If you’re not sure what WebDAV is, I don’t blame you. It’s not a very well-known protocol outside of the (web) developer sphere. To keep it short, it’s a way to sync small pieces of information between a client and a server. It supports vCard for contacts, iCal for calendar events, vTODO for tasks, and vJournal for notes.
Sadly, as cool as WebDAV is, it’s a bit of a dying breed. I’ve collected the solutions I could find and compiled them into this list. I hope it empowers you to bypass Google (or Apple) and sync your phone to your own server.
Cloud ☁
EteSync
EteSync is a great choice if you don’t want to go through the trouble of setting up and securing your own server. It lets you sync your contacts, calendar and tasks to their cloud for a small monthly fee. If you’re wondering how that’s different from just syncing with your Google account, the answer is privacy. EteSync uses zero–knowledge E2EE – meaning even they can’t see your data.
Although EteSync’s encryption means they can’t share your data with governments, they still have a warrant canary. This shows their dedication to be as transparent as possible with their users.
Fruux
Fruux is not open-source.
Fruux is more aimed at teams and organizations, but like the above options, it also allows you to sync your contacts, calendar and tasks across all your devices (even BlackBerry and Sailfish OS!).
While Fruux claim to encrypt their data even at rest, they make no mention of E2EE, nor are they open-source. Additionally, they use Google Analytics and Amazon servers, which isn’t the best look.
They don’t offer a self-hosted option, but they do offer unlimited storage.
Update 2023:
They have since released the sabre/dav source code, making it possible to self-host it.
Self-hosted servers
Baïkal
Thanks to Fruux‘s open-sourcing of sabre/dav, it is now possible to self-host the service by means of Baïkal. It’s pretty straight forward to setup a basic sync server. From there, all you have to do is point your WebDAV client at your Baikal URL.
Nextcloud
NextCloud is a regular on my lists, due to how extensible it is. It’s on this list because of its built-in WebDAV functionality. You can read more about Nextcloud in my Drive Alternatives list.
Synology DSM
Just like Nextcloud, Synology’s DSM has also been previously discussed on my blog. While it doesn’t have built-in WebDAV like Nextcloud does, they have an add-on to enable support. You can install that addon from their official package store.
If you’re curious about DSM, you can read more about it in the Drive Alternatives list.
Karadav
Karadav is as good looking as a simple self-hosted WebDAV server can get. It’s also more for traditional file syncing than it is for WebDAV, as it allows you to upload, rename, and even edit your files in your little “cloud”. You can even create directories to organize your files.
Like most WebDAV servers, it lets you create user accounts and even set storage size limits for each of them.
Obviously, they’re playing very fast and loose with the definition of “WebDAV” here. They’re using it more for general purpose file storage and sharing. I almost moved it to the Drives Alternatives list, but I decided it was more relevant here. That list is way more populated than this one anyway.
Vdirsyncer
If you’re anti-GUI, you’ll probably like Vdirsyncer. It’s an entirely CLI-based WebDAV server. This of course should make it faster and more light-weight than GUI-based alternatives. Sure, WebDAV servers in general tend to be pretty light-weight, but this is even lighter.
Its main selling point is offline support. It allows you to view your synced information even when not connected to your sync server.
Syncall
The biggest hurdle to WebDAV adoption is waiting for projects to support WebDAV. That may automatically discount many of your favorite calendars or note-taking apps. That’s where syncall comes in. Syncall allows you to sync pretty much any service to any service with minimal setup. That’s because it was built from the beginning to be extendible and interoperabled.
I haven’t tried this one myself, so I can’t speak to the ease of implementation. Though I would guess it’s on the more difficult end of the spectrum compared to other options on this list.
Android Clients
DAVx5
DAVx5 is a pretty nifty tool that replaces Android’s default syncing behavior. It allows you to sync your calendar, contacts, tasks and even notes to a server of your choice (although the last two require a specific note-taking app). It’s completely open-source and even allows you to sync with iOS devices. That way you can have your info available no matter what device you’re on.
EasySync
Like Karadav, EasySync uses WebDAV to sync any kind of file, not just ones traditionally associated with WebDAV. This makes them a great pairing if you’re not a Nextcloud user.
Serverless
DecSync
DecSync lets you sync to a file, working in the same way SyncThing does.