Google has never released an official Google Drive client for Linux. That sucks for a lot of Linux users in the Google ecosystem.
As a Linux user, if you want to access your Google Drive on desktop you usually end up:
- testing out many apps to find the right client for you needs
- settling for using the web interface and managing your files from your browser
- writing your own client
Luckily for the Linux community there are many programs that allows you to bring your Google Drive to your desktop, both FOSS and non-FOSS. We’re mentioned in most of them, but we wanted to highlight our own take on Google Drive for Linux and give you a more in-depth showcase of what we are offering you.
If you want to learn more about these apps, here are lists from Ubuntupit, howtogeek and itsfoss that you can check out.
We'll talk about our own Google Drive client for Linux. Insync is a cross-platform Google Drive sync client that works well on Linux: Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, Fedora & headless.
📋 Insync is a feature-rich and flexible Google Drive client for Linux
Sync files to and from your Linux and other platforms
Use Insync to sync and maintain your files both locally and in Drive across different operating systems: Linux, Windows, and macOS.
A Google Drive desktop file manager
Manage your Google Drive with a GUI that acts just like a file manager. Say goodbye to all those tabs you have to switch between.
Sync multiple accounts
Access multiple Google Drive accounts in just one window. Sync files from all your accounts!
“[I have] multiple email accounts and Google Drive accounts. [I] need to be seamlessly in the cloud so that documents are accessible anywhere…]
-- James H., company director and consultant
Selective syncing
Tailor-fit your Google Drive downloads by selectively syncing files and folders.
“I’m on Linux and needed real-time access to my Google Drive with selective sync. GNOME’s built-in options don’t allow selective sync, and I like how seamlessly my Drive folder is integrated with my filesystem using Insync.”
-- J.G., student
Symlink support
If you’re a power-user and would like to use symlinks with your Google Drive, we support that too.
❤️ We support the most common Linux distros
Our GUI fully supports the most common 64-bit Linux distros:
- Ubuntu 16.04 and later
- Linux Mint 18.x and later
- Debian Stretch (9) and later
- Fedora 27 and later
Full support means that we will regularly release updates for these distributions. These updates also undergo rigorous testing and QA before release. Our team of engineers will also be able to help troubleshoot issues from these distros.
We will still offer minor support for some distros. However, we won’t be releasing any updated installers nor will we be able help much in terms of troubleshooting and bugs.
As much as we’d want to support as many distributions as we can, it’s hard to maintain support across numerous distros and versions. This would take a lot of bandwidth and efforts from our engineers that we can instead use to build up and improve the quality of our app.
👩💻 Go Headless!
Don’t fret though! We have Insync headless for users whose distros aren't supported or for those who prefer to work out of the command line.
If you want to learn more about how to utilize Insync’s command line interface, you can check out our help center article.
💸 We know we’re not FOSS…
We know that free and open-source is one of Linux’s core philosophies...which is why a lot of Linux users are on the fence about us. However, as a commercial product, what we can promise you are the following:
- Dedicated support -- unlike free and open-source alternatives, we have a dedicated support team to help you have the best and most seamless Insync experience possible.
- Continuous development -- the money that you pay for your license goes to hiring amazing developers who continuously develop our app.
- Reliability -- you paid for our app, so that means we have to deliver continuous reliable service to make us worth it.
