions in Foldr add a further limit. Where the storage has no permissions of its own, you set who sees what once, per share, in Foldr.
FileCloud lists “remote access to existing Windows File servers, preserving user NTFS permissions.” Its pricing table lists network share support with NTFS integration against FileCloud Server, and not against FileCloud Online.
Identity
SAML (including Google Workspace) and Microsoft Entra on Foldr Cloud and the appliance; Active Directory, LDAP and Kerberos on the appliance.
SAML 2.0, Microsoft NTLM and ADFS sign-in, Active Directory or LDAP for users and groups, and two-factor sign-in.
Document editing
Edit wherever Foldr reaches the file, in Office for the web, Office Online Server or Google Workspace where you have them, or in Foldr Bureau. Bureau opens Word, Excel and PowerPoint files (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX), the OpenDocument formats, CSV and text in the browser on Foldr’s own engines, so nothing goes through Microsoft or Google, and it runs on an appliance with no route out to the internet. It edits DOCX and ODT documents, XLSX, ODS and CSV spreadsheets, and PPTX and ODP presentations. Saves leave the parts of a file you did not change as they were (an ODP save drops its stale thumbnail). The editors are beta today, and Word, Excel and PowerPoint on the desktop work alongside them.
Edit from Word, Excel or PowerPoint with the Microsoft Office add-on, or open and edit in the browser through Microsoft Office Online Server or LibreOffice.
AI assistant
Grace. Answers from the shares you’ve chosen to index and from files she reads directly for the person asking. Her live reads use the person’s storage permissions; answers from the index follow the share’s search-visibility setting and the permissions held at the last crawl. Can also draft an automation and when it runs; you review it and switch it on. From Business, an AI assistant that speaks MCP can read your files through Connected Apps, as the signed-in person and with exactly their permissions.
FileCloud’s site lists Smart Classification and content classification. We found no assistant that answers questions over your files.
Document capture
Captur. Intelligent extraction by default, templates for high-volume layouts. Native positional reading of text PDFs; OCR fallback for scans. MaSH routes the result.
Not covered on the vendor pages we checked. See their current documentation.
External sharing and signing
Public links with expiry, passwords and field collection on every tier. Forms from Business. Folio portals and Foldr Sign on Enterprise (add-ons on Business). People you reach by link never take a seat.
Public, private and time-limited shares, and FileCloud says external users are unlimited and do not add to your licence cost.
Automation
Three surfaces, one engine. Mashup is the visual block editor; MaSH is the plain-text script checked into source control; Grace is the verbal route via the AI assistant. You can move a workflow between them, though turning a script back into visual cards may simplify or lose code the cards cannot draw. Bundle with shares and fields into a Foldr Flow file.
FileCloud lists workflow automation and approval workflows; its pricing table shows a limit of three workflows on some plans.
Deploy
Self-hosted virtual appliance for your own datacentre, your own cloud account, or an air-gapped network, or fully managed Foldr Cloud with UK and EU data residency. The same Foldr Next on either; a few things follow the deployment, and we tell you which before you choose. Configuration travels between them via Foldr Flow.
Two ways: FileCloud Server, which you run on Windows or Linux on your own infrastructure or a public cloud, and FileCloud Online, hosted by FileCloud in a region you choose. A hybrid option is listed too.
Pricing model
Foldr Cloud per-seat tiers, or a fixed annual licence on the appliance. Disconnect Foldr and files on your own storage are still where they were; files kept in Foldr Storage you copy out first.
Per user, billed annually, in Essentials and Advanced tiers with a minimum licence count. See their pricing page for the figures.
Best fit
Estates that don’t want vendor lock-in, that need to keep files on their own storage for privacy or compliance, or that need a self-hosted option. Existing SharePoint, S3, SMB or mixed estates that don’t want to migrate.
Organisations that want a full sync-and-share product with sync clients, team folders and a compliance centre, with the option to run it themselves.

The FileCloud column comes from filecloud.com (home and pricing pages), read on 28 October 2026. Where their pages said nothing, or were unclear, we say so instead of guessing.

Where Foldr differs

A front end for what you have, rather than a repository of its own.

Files stay put

Both can leave your files where they are.

FileCloud’s network-share (file gateway) mode also leaves files where they are, alongside its managed storage mode. Both work with the storage you already run, so the comparison is coverage and deployment. Foldr connects SMB, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, Google Drive, S3, Azure Blob, Box, Dropbox, WebDAV and SFTP, hosted on Foldr Cloud or self-hosted on an appliance. FileCloud Server lists network shares (CIFS and NFS) with NTFS integration, and S3-compatible and Azure storage; FileCloud also offers a hosted Online service. (Foldr Cloud can also host files for you.)

One permissions rule on SMB

On a file server, the server can still decide.

On SMB, Foldr can connect as the signed-in person, so the file server’s own NTFS permissions still say no, or use a service or machine account with ACL checking switched on. For a public link, Foldr rechecks the creator’s current access to the share each time; the file-server connection follows the share’s configured identity and ACL setting.

Cloud storage as well

SharePoint, OneDrive and Google Drive sit alongside the file server.

Foldr connects Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams), Google Drive, S3, Azure Blob, Box and Dropbox next to your SMB shares, with search, Grace, forms and signing working across all of them. Native desktop apps for Windows and macOS mount the storage as a drive, and there are native iOS and Android apps.

Outside people and governance

Folio portals take no seats, and Governance adds approvals and labels.

FileCloud says external users are unlimited and add nothing to your licence cost. In Foldr, people you reach by public link or secure link never take a seat on any plan, so those external users are unlimited and free. A Folio portal for clients and partners is also unlimited and seat-free (Folio is included on a self-hosted Business licence and is an add-on on Foldr Cloud Business). For compliance, FileCloud lists a Compliance Center. Foldr Governance adds multi-step approvals, sensitivity labels that can stop a file being downloaded or copied to another share, a record of every decision, and Disclose for subject access and FOI requests; reviews and approvals come with Enterprise and Governance is an add-on.

When FileCloud is the right answer

You want desktop sync on Linux.

FileCloud lists desktop sync for Windows, Mac and Linux, and Foldr’s documented desktop apps are for Windows and macOS, so a Linux desktop fleet points to FileCloud. Foldr is built around working on files in place: its desktop apps mount your storage as a drive and keep chosen files and folders available offline, and there are native iOS and Android apps. Both have a compliance story, and which one suits you depends on what you need it to do.

Curious whether Foldr would fit?

Try it free for 30 days, no credit card. Or get in touch about self-hosting.