Nextcloud vs OpenCloud

Nextcloud and OpenCloud both replace Dropbox with a server you run, both keep your files as plain files on disk, and both have desktop and mobile sync clients. They are built on opposite ideas of what that server should be. Nextcloud is a PHP platform that grew from file sync into calendar, contacts, mail, calls and office documents, and it needs a database to do it. OpenCloud is a Go file server, built on ownCloud Infinite Scale's code, that deliberately has no database at all. Decide whether you want a platform or a file server, and most of this comparison is settled.

Where OpenCloud comes from

OpenCloud is the newest project in this category. Its maintainer, OpenCloud GmbH, is part of the Berlin-based Heinlein Group, and the launch announcement in January 2025 says OpenCloud "is based on the cloud-native open source software ownCloud Infinite Scale" and is now being developed further. So its lineage is ownCloud's Go rewrite, not the PHP server Nextcloud forked from in 2016. The code is Apache-2.0, and the FAQ answers "Is OpenCloud 100% open source?" with a plain yes. The company sells support subscriptions; long-term-support releases are only for subscription customers, and there is no paid feature edition.

Storage: no database versus a database

Nextcloud stores files as normal files in its data directory, and everything else, including users, shares and app data, in MariaDB, MySQL or PostgreSQL. A production install usually adds Redis and a background cron job. Backups mean the data directory and a database dump, taken together.

OpenCloud keeps everything on the filesystem. Its requirements page lists the database as "None", and its default storage driver, PosixFS, "saves OpenClouds files and folders in a folder structure how the user sees that in the web interface". Metadata goes into each file's extended attributes and moves to a separate metadata file when it is too large for them. The consequences, per upstream:

• The filesystem must support extended attributes, and network storage must be fully POSIX-compliant (NFS v4.2 or later, mounted with noac).
• In the default mode the folder tree belongs to OpenCloud alone. You may add, remove or rename files by hand only while OpenCloud is stopped, and without losing the extended attributes.
• Backups are a stopped instance plus a copy or snapshot of the config and data directories. The datasheet puts it as "eliminating the need for complex database backups". A search index left out of the backup has to be rebuilt after a restore.

Both give you files you can read without the application. OpenCloud's difference is that there is no second store to keep consistent with them. There is one catch: OpenCloud notes there is currently no way to convert an older install on its previous driver, DecomposedFS, to PosixFS. That only matters for installs made before PosixFS became the default in 2.0.0.

What each one does beyond files

This is where the two differ most.

• Groupware. Nextcloud Hub has calendar, contacts, mail, Deck and Talk for chat and video calls, plus an app store of 200+ apps. OpenCloud has a Radicale module in its compose project that gives every user a CalDAV and CardDAV server, but "OpenCloud does currently not provide any UI to access them". You use any CalDAV/CardDAV client with an app token. Upstream supports that feature on a best-effort basis only, outside its enterprise support. OpenCloud has no chat or calls.
• Office documents. Nextcloud Office, which is Collabora-based, runs inside the platform. OpenCloud edits documents through Collabora over WOPI. The compose project adds a Collabora container with one line in COMPOSE_FILE, and Collabora gets its own subdomain. A community-maintained Euro-Office module also exists, which upstream says it does not officially support.
• Team storage. OpenCloud has Spaces: project storage owned by the organisation rather than by one user, with its own quota and several managers, so a project folder does not vanish when the person who created it leaves.
• Extensibility. Nextcloud's app store against OpenCloud's web extension system, which is much smaller.

Users and sign-in

OpenCloud's built-in identity provider is aimed at installations of up to 500 users. Upstream lists "no Multifactor Authentication (MFA) and no migration path to other IDPs" among its limits and recommends Keycloak for larger or production setups. The compose project has Keycloak and external-IdP modules. Sign-in is OpenID Connect throughout. That is why CalDAV clients, and WebDAV clients that cannot do OIDC, need app tokens, or basic auth, which is off by default. Nextcloud manages users in its own database, with more options added through apps.

Setup and footprint

Both are rated 3 / 5 here.

Nextcloud can be as small as the official nextcloud:apache image and a MariaDB container. Our catalog floor is 1 GB of RAM, and more once Redis, Office and several users are involved.

OpenCloud's recommended install is its opencloud-compose repository: clone it, copy .env.example, set the domains, an admin password and a Let's Encrypt email, list the modules you want in COMPOSE_FILE, and run docker compose up -d. Traefik handles the certificates. For production, the docs say to check out the current stable-* branch, because main tracks the rolling release. They also say to set OC_CONFIG_DIR and OC_DATA_DIR to host directories owned by UID 1000, since the default Docker volumes "may be removed when containers are deleted". Upstream's minimum is 512 MB of RAM and a single 1 GHz core for a bare-metal install of up to 10 users (a Raspberry Pi 3), and 8 GB for up to 1,000 users. Collabora, full-text search and antivirus scanning add to that. Neither app has been through our install sweep for this page, so there are no measured figures here.

OpenCloud releases in three streams. Rolling releases come every three weeks, "for enthusiasts". Production releases come about every six months. LTS releases, with two years of backports, are for subscription customers only. Choose the production image on purpose, because the upstream quick-start commands use the rolling one.

Moving from Nextcloud to OpenCloud

The documented route is rclone: create a Nextcloud app password, create an OpenCloud app token, and rclone copy each user's files across WebDAV. Upstream lists what arrives, which is personal-space files, and what does not: shares, public links, project spaces, trash, file versions and metadata. Calendars and contacts would move separately, through their CalDAV/CardDAV clients. Plan it as a file move, not an upgrade.

Which should you self-host?

Pick Nextcloud if…

• You want files and calendar, contacts, mail, calls and office documents behind one login, as a Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 replacement.
• The app ecosystem matters, and you are happy to run PHP, a database, Redis and cron to get it.

Pick OpenCloud if…

• File sync and sharing is the job, and you want the smallest operational surface for it: one Go service, no database, and backups that are a snapshot of two directories.
• You want organisation-owned Spaces for team data, and office editing through Collabora.
• An Apache-2.0 licence matters to you, and you are fine with calendar and contacts through Radicale and third-party clients.

If you have narrowed it down to the Go servers, see ownCloud vs OpenCloud. The broader platform comparison is Nextcloud vs ownCloud, and Nextcloud vs Seafile covers the other dedicated file server.

Running either on a VPS

Either fits a small VPS for a household. OpenCloud starts at a smaller footprint, but its default compose setup wants a domain per service (OpenCloud, Collabora, the Traefik dashboard), so set up the DNS records first. Nextcloud needs headroom for its database and whatever apps you enable. With either one, put the data directory on a volume you snapshot.