Nextcloud
Nextcloud file manager
DevelopersNextcloud GmbH.,[1] Community
Stable release
Server33.0.0[2]  / 18 February 2026
Android33.0.0[3]  / 18 February 2026
iOS33.0.2[4]  / 24 February 2026
Desktop4.0.6[5]  / 22 January 2026
Written inPHP, JavaScript
Operating systemServer: Linux
Clients: Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, Android, iOS
Available in60 languages
TypeOnline storage, data synchronization, Collaboration, video conferencing, Groupware
LicenceAGPL-3.0-only
Websitenextcloud.com
Repository

Nextcloud is a suite of client-server software for creating and using file hosting services. It can integrate with the Collabora Online and OnlyOffice office suites. It can be hosted in the cloud or on premise and can scale up to millions of users.[6][7][8] It has been translated into over 100 languages.[9]

Features

Nextcloud files are stored in conventional directory structures, accessible via WebDAV if necessary. A SQLite, MySQL/MariaDB or PostgreSQL database is required to provide additional functionality like permissions, shares, and comments.[10]

Nextcloud can synchronize with local clients running Windows (Windows 8.1 and above),[11] macOS (10.14 or later), Linux and FreeBSD. Nextcloud permits user and group administration locally or via different backends like OpenID[12][13] or LDAP.[14] Content can be shared inside the system by defining granular read/write permissions between users and groups. Nextcloud users can create public URLs when sharing files.[15]

Logging of file-related actions, as well as disallowing access based on file access rules is also available.[16]

Security options like brute-force protection and multi-factor authentication using TOTP, WebAuthn, Oauth2,[17] and OpenID Connect[12][18][19] are available.

Nextcloud has planned new features such as monitoring capabilities, full-text search and Kerberos authentication, as well as audio/video conferencing, expanded federation and smaller user interface improvements.[20]

History

In April 2016 Frank Karlitschek and most core contributors [21] left ownCloud Inc.[22] These included some of ownCloud's staff according to sources near to the ownCloud community.[23] Karlitschek and many of these contributors went on to fork ownCloud, creating Nextcloud.[23]

The fork was preceded by a blog post of Karlitschek announcing his departure and raising questions about the management of the ownCloud, its community, and priorities between growth, money, and sustainability.[22] There have been no official statements about the reason for the fork. However, Karlitschek mentioned the fork several times in a talk at the 2018 FOSDEM conference and in two appearances on the FLOSS Weekly podcast,[24][25] emphasizing cultural mismatch between open source developers and business oriented people not used to the open source community.[26]

On June 2, within 12 hours of the announcement of the fork, the American entity "ownCloud Inc." announced that it is shutting down with immediate effect, stating that "[...] main lenders in the US have cancelled our credit. Following American law, we are forced to close the doors of ownCloud, Inc. with immediate effect and terminate the contracts of 8 employees." ownCloud Inc. accused Karlitschek of poaching developers, while Nextcloud developers such as Arthur Schiwon stated that he "decided to quit because not everything in the ownCloud Inc. company world evolved as I imagined".[27] ownCloud GmbH continued operations, secured financing from new investors and took over the business of ownCloud Inc.[28]

In April 2018 Informationstechnikzentrum Bund (ITZBund) reported Nextcloud won the tender for "Bundescloud" (Germany government cloud) project.[29][30]

In August 2019 it was announced that the governments of France, Sweden and the Netherlands would use Nextcloud for file transfer.[31]

In January 2020 Nextcloud 18 "Nextcloud Hub" was released. The major change was direct integration with an Office suite (OnlyOffice) and Nextcloud announced that their goal was to compete with Office 365 and Google Docs.[32] A partnership with Ionos was revealed – its hosting location in Germany and compliance with GDPR should support the goal of data sovereignty.[33]

In spring 2020 remote work and web conferencing usage increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Nextcloud released version 19 with chat and videoconferencing Talk app integrated into the application core. Communication with an optional "high performance back-end" [34] allows self-hosting of web conferences with more than 10 participants. Collabora Online was introduced as another integrated office suite.

In August 2021 Nextcloud was chosen as a collaboration platform for European cloud software GAIA-X.[35][36][37][38]

In a September 2021 European Commission report it was mentioned as "the most widely deployed Open Source content collaboration platform"[39]

Following the 2025 United States tariffs against the European Union, fear of overreliance on US cloud providers such as Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace increased, with Nextcloud being one of the foremost contenders to replace them.[40] Some governmental organisations including the European Data Protection Supervisor and the German state of Schleswig-Holstein have since switched from Microsoft's Sharepoint to Nextcloud.[41] According to Nextcloud, during the first 5 months of 2025, customer interest in the software had tripled.[42]

See also

References

  1. "Official Company Website".
  2. nextcloud-releases. "Release v33.0.0 · nextcloud-releases/server".
  3. nextcloud. "Release 33.0.0 · nextcloud/android".
  4. nextcloud. "Release Version 33.0.2 · nextcloud/ios".
  5. nextcloud. "Release Release 4.0.6 · nextcloud/desktop".
  6. "System requirements – Nextcloud latest Administration Manual latest documentation". docs.nextcloud.com.
  7. Nestor, Marius (2021-03-25). "Canonical, Collabora, and Nextcloud Deliver Work From Home Solution to Raspberry Pi Users". 9to5Linux. ...fully pre-configured and automatically updated in time so you won't have to do any manual maintenance on it
  8. Nextcloud Global Scale explained
  9. "The Nextcloud translation project on Transifex". explore.transifex.com.
  10. "Database configuration – Nextcloud latest Administration Manual latest documentation". docs.nextcloud.com.
  11. "Desktop Client System Requirements".
  12. Schießle, Björn. "Nextcloud and OpenID-Connect". www.schiessle.org.
  13. "Social Login – Apps – App Store – Nextcloud". apps.nextcloud.com.
  14. "User authentication with LDAP – Nextcloud latest Administration Manual latest documentation". docs.nextcloud.com.
  15. "File Sharing – Nextcloud latest User Manual latest documentation". docs.nextcloud.com.
  16. "File Access Control – A firewall for your private files in Nextcloud". 25 August 2016.
  17. "OAuth2 – Nextcloud latest Administration Manual latest documentation". docs.nextcloud.com.
  18. user_oidc, Nextcloud, 2022-11-30
  19. "Brute force protection – Nextcloud latest Administration Manual latest documentation". docs.nextcloud.com.
  20. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (14 December 2016). "Nextcloud adds security and scalability to its private cloud offering". ZDNet.
  21. GitHub (1 June 2016). "Contribution overview to Nextcloud Server".
  22. Frank Karlitschek (27 April 2016). "big changes: I am leaving ownCloud, Inc. today". blog.
  23. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (2 June 2016). "OwnCloud founder forks popular open-source cloud". ZDNET.
  24. "TWiT – FLOSS Weekly 755 – Nextcloud".
  25. "TWiT – FLOSS Weekly Episode 513 – Nextcloud Update".
  26. Frank Karlitschek (4 February 2018). "Why I forked my own project and my own company".
  27. Swapnil Bhartiya (6 June 2016). "What we can learn from ownCloud's collapse". CIO.com. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016.
  28. "ownCloud Secures Financing and Expands its Management Team – ownCloud". 14 July 2016.
  29. online, heise (17 April 2018). "Bundescloud: Open-Source mit Nextcloud statt Dropbox oder Google Drive". iX Magazin (in German).
  30. Beuth, Patrick (2018-04-17). "Open-Source-Software: Nextcloud baut die Bundescloud". Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN 2195-1349.
  31. "Cloud-Dienste: EU-Staaten setzen auf deutsches Start-up Nextcloud". www.handelsblatt.com (in German).
  32. Poortvliet, Jos (2020-01-17). "The new standard in on-premises team collaboration: Nextcloud Hub". Nextcloud.
  33. Poortvliet, Jos (2020-01-17). "IONOS and Nextcloud together for more data sovereignty". Nextcloud.
  34. Poortvliet, Jos (2020-05-19). "Talk 9 brings grid view, file editing, open sources Talk back-end". Nextcloud.
  35. "Gaia-X setzt auf Nextcloud". GNU/Linux.ch (in Swiss High German).
  36. Puselja, Marija (2021-08-26). "Nextcloud beat US hyperscalers as collaboration platform for EU digital sovereignty project Gaia-X". Nextcloud.
  37. S, Jan (2022-07-13). "Gaia-X: Europas Kampf um digitale Souveränität". OPTIMAL SYSTEMS (in German).
  38. "Gaia-X beweist Unabhängigkeit von großen US-Tech-Anbietern und entscheidet sich für EU-basierte Kollaborationsplattform". OSBA – Open Source Business Alliance (in German). 2021-08-26.
  39. "Study about the impact of open source software and hardware on technological independence, competitiveness and innovation in the EU economy | Shaping Europe's digital future". digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu. 6 September 2021.
  40. Koning, Marloes de (2025-06-13). "Het bedrijf waar heel Europa naar kijkt om digitaal onafhankelijk te worden, pleit voor een ict-revolutie". NRC (in Dutch).
  41. "EU Governments Are Looking to Nextcloud to Escape Microsoft". WebProNews. 2023-03-05.
  42. "Nextcloud lanceert Talk Munich om Europese digitale weerbaarheid te versterken - DCpedia.net". dcpedia.net (in Dutch).
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nextcloud.