ExpanDrive vs libguestfs
ExpanDrive
expandrive.comlibguestfs
libguestfs.orgSide by side
| Figure | ExpanDrive | libguestfs |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $29/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 3 | 2 |
| Spec score · Virtual Drive Software | 8.3 (#6) | 8.7 (#3) |
| Command line | Server Edition includes the exfs command line for mounting, unmounting, listing connections, license registration, and synchronous-write mode. | The functionality is available through guestfish, a scriptable shell, and virt-rescue, an interactive rescue shell. |
| Founded | 2004 | 2009 |
| Support | Free includes community support, Business includes priority email support, and Enterprise includes a dedicated partnership engineer and rapid response. | Users can ask questions on the libguestfs mailing list or IRC channel #guestfs on Libera Chat; Red Hat Enterprise Linux customers are directed to Red Hat Support. |
Plans
In their own words
ExpanDrive
ExpanDrive mounts cloud storage and protocol endpoints as desktop drives, letting you access files through Finder, Explorer, and other applications. Files stream on demand rather than syncing folders, with local caching and an option to pin files for offline access. Listed connections include Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, Nextcloud, FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, and others. It runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux. Server Edition can operate as a headless service on Windows Server and Linux, expose mounted storage as a Windows SMB share, and includes a command line for managing mounts and connections. ExpanDrive says connections use TLS and credentials are kept in the local operating system credential store. Plain FTP sends credentials and file contents in the clear; FTPS or SFTP is recommended for sensitive connections. The Free plan is free, billed forever. Business is $29 a month, billed monthly; Enterprise pricing is custom.
libguestfs
libguestfs is a free library and toolset for working with virtual machine disk images. It can inspect and edit guest files, script changes, create or resize images, make backups, clone virtual machines and build them. The project says it can access almost any disk image, including those from VMware and Hyper-V, and images created by VMware, KVM, qemu, VirtualBox, Xen and other hypervisors; libvirt is not required. Its command-line tools include guestfish, a scriptable shell, and virt-rescue, an interactive rescue shell. The C library has bindings for many languages, with examples for C/C++, Erlang, Go, Java, Lua, OCaml, Perl, Python and Ruby. Guest filesystems are accessed through a Linux kernel in a qemu virtual machine, usually as a non-root user; sVirt with libvirt and SELinux can also be used. It runs on many Linux distributions and Mac OS X, while some virt tools have been ported to Windows. Non-Linux systems may require compiling from source and porting.