Nextcloud The European alternative to Google Drive / Dropbox

Nextcloud is an open-source collaboration platform from German company Nextcloud GmbH in Stuttgart. Nextcloud Hub includes Files (file storage), Talk (chat and video), Groupware (calendar, contacts, mail), Office (with Collabora or ONLYOFFICE), Assistant (local AI), and Flow (workflow automation). The software is designed for self-hosted setups and is used by the German federal administration, the French government, and the EU Commission, among others. Over 400,000 installations are active worldwide.

Nextcloud is primarily a self-hosting solution: data resides on the operator's own hardware or with a hosting partner of their choice. Nextcloud GmbH itself does not operate a cloud service for end users. Certified hosting partners such as Hetzner, IONOS, and mailbox.org offer managed Nextcloud instances in German data centers. The software is open source (AGPL), fully auditable, and can run on a personal server, VPS, or even a Raspberry Pi. The self-hosting model eliminates vendor lock-in and dependency on US cloud providers.

Basic Linux and web server knowledge is helpful for self-installation but not strictly required. Those who do not want to set up their own infrastructure can book managed hosting from certified providers that handle installation, updates, and backups. Hetzner Storage Share, IONOS, and mailbox.org offer such packages from around 5 euros per month. Installation via Docker or Snap package also simplifies operation considerably. For organizations with more than 50 users, Nextcloud Enterprise with commercial support is recommended.