The rise of cheap cloud storage has given us lots of ways to back up our important files, photos, and digital documents quickly and easily. Cloud storage is usually very safe and secure, but there may be times when you want to back up offline, particularly those sensitive or very private files.

Two of the most popular sync apps, Microsoft SyncToy and FreeFileSync, are both designed to make it easy to automatically back your files up to an external hard drive or flash drive. But which is better?

How Sync Apps Work

Sync apps all work in basically the same way. You create a pair of folders, one on your computer and the other on a separate drive. You add files to the folder on the computer and run the sync software to create a copy in the paired folder on the backup drive.

Any changes made to files in one folder are synced to the corresponding files in the other. You choose to only sync in one direction, which is an option in both apps here, or when you make changes on only the computer or the external storage.

Let's see how these two popular file syncing apps match up.

1. Installation and Setup

Both FreeFileSync and SyncToy are free to download and use. You can download FreeFileSync from the developer's website, but since January 2021, SyncToy can no longer be downloaded directly from Microsoft. Instead, you will need to get it from a software repository such as Filehippo.

Neither app is large, but SyncToy is a significantly smaller file at under 4MB, compared to the 18MB of FreeFileSync. Setup is initiated for both apps by double-clicking the installer.

SyncToy

After installing SyncToy, the app opens to a simple interface. Almost everything will be grayed out except the button you click to create a new folder pair, making it very simple to understand what to do next.

choosing folder pair in SyncToy

After choosing your folder pair, you can choose how your files are synced. You have three options: Synchronize, Echo, and Contribute. Synchronize copies files both ways. Echo copies one way, including renames and deletes. Contribute also copies one way but doesn't copy deletes.

Screenshot showing SyncToy syncing options

With your folder pair set up, you can fine-tune which files are synced and any you want to exclude. You can then click the Run button to sync your files or click Preview to see which files will be included in the sync.

If you want to change how files are synced, you can do so. But if you change the folders in the pair, you need to start over with a new pair.

FreeFileSync

FreeFileSync has a few more options during setup, including which version to use. There is both a local installation and a portable version available. This allows you to carry the software around with you, on a flash drive for example, and run it as needed without installation. There are also a few shortcut options to choose from.

The FreeFileSync interface is quite different from SyncToy, and certainly looks more complicated. But it is clear that there are more options available here.

Your folder pair or pairs are added at the top of the main panel, and files are then synced by clicking the large Synchronize button. Changing either folder in the pair is as easy as clicking the browse button and choosing a new destination.

screenshot of the FreeFileSync interface

As with SyncToy, there are multiple ways to synchronize your files. In FreeFileSync you can change the sync method on the fly, using the drop-down menu next to the button. You can also create a customized sync method in the synchronization settings.

Screenshot showing FreeFileSync ready to sync

Whichever you choose, after syncing the app displays all the copied files with their status in the folder columns.

Winner - FreeFileSync

While both apps are easy to install and relatively easy to start using, SyncToy makes getting started the easiest. FreeFileSync has more options and gives you more information on your synced files.

FreeFileSync definitely has a slightly steeper learning curve if you have never used sync software before, but it isn't overly complicated. And the extra capabilities and options put it ahead of SyncToy.

2. Performance and Sync Speed

To test the sync speeds of SyncToy and FreeFileSync, we used ASUS VivoBook S510 running Windows 11 and a 32GB USB 3.0 flash drive. The files synced were a 540MB mix of PDFs, text files, photos, and a few other random bits. Individual file sizes ranged from 6KB to 120MB.

After running the test on each app, SyncToy came out the winner, with the initial syncing of files taking just over 80 seconds. FreeFileSync wasn't too far behind, taking around 96 seconds. Both are acceptably quick times to copy several hundred individual files.

Screenshot of SyncToy being tested

We also renamed ten files and added or removed text from some of them. Both apps synced the changes in less than 2 seconds.

Winner - SyncToy

Both apps are reasonably quick when syncing large amounts of data. SyncToy is marginally faster, but FreeFileSync gives you more information before, during, and after syncing the files. In terms of pure speed, SyncToy comes out slightly on top here.

Extra Features

SyncToy had perhaps been kept deliberately simple, although it does have a few extra features such as the ability to be used with the Windows Task Scheduler to sync your files on a schedule. FreeFileSync, while not bloated with extra features, does offer a lot more. You can set up batch syncing or scheduled syncing from within the app. You can also set what the app does after synchronization is complete, such as shutting down your computer or logging out.

Screenshot of the freefilesync batch settings

One of the most useful extra things FreeFileSync allows you to do that SyncToy doesn't is sync locked files. If you are using an app while backing up its data using SyncToy, files currently being used will not be synced. This is a definite plus point for FreeFileSync, although you will need to run the software with administrator privileges set.

The availability of a portable version of FreeFileSync is also a plus. There is no SyncToy Portable, although the standard software is tiny and installation quick and simple.

Winner - FreeFileSync

When it comes to additional features, FreeFileSync is the clear leader. Everything extra FreeFileSync includes is a useful addition and makes SyncToy feel even more sparse because of it. SyncToy, which has had no significant updates since 2009, is clearly not something Microsoft has been concentrating on.

SyncToy Vs FreeFileSync - Which is Better?

Despite its lack of updates and seemingly being forgotten by Microsoft, SyncToy does hold up well as a simple file-syncing app. But overall, FreeFileSync provides a better syncing solution. It is more adaptable to individual needs, and includes many more features and settings, but can also be as simple to use as you need. A great low-tech file backup tool.