PlikShare review
A free, self-hosted sharing platform with workspaces, granular permissions and encrypted storage options.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
PlikShare is an open-source file-sharing platform that organizations run on their own infrastructure. Its workspaces, team membership and permissioned sharing boxes suit small teams that need to control access to files. Share links can have expiry dates, passwords and download caps. Browser previews cover PDF, video, audio, Markdown and ZIP contents, while bulk ZIP upload and archive download support larger transfer workflows. It is a sharing-focused option rather than a collaborative editing suite; the category specifications do not list collaborative editing.
Storage flexibility is a central part of the product. Administrators can use local disk or connect AWS S3, Cloudflare R2, DigitalOcean Spaces, Backblaze B2, Azure Blob Storage or Google Cloud Storage. Per-storage encryption modes include AES-256-GCM and full encryption. Trash retention and audit logging add controls for file lifecycle and activity, and OIDC sign-in plus TOTP two-factor authentication support account access safeguards. The browser-based Markdown editor is a useful extra for teams that manage text files alongside other content. OIDC providers, AWS Textract, ChatGPT and MCP clients are also listed among its integrations.
The vendor describes PlikShare as free under the AGPL-3.0 license, with no per-seat pricing; organizations provide and pay for their own infrastructure. That makes it a fit for teams prepared to manage hosting in exchange for control over deployment and storage choices. The tradeoff is operational responsibility: PlikShare is not a hosted service that removes infrastructure management, and support is offered by email. The vendor’s notes also state there are no officially supported desktop or mobile sync clients, so teams that depend on those workflows should consider another option. Choose PlikShare for self-managed, permission-controlled sharing; look elsewhere if you need a sync-client-led workflow or collaborative editing.
PlikShare pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Share links can have expiry dates, passwords and download caps.
- Supports local disk and six named object-storage backends.
- Includes audit logging, file previews and OIDC sign-in with TOTP.
- Where it doesn't
- Organizations provide and pay for their own infrastructure.
- No officially supported desktop or mobile sync clients.
- Support is offered through email.
PlikShare fact sheet, pricing and score →
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