Nextcloud vs ownCloud
Nextcloud and ownCloud share a history: ownCloud began in 2010, and in 2016 co-founder Frank Karlitschek left, forked the project and started Nextcloud. Nextcloud GmbH in Stuttgart builds an AGPL-licensed workspace with files, office, chat, calls and groupware. ownCloud GmbH in Regensburg, now owned by Kiteworks, centres on file sync and share, with Infinite Scale and a hosted service in Germany.
Choose Nextcloud if
you want one self-hosted workspace with files, Nextcloud Office, Talk chat and video calls, calendar, contacts and mail, all under the AGPL, with enterprise prices published on the vendor's site.
Read the Nextcloud reviewChoose ownCloud if
file sync and share is the core need, you want to choose between Collabora Online, ONLYOFFICE and Microsoft 365 as the web editor, or you want a hosted service run in Germany by the vendor.
Read the ownCloud reviewNextcloud and ownCloud side by side
| Nextcloud | ownCloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Nextcloud GmbH | ownCloud GmbH (acquired by Kiteworks) |
| Headquarters | Stuttgart, Germany | Regensburg, Germany |
| Founded | Not stated in our data | 2010 |
| Jurisdiction | EU (Germany) | EU (Germany) |
| Where the data sits | Self-hosted, or a managed provider you choose | Germany (ownCloud.online hosting), or self-hosted wherever you choose |
| Pricing | Free (self-hosted) / enterprise plans available | Community Edition free, self-hosted, unlimited users, 100% open source / Enterprise and Standard from 25 users, annual commitment, quote-based / ownCloud.online hosted plans from 1 user, quote-based / volume and education licensing on request, from about €1.85/user/year |
| Entry-level list price (vendor site, checked 30 September 2026) | Nextcloud Enterprise Standard: EUR 71.29 per user per year, starting at 100 users (listed as 71.29€/user/year) | Quote only (Standard and Enterprise from 25 users, annual commitment billed yearly; ownCloud.online plans show no price) |
| Free tier or trial | Free self-hosted | 30-day free trial (Enterprise); 14-day free trial (ownCloud.online) |
| Certifications and checks | GDPR (depends on hosting) | Not stated in our data |
| Source code | Open source (AGPL) | Open source (Apache 2.0 (Infinite Scale core)) |
| Usually replaces | Microsoft 365, Google Workspace | Dropbox Business, Box, Microsoft SharePoint |
| Position in our Office Suites guide | #6 of 11 | #9 of 11 |
Both are listed in our European Office Suites guide. The table is built from the same directory data as those entries, except the list price, which is quoted from each vendor's own pricing page (see Sources below); how we check it is described in the editorial process.
Where Nextcloud and ownCloud differ
Across the five points below, Nextcloud has the edge on 1 point, ownCloud on 1 point and 3 are a tie. A count like that is a summary, not a verdict: the point that matters to you may be the one the other product wins.
How much of the workspace is included
Nextcloud presents Files, Talk for chat and video calls, Groupware for calendar, contacts and mail, Nextcloud Office and a local AI assistant as parts of one hub. ownCloud's edition comparison lists calendar and contacts as optional apps, and it presents Infinite Scale as a file platform built around Spaces, tags and full-text search. As a single workspace to replace an office cloud, Nextcloud's scope is wider.
Edge: Nextcloud
Document editing
Nextcloud Office is now powered by Euro-Office, offered alongside Collabora Online since Nextcloud Hub 26 Spring, with a desktop client announced as coming soon. ownCloud's Web Office integrates ONLYOFFICE, Collabora Online, Microsoft 365 and Office Online Server. Both leave the editing engine to partner technology, so the result for complex files depends on the editor you pick more than on the platform hosting it.
No clear winner on this point.
Growing large
ownCloud describes Infinite Scale as a rewrite in Go with microservices and a three-tier design separating storage, backend and frontend, built for containers and hybrid clouds. Nextcloud states that its platform scales from a home server to enterprise deployments with millions of users. Neither vendor publishes comparable benchmarks, so an organisation planning a very large estate should load-test both on its own storage.
No clear winner on this point.
Hosting run by the vendor
ownCloud.online is ownCloud's own hosted service, fully hosted in Germany: a plan for 1 to 4 users with 500 GB, and a team plan from 5 users with 1,000 GB, each with a 14-day trial; no amounts are shown on the pricing page. Nextcloud's free accounts come from certified partner providers, not from Nextcloud GmbH itself. For a vendor-run hosted service, ownCloud has the direct offer.
Edge: ownCloud
Enterprise pricing and support
Nextcloud publishes its enterprise prices: Standard EUR 71.29, Premium EUR 104.99 and Ultimate EUR 204.75 per user a year, each starting at 100 users, with response times from two business days down to one hour. ownCloud's Standard and Enterprise editions start at 25 users on annual commitments, priced on quote, with 9x5 or 12x5 support and a two-hour reaction time. Smaller organisations may reach ownCloud's minimum sooner.
No clear winner on this point.
When neither Nextcloud nor ownCloud fits
If nobody on the team will run a server and what you need is the editor rather than a file platform, look elsewhere. OnlyOffice DocSpace has a free Startup cloud plan, and CryptPad is an open-source collaborative office suite with end-to-end encryption.
Nextcloud vs ownCloud: questions
ownCloud started as an open-source project in 2010 and became a company in 2011. In 2016 Frank Karlitschek, one of its three co-founders, left, forked the project and started Nextcloud that June. He is still Nextcloud GmbH's managing director in Stuttgart; ownCloud GmbH is based in Regensburg.
ownCloud GmbH in Regensburg still publishes the software, but its site announces the Kiteworks acquisition, and a Kiteworks Open Source Program Office now runs open-source strategy under the ownCloud brand. Kiteworks announced that it had closed the ownCloud deal at the same time as buying Maytech and agreeing to buy DRACOON.
Yes. Nextcloud states that all its enterprise plans are fully open source under the AGPL. ownCloud's Infinite Scale repository is licensed under Apache 2.0, and its Community edition is free with unlimited users. ownCloud's Standard and Enterprise editions add a commercial licence for core and enterprise modules, from 25 users.
No software makes you compliant by itself; it follows where and how the service runs. Both can be self-hosted wherever you choose. ownCloud also offers ownCloud.online, fully hosted in Germany. Nextcloud's free accounts are run by partner providers, so their terms and data locations apply.
Sources
Facts, prices and plan details on this page were checked on the vendors' own websites on . Prices and plans change; the vendor's current page is authoritative.
- Nextcloud Enterprise pricing page: Standard, Premium and Ultimate prices from 100 users, support response times, AGPL licence (checked 30 September 2026)
- Nextcloud about page: Nextcloud started in June 2016 by Frank Karlitschek and Niels Mache (checked 30 September 2026)
- Nextcloud legal notice: Nextcloud GmbH in Stuttgart with Frank Karlitschek as managing director (checked 30 September 2026)
- Nextcloud Office page: Nextcloud Office powered by Euro-Office alongside Collabora Online since Hub 26 Spring (checked 30 September 2026)
- Nextcloud Hub page: scaling claim from home server to multi-million user deployments (checked 30 September 2026)
- Nextcloud sign-up page: free accounts come from partner providers, not Nextcloud GmbH (checked 30 September 2026)
- ownCloud pricing page: Community, Standard, Enterprise and ownCloud.online plans, hosted in Germany, trials (checked 30 September 2026)
- ownCloud edition comparison: calendar and contacts optional, Collabora Online integration, licences per edition (checked 30 September 2026)
- ownCloud Infinite Scale page: Go and microservice architecture, Spaces, deployment options (checked 30 September 2026)
- ownCloud about page: 2010 founding, 2016 fork by Frank Karlitschek, Kiteworks OSPO (checked 30 September 2026)
- ownCloud imprint: ownCloud GmbH in Regensburg and the Kiteworks acquisition notice (checked 30 September 2026)
- Kiteworks press release: Kiteworks closed the acquisition of ownCloud (checked 30 September 2026)
- ownCloud Infinite Scale licence file: Infinite Scale code under Apache 2.0 (checked 30 September 2026)
- ownCloud home page: Web Office integrations with OnlyOffice, Microsoft 365 and Collabora Online (checked 30 September 2026)
- CryptPad home page: CryptPad is an end-to-end encrypted, open-source collaborative suite (checked 30 September 2026)
- ONLYOFFICE DocSpace pricing page: free Startup cloud plan (checked 30 September 2026)