Nextcloud vs ownCloud is one of the biggest debate in the self-hosted open source cloud storage world. This article is about Nextcloud and ownCloud differences.
Overview
Nextcloud vs ownCloud is one of the biggest points of debate and the whole agenda basis of the self-hosted open-source cloud storage services is security and privacy. People who want ready access to their personal or professional documents, files, images, audio and videos wherever they are, are adopting more and more to cloud storage. Cloud services like Microsoft 365 and Google drive provide an attractive and practical alternative to local storage and management on a computer device, the accessibility offered by the internet. However, there is still the question of how secure and safe your sensitive information is when stored in the cloud storage.
If you want to enjoy the benefits of the cloud storage while maintaining complete control over all your data then you should consider hosting and managing your own open source cloud storage solution. The necessary software can be found in the open source tools. Two particularly popular self-hosted applications are Nextcloud and ownCloud. Both open source cloud storage Nextcloud and ownCloud platforms have a powerful base for enterprise file sharing and support for add-on apps and customer service. However, open source file share Nextcloud has been seeing more growth in past few years as compared to open source ownCloud. In this blog article we will discuss ownCloud vs Nextcloud of both cloud storage services.
- What is Nextcloud?
- What is ownCloud?
- Comparison Nextcloud vs ownCloud:
- Why Nextcloud over ownCloud?
- Conclusion
1. What is Nextcloud?
Nextcloud is an open source cloud storage platform for linux based systems. Nextcloud runs on a server for protecting your data, providing you access from your desktop and mobile devices. Nextcloud helps you to sync, share and access your existing data on a FTP drive at a Dropbox or NAS cloud storage. Enterprise file sync and share Nextcloud enforces on data compliance with HIPAA and GDPR. Nextcloud is designed to work with multiple database management systems for example PostgreSQL, SQLite, MariaDB, MySQL and Oracle Database.
Nextcloud was launched in 2016 when Frank Karlitschek forked ownCloud to create Nextcloud. The Nextcloud server is written using PHP and JavaScript scripting languages. Most of the core contributors of ownCloud left with Frank Karlitschek to join the new file sharing collaboration Nextcloud project, It is managed by the new company Nextcloud GmbH, formed at the same time. Within next 6 months Nextcloud GmbH was profitable and remains today profitable and still manages the Nextcloud project.
2. What is ownCloud?
ownCloud came out in January 2010 but the first beta release was launched in March 2010. ownCloud has 50 million users worldwide and in 2012 ownCloud was released to serve the needs of the community users of ownCloud and now ownCloud is being managed by ownCloud GmbH. ownCloud cloud has many other productive features for managing cloud file sharing, managing your calendar, to do lists, a document editing tool, folder sharing and a lot more. ownCloud is hosted exclusively on your own private cloud server.
Owncloud is very stable and reliable cloud application. It is highly recommended especially for commercial applications. ownCloud is used by companies dealing with sensitive data or who need to fulfill special security and compliance regulations. These companies include finance, healthcare, and many more.
3. Comparison Nextcloud vs ownCloud:
Pricing
Nextcloud and ownCloud both be used free of cost and also sell a support service. The downloads and installations of both software are absolutely free. But the biggest difference between the two platforms is that best free online cloud storage Nextcloud is completely free and open source. While in order to have full access to all features of ownCloud, you will have to subscribe to their Enterprise edition for additional features.
Features
Open source secure file sharing OwnCloud is mainly focused on file sharing and synchronizing cloud data. Nextcloud has greatly increased its range of services to offer other features, including audio-video communications and collaborative office documents work.
Community and Support
Another important difference of both open source Nextcloud and ownCloud platorms is the community and support that surrounds them. Since 2017, the number of Nextcloud contributors has been increasing in large number than the number of ownCloud contributors. The support pages of both open source ownCloud and Nextcloud cloud storage provide you with links to documentation, internet chat channels, forums etc. For the enterprise category clients both Nextcloud and ownCloud also offer premium support.
If you have a look at help forums of Nextcloud, the most widely discussed topic appears is “Migrating From ownCloud To Nextcloud” server. This has garnered more than 95,000 views. The most popular topic on ownCloud’s public forum deals with the unlocking of a locked file which has over 45,000 views. The YouTube channel of ownCloud has more than 70 videos with a subscriber base of 1.36k. Nextcloud features more than 220 videos with a subscriber base of 9.3k on its YouTube channel. Moreover, a Google keyword search for both led to 4,050,000 search results and 3,460,000 search results for Nextcloud and ownCloud respectively.
Security
Open source cloud file sharing Nextcloud offers protection from brute force attacks, flow restriction, rate limiting, password management, content security policy and many other security options. Similarly ownCloud, certain security security scan features are only available in the Enterprise version. It’s possible to test the Enterprise version for free for 30 days to check whether these additional features are necessary to keep you safe from external troubles.
Additionally, hackers have a chance to earn a bug bounty program offers as a reward for the discovery of vulnerabilities for the team to fix.
4. Why Nextcloud over ownCloud?
Now you know about what’s different between Nextcloud and ownCloud. It should be slightly easier to choose one. Nextcloud and ownCloud both packages have a solid base and a growing set of addon apps, both have support available. Nextcloud, however, has a lot more action, “buzz” and growth. ownCloud does not appear to be dead at all, but the future of open source clouds clearly looks to be with Nextcloud.
The 100% free aspect of Nextcloud makes it more attractive and popular than ownCloud storage. Additionally, Nextcloud continously exending its services by adding new features unlike ownCloud. Moreover, Nextcloud community is also more active than ownCloud’s, which allows it to improve its features. The Nextcloud is focusing increasingly on extending the security functions of the application and enabling a digital cloud storage workplace as the latest features. It seems fair to say that Nextcloud has taken a strong lead and is more promising for the future than ownCloud.
Conclusion:
In this article we have explained a brief comparison on the working of most popular open source cloud storage frameworks – Nextcloud vs ownCloud. Nextcloud and ownCloud are two market leaders in the field of open source cloud storage platform. Both software have a strong foundation which is regularly buttressed by add-on applications. Between the two, Nextcloud cloud storage seems to be more popular owing to its features and services. However, ownCloud is an old cloud platform and formed to serve the needs of the community of users of ownCloud storage. In our upcoming tutorials, we’ll discuss about more interesting topics related to open source cloud storage platforms.
Your can join us on Twitter, LinkedIn and our Facebook page. What cloud storage Nextcloud vs ownCloud platform do you prefer?. If you have any questions, please get in touch.
Explore:
We also have several other articles relating to the day-to-day management of your server.