Pulse

If you don't trust online services with your files, you can turn to Pulse for a good alternative. The application is capable of synchronizing data between computers over the Internet, but without storing anything on a cloud server. All transfers are made directly from one machine to another.

The software is free and open source. What's more, it has a strong community behind it, so you can expect to find various improvements. Pulse is available for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris and it doesn't need to be installed. If you opt for the Windows version, you only need to extract its executable and run it.

Pulse comes with a web-based user interface, which has a clean and simple design. Its controls are organized in a logical manner and they are quite easy to understand. The best part is that Pulse doesn't work with IP addresses or other complex settings. Computers can be linked with the aid of unique IDs, which are generated automatically. To add a new computer to the sync list, it is sufficient to paste its ID and type in a name, in the appropriate input fields. Additionally, you can tick an option to use data compression.

Another useful feature is the possibility of marking a machine as an introducer. As a result, if you have other devices configured on that machine, they will be added automatically to the same sync entry. Shared folders and connected computers are displayed in collapsible information panes, in which you can view download and upload rates, CPU or RAM usage and other details.

When adding a new sync folder or editing the properties of an existing one, you can decide to share it with specific machines, if they are already linked with yours. It is also possible to enable simple or staggered file versioning, to prevent changes from your own folder and to ignore permissions.