Cloud storage has become an integral part of the modern digital world, providing convenient and secure storage options. Such platforms automate the work of the company, allowing you to share important data with colleagues and partners. In this article we will look at Nextcloud, one of the popular cloud storage services, and compare it with other analogues, identifying advantages and disadvantages.
Nextcloud: Personal Cloud
According to Nextcloud itself, it has been installed and used on more than 400,000 servers. This makes it one of the popular open source software for creating your own cloud storage. The service provides opportunities for storing files, calendars, contacts, and much more.
Nextcloud scales from a 2-user Raspberry Pi to globally distributed networks with tens of millions of users across large hosting providers. The platform is also available in a web version, on Android, IOS, Windows, MacOS and Linux.
Service characteristics include:
- Open source and APIs that give organizations the ability to set up their own server and control data.
- Ability to create and manage a website using an integrated content management system (CMS).
- Supports viewing and editing documents.
- Integration with the Outlook email client.
- A mechanism for tracking changes in downloaded files.
- Ability to view statistics and server activity.
- Full-text search by file contents.
- Built-in virus protection through internal antivirus.
Advantages
- Control over data.
Nextcloud gives users complete control over their data. Unlike many commercial cloud services, where data is stored on company servers, this service allows you to create personal clouds on your own servers, ensuring maximum privacy and security. - Advanced collaboration capabilities.
Nextcloud provides a wide range of data processing features, including collaborative document editing, sharing files with your team, and integration with various applications for improved productivity. The platform also allows you to make video calls. - Increased security.
The software solution offers a variety of innovative security technologies, including integrated client-side encryption with enterprise-level key handling and a comprehensive set of security enhancements. Particular attention is also paid to the protection of metadata. - Extensibility and flexibility.
Open source provides the ability to customize and expand functionality according to user needs. This makes it an ideal choice for those looking for flexibility in managing their cloud storage.
Disadvantages
- Technical expertise required.
Installing and configuring Nextcloud requires a certain level of knowledge and skills. This may be difficult for regular users who prefer simpler cloud solutions. - Limited free features.
Although the platform provides a free version, some advanced features and integrations are only available in paid plans, which may turn off some users.
Comparison with other cloud storage
Let’s look at how Nextcloud compares with other popular services.
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| Licensing | Open source open source = any OSI approved license. Anything else is proprietary. | Proprietary open source = any OSI approved license. Anything else is proprietary. | Proprietary open source = any OSI approved license. Anything else is proprietary. | Proprietary open source = any OSI approved license. Anything else is proprietary. | |||||
| Unlimited storage and amount of files Limits imposed by either the purchased plan or your own infrastructure when self-hosting |
| Varies per plan | |||||||
| Large file support | 10GB | 20GB | |||||||
| Self hosted / on premises |
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| Global Scalability Sharding across clusters and data centers |
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| Clients | |||||||||
| Mobile clients |
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| Auto upload Images/Video/other files | / / | / / * | / / * | / / * | |||||
| Desktop clients |
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| LAN synchronization | |||||||||
| Extensible with Apps Allows third party to write apps that integrate apps in the cloud itself, adding functionality |
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| Server features | |||||||||
| Unified Search Cross-application search (Calendars, mails, chat messages, files etc) |
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| File versioning | limited | limited Only for MS Office files | limited Max 1 month, up to 1 year with Business subscription | ||||||
| File locking/Checkout Block a file temporarily from being edited while you work offline with it |
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| Multiple link shares | |||||||||
| Share note Add a note for the share | |||||||||
| Dashboard Dashboard app with overview of info like recent files, chats, calendar items and more | |||||||||
| View PDF, Images, Video, Gallery | |||||||||
| Integrated Audio/Video/Text chat | / / | / / | / / | / / | |||||
| Integrated Groupware (Calendar / Contacts / Mail / Kanban) | / / / | / / / | / | / /
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| Mobile calendar/Contact integration | /
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| Online Office web/ Mobile apps Online Office web / mobile apps | /
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| / Microsoft Office 365 | |||||
| Knowledge management A knowledge base/wiki with articles/pages, sub pages, search and other basic knowledge base functionality is available | |||||||||
| Forms and surveys The platform allows creating forms and surveys and store and display the results | |||||||||
| User-managed groups Normal users can create and manage groups without having to rely on the system administrator, a power user or a group admin | |||||||||
| File Drop (customer file upload) Public link to folder recipient can upload to, which hides existing content of the shared folder | |||||||||
| Video verification Protect public links with Video Verification | |||||||||
| Inter-server sharing Sharing between separate cloud instances of different vendors. Example, Nextcloud users can share files with users on Pydio and ownCloud servers. | |||||||||
| Workspaces Add context to a folder by having a space to add comments, notes and todo lists | * | ||||||||
| Accessibility | |||||||||
| Keyboard/Screen reader support | |||||||||
| WCAG 2.1 support | AA/AAA AAA with optional theme | ||||||||
| Dyslexia-friendly font | |||||||||
| Admin features | |||||||||
| Access control lists Permissions on files and folders, inherited by default, can be overridden at any level. | |||||||||
| Content workflow automation | Only via third party app | limited to admins | limited to admins | ||||||
| Approval process workflow | |||||||||
| Cryptographic document signatures Request documents signed with DocuSign or another technology |
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| Automatic script execution | |||||||||
| Impersonate users | |||||||||
| Real time notifications files created, updated, shared, unshared and deleted by user or others, chat or call received etc. | |||||||||
| Monitoring web/API interface | / | / | / | / | |||||
| Data retention policy support | limited Max 6 months | ||||||||
| Long term support (5-10 years) Life cycle matching your operating system | N.A. Hosted only, customer has no control over when/what changes | N.A. Hosted only, customer has no control over when/what changes | N.A. Hosted only, customer has no control over when/what changes | ||||||
| Branding |
| very limited | very limited | ||||||
| Compliance features | |||||||||
| Audit trail Mandatory if you have a legal requirement to find out who did what and when | |||||||||
| Imprint and privacy links |
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| Built in data-request/account deletion |
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| Terms-of-service |
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| Security features | |||||||||
| Server side encryption | |||||||||
| Client side / End-to-end encryption |
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| Video Verification |
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| Brute force hacking protection | |||||||||
| NIST compliant password policy | |||||||||
| Web UI secured with CSP 3.0 | |||||||||
| Same-site cookie attribute | |||||||||
| File Access Control | |||||||||
| App access rights Allow restricting mobile/desktop/third party applications access to filesystem or other data | |||||||||
| Authentication | |||||||||
| Enforceable 2-factor authentication | U2F/OTP/SMS Signal/Telegram notifications Supports multiple factors | U2F/OTP/SMS notifications Multiple factors | U2F/OTP/SMS notifications Supports multiple 2nd factor options | SMS/U2F/OTP | |||||
| ML based suspicious login detection Uses machine learning technology to protect authentication | |||||||||
| LDAP/AD | |||||||||
| Native SAML Native SAML is implemented directly in the application without a requirements on external software like Apache modules. Native SAML is compatible with all webservers and supports group memberships, flexible session management, multiple identity providers and app specific passwords. | |||||||||
| Auth via env variable Authentication through Apache modules allows eg SAML/ShibbolethADFS, OAuth, OpenID, CAS and more. | |||||||||
| Kerberos | |||||||||
| Storage | |||||||||
| File storage (local/NFS) | |||||||||
| Object storage (S3/Swift) | |||||||||
| CIFS/Windows Shares |
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| Sharepoint | 2013/2016 | ||||||||
| Extensible storage | |||||||||
*Based on publicly available information collected as of July 1, 2021.
Depending on your needs and level of technical expertise, Nextcloud provides unique benefits for managing your cloud data. However, when deciding between it and other cloud storage services, it is important to consider both the pros and cons of each option.
