Two-factor auth starts at a paid tier
Pydio gates MFA and SSO behind paid tiers with a 50-user minimum, so a solo self-hoster cannot simply turn on two-factor at small scale. Cotton ships passkeys and TOTP for free, in the box.
Comparison
Cotton vs Pydio Cells: a personal file cloud versus a microservice groupware platform.
Pydio Cells is a Go microservice content-collaboration platform that indexes the storage you bring - community AGPL plus paid tiers, and Wire-owned since January 2025. Cotton is a single-image personal and small-team file cloud that owns its bytes. This is not a scoreboard with fake certainty; it is a product-fit comparison for self-hosted file cloud decisions.
Server-side only - the host can read everything
Pydio's at-rest encryption is server-side and block-based, and its founder states plainly on the project forum that they do not provide end-to-end encryption. Cotton encrypts every chunk by default and adds optional client-side E2E folders the server cannot read.
One image versus a microservice mesh
Cells is a gRPC microservice mesh with an embedded message bus; to cluster it you bring a database plus several supporting services. Cotton is one Docker image plus Postgres.
Files live in Cells, not a plain root
Pydio organizes files into Workspaces and shareable Cells rather than one plain root tree - great for team sharing, more structure than you may want for solo use. Cotton gives you a normal root, with sharing as a feature rather than a structure to organize around.
Office-doc collaboration, or media you actually keep
Pydio's preview and editor energy goes to office documents - Collabora, and OnlyOffice on the enterprise tier. Cotton leans into audio waveform, STL/OBJ/3MF 3D, HEIC, selectable mobile-PDF text, and video seek on encrypted storage. Pick Pydio for team co-editing; pick Cotton for a personal file cloud with finished media UX.
Decision matrix
Where the tradeoff actually sits.
Cotton does not need to beat every long-established ecosystem on every surface. The useful comparison is narrower: storage behavior, privacy posture, recovery model, deployment shape, and product focus.
Area
Cotton
Pydio Cells
Two-factor auth
Passkeys and TOTP free, in the box.
MFA and SSO gated behind paid tiers with a 50-user minimum.
Encryption
AES-GCM by default plus client-side E2E.
Server-side at-rest only; the founder says no end-to-end.
Deployment
One Docker image plus Postgres.
gRPC microservice mesh; clustering pulls in several services.
Preview focus
Audio waveform, 3D, HEIC, mobile PDF, encrypted video seek.
Office-document collaboration (Collabora, OnlyOffice on enterprise).
Content addressing
Cotton stores file content as chunks and manifests, so deduplication, verification, versions, snapshots, and cleanup share one mental model.
Streaming safety path
Compression and AES-GCM encryption sit in the normal storage path; the site does not sell isolated crypto speed as user-visible ingest speed.
Recovery by references
Snapshots, versions, trash, and reclaim are positioned as ordinary file-cloud workflows, not emergency-only backend chores.
Focused runtime
Cotton deliberately stays narrower than broad collaboration suites: files, previews, sharing, WebDAV, recovery, and operator visibility.
Cotton lane
Pick Cotton for a storage-first file cloud.
Cotton is the cleaner story when files, previews, shares, snapshots, versions, WebDAV, passkeys, admin diagnostics, and a compact Docker/Postgres deployment are the main problem.
Pydio Cells lane
Pick Pydio Cells when its broader lane is the point.
Teams that need groupware-style co-editing and enterprise SSO, now backed by Wire.
You want a focused self-hosted file cloud with content-addressed storage, streaming crypto, snapshots, previews, WebDAV, sharing, passkeys, and a compact Docker deployment.
You need team content-collaboration with co-editing, enterprise identity, and Kubernetes scale over existing storage more than the Cotton storage-engine and recovery-model strengths.
Cotton is not trying to be a bigger suite than Pydio Cells. It is trying to be the sharper file cloud when the file engine itself is the product decision.
If a solo or small-team file cloud with free passkeys/TOTP and default encryption is the goal, Cotton is the sharper bet.
Last reviewed June 2026. Every line below links to its receipt - the actual issue, doc, or commit it came from. Competitors move fast; if a link goes stale, open an issue and we fix it.
Receipts
FAQ
Direct answers
Is Cotton a drop-in replacement for Pydio Cells?
Not always. Cotton is a focused file cloud, not a clone of every app and integration in the older ecosystems. It fits best when file storage, previews, sharing, snapshots, WebDAV, security, and deployment simplicity are the main problem.
Why compare Cotton to established products?
Because people searching for a self-hosted file cloud often start with the familiar names. The comparison makes the tradeoff explicit instead of pretending every product has the same goal.
When should I still choose Pydio Cells?
If you need team content-collaboration with co-editing, enterprise SSO (LDAP/SAML/OIDC), and scale on Kubernetes over existing storage estates, Pydio Cells is built for that and Wire now backs it. Cotton is a personal and small-team file cloud, not a groupware platform.