Collaboration and files
Nextcloud vs Google Drive: which suits your organisation?
Short answer
Google Drive is a storage service from Google with its own office suite that works entirely in the browser. Nextcloud is open source software that runs on a server of your choice. Google Drive is strong on speed and ease, but keeps documents in its own format at an American company. Nextcloud works with ordinary files that stay yours, on a server whose owner you know.
What is the real difference?
Google Drive is a service. You create an account and Google handles the rest: the servers, the software, the updates. You get what Google offers, on Google’s terms.
Nextcloud is software. Someone installs it on a server, and that server can be anywhere: at the office, at a host in the Netherlands, with us. You choose who manages it.
How do they compare?
| Subject | Google Drive | Nextcloud |
|---|---|---|
| Documents | Own format, in the browser only | Ordinary files, in the browser or on your computer |
| Editing together | Excellent | Good |
| Search | Very strong, including inside content | Good, depending on the setup |
| Storage | Shared across the whole organisation | What the server has |
| Location of the data | Google data centres | Where you put the server |
| Leaving | Export and convert | The environment moves as a whole |
Why do organisations stay with Google?
Because it works, and because everyone knows it. A new employee has nothing to learn. Sharing a document with a client is one click. For a young company that wants to start fast, little makes it as easy.
That convenience is real, and we are not condescending about it. If you have no objection to Google as a supplier and keep few sensitive records, you do not have to move.
Why do organisations move?
Usually for one of three reasons.
The formats. A Google Doc only exists at Google. If you have worked in it for years, you have thousands of documents that are worth nothing outside Google without conversion. You only notice when you want to leave.
The supplier. Google earns its money from data and advertising. Business customers are under different rules than private users, but not every organisation is comfortable with that.
The terms. Prices and packages change. Storage that was unlimited at first was capped. If you depend on one provider, you have no say in that.
How does a move work?
In three rounds. First the shared folders of departments, because that is where most of the value is. Then the personal folders. Last the archive.
In each round Google documents are converted to ordinary files. We start with a trial on part of the data, so you see what happens to layout and formulas. Mail and calendar can move in the same go, or stay where they are.
Can you do it halfway?
Yes. You can keep Google Workspace for mail and calendar and move only the files. Or the other way round. It does need an agreement on what belongs where, so you do not end up with two versions of the truth.