Nextcloud — Free Alternative to Dropbox Plus / Google Workspace

At a glance

GitHub repo

nextcloud/server

GitHub stars

37,473 (checked 11 November 2026)

Licence

AGPL-3.0

Main language

PHP

Replaces

Dropbox Plus / Google Workspace

Paid price it replaces

Dropbox Plus $11.99/month (2 TB); Google Workspace Business Starter $7/user/month (30 GB)

Best for

Households and small teams with a spare computer or cheap VPS who want cloud storage without a per-GB bill.

Prices were checked on the vendor's pricing page on 11 November 2026 and may have changed since. Star counts are a snapshot from the same date.

What Nextcloud does

Nextcloud is a self-hosted cloud platform: file storage and sync, sharing, calendar, contacts, video calls with Talk, and online documents and spreadsheets with Office. It is a small Google Workspace that runs on your own server, and it has full desktop and mobile apps, so it behaves like the cloud services it replaces.

The comparison is Dropbox Plus at $11.99 a month for 2 TB for one person, and Google Workspace Business Starter at $7 per user per month for 30 GB plus an email address on your own domain. With Nextcloud your storage is limited only by the size of your own hard drive — there is no per-gigabyte bill — and your data does not sit on a Big Tech server.

The price of that freedom is running a server. The easiest path is Nextcloud All-in-One, a Docker setup that handles the pieces for you, and several hosting providers sell pre-installed Nextcloud if you would rather not manage it at all. Once it is running, the experience is familiar: a folder on your computer syncs, a phone app uploads photos, and a shared link sends a file.

For a household or a small team that already has a spare computer or a cheap VPS, Nextcloud replaces two subscriptions at once and removes the storage ceiling entirely. That is the saving that makes the one-time setup worth it.

Why it is worth using for free

• Storage is limited only by your own hard drive — no per-gigabyte subscription
• Your data stays on your server, not on a Big Tech cloud
• Files, calendar, contacts, Talk video calls and Office docs in one place
• Full desktop and mobile apps, so it behaves like Dropbox or Google Drive day to day

How to use Nextcloud

The fastest install is Nextcloud All-in-One on Docker: `docker run nextcloud/all-in-one`. Follow the setup wizard in your browser to create an admin account.

Then install the desktop and mobile apps, sign in to your server, and choose folders to sync. Add the Calendar, Contacts, Talk and Office apps from inside Nextcloud when you need them.

Frequently asked questions