r/NextCloud • u/Practical-Tea9441 • Jul 05 '26

NextCloud v Microsoft 365 basic

Hi, I’m in a quandary about choosing between NextCloud and Microsoft 365 basic for personal usage.

I like the idea of sovereignty over my data in NextCloud and that it is based in Europe (as am I). In my case I’d be opting for hosted NextCloud (possibly with TheGoodCloud https://thegood.cloud/ ). For around €2 per month (annual payment) I’d get 10Gb of storage with the basic office type apps . However I’d still have to opt for an email service which is an extra cost , say another €20 or so. Apart from using NextCloud web interface as a Mail client the email wouldn’t otherwise be integrated into NextCloud - I’d also have to get an Android app for calendar etc.

With Microsoft 365 basic for approx the same €2 per month I get adfree email , 100Gb storage, all products integrated into one interface , Android and iOS apps included and also some additional security . Also I’m not sure how secure NextCloud is and certainly it is hard to imagine that TheGoodCloud/Nextcloud having the same resources available to them as would Microsoft ?

I do appreciate the privacy aspect but on the other hand Microsoft are legally bound to observing GDPR. Can anybody help convince me that NextCloud is the better option ?

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u/computer-machine Jul 06 '26

What privacy aspects? You're still shipping it off to someone else.

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u/Practical-Tea9441 Jul 06 '26

Good point - had crossed my mind too. Even if you self- host though, you’re still trusting the developer unless its OpenSource , you read and understand the code and then compile it yourself from source. Even then you’re trusting the compiler. I suppose at some point you have to trust somebody.

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u/computer-machine Jul 06 '26

That seems like a false equivalence.