The Self-Hosting Question
Nextcloud offers something no commercial cloud storage provider can: complete control over your data. But self-hosting comes with responsibilities that commercial services handle for you. Is the tradeoff worth it?
What You Gain with Nextcloud
Full data sovereignty. No third party ever touches your files. No terms of service that could change. No risk of account suspension. Complete control over features, privacy policies, and data location. Integration with 300+ apps including office suites, calendars, and video conferencing. And it is completely free.
What You Give Up
Server management. You are responsible for hardware, software updates, security patches, backups, and uptime. The apps are less polished than Google Drive or Dropbox. No global CDN for fast access from anywhere. No dedicated support team (unless you pay for Enterprise). Setting up is significantly more complex than signing up for a cloud service.
Cost Comparison
A basic VPS for Nextcloud costs about $5-10/month from Hetzner or DigitalOcean. Add $5/month for automatic backups. A domain name is about $12/year. Total: roughly $15/month for potentially unlimited storage (depending on disk space). Compare this to Google Workspace at $6/user/month or Dropbox Business at $15/user/month.
For a single user, Nextcloud can be cheaper. For a 10-person team, the admin overhead may make commercial options more cost-effective when you factor in time.
Who Should Self-Host
Organizations with strict data sovereignty requirements. Companies in regulated industries where third-party data processing is restricted. Tech-savvy individuals who enjoy managing their own infrastructure. Privacy advocates who do not trust any commercial provider.
Who Should Not Self-Host
Small businesses without IT staff. Non-technical individuals who prefer a turnkey experience. Teams that need maximum uptime and cannot tolerate self-managed outages. Anyone who does not want to manage security updates and backups.
The Middle Ground: Managed Nextcloud
Several hosting providers offer managed Nextcloud instances where they handle the server management while you retain data control. This eliminates most of the technical burden while preserving the benefits of self-hosting. Prices typically start around $5-15/month.
The Verdict
If you have the technical skills and value data sovereignty above all else, Nextcloud is unmatched. For everyone else, a commercial service like Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive provides a better experience with far less maintenance.
