19 ms·

Nextcloud: Open-Source Cloud Apps

310 points by tomrod 2y ago

v4rp1ng 2y ago
still love it. Been hosting a small (aprox 20 people) instance for a non-profit since more than 8+ years (even before owncloud and nextcloud split up).
jmakov 2y ago
https://owncloud.com/compare-filesharing/owncloud-vs-nextcloud/ https://owncloud.com/compare-filesharing/owncloud-vs-nextclo...
- gostsamo 2y ago
  No comment on anything else, but the tone of the page is so schoolyard. For a company that targets enterprise and government clients, petty jabs at the weather app look unprofessional.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - polycaster 2y ago
    The "Comparison" section of the Product Ownership also seems rather ridiculous, where NextCloud is just a questionable "fork" while ownCloud glouriously carries the torch of product ownership. Especially since it's placed directly below the "License" section. Apparently, someone didn't quite understand the idea behind the GPL.
    - CretinDesAlpes 2y ago
      Especially since ownCloud was started originally by Frank Karlitschek who left to fork and create Nextcloud!
    - davidee 2y ago
      This is just like Oracle claiming OpenOffice is the better project and the LibreOffice fork is a shady knock-off.
- bloqs 2y ago
  Contempt and snobbery are no way to win customers
- phntxx 2y ago
  With Owncloud having been bought by Kiteworks it’ll be interesting to see where they’ll be heading product-wise.
- josephcsible 2y ago
  The one legitimate point that page makes is that it's scummy that Nextcloud paywalls its documentation. See also https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-doc.en.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-doc.en.html
kkfx 2y ago
Honestly I do not favor this paradigm, no matter if NextCloud, O360, SandStorm and alike: the point is that we should teach the desktop paradigm, syncing data around, not using desktops as monsters, hyper-expensive thin clients or more properly dumb terminals of a remote "mainframe". It's easy today because current IT evolution is totally skewed, derailed for commercial reasons, but that's untenable. Who think it's normal being even unable to access already made documents only because "the remote service or the network is down"?
- Propelloni 2y ago
  I agree -- to a degree. But the "cloud first" paradigm broke MS' chokehold on the desktop and arguably enabled Linux and Mac to become viable alternatives in that space. Today I can use any major Linux dsitribution and just don't have to worry about interoperability in bread and butter use cases. Even MSO365 works fine. Considering the continued shrieks of pain coming from the graphics design people this is not the case. Those people are still tied to desktop applications and look what freedom of choice they have. Virtually none.
- ezst 2y ago
  > Honestly I do not favor this paradigm I think you are not alone, but I also wouldn't be surprised if this frog is boiled so slow that our opinion eventually becomes irrelevant: today's teenagers are *less* proficient on a keyboard than their elders, because they no longer "type" but "tap" instead. When the average exposure to computing is reduced to dumbed-down "consumption-only" devices running iOS/Android, and that goes for a generation or more, the perception of us would likely be that of old folks yelling at clouds.
  - touggourt 2y ago
    The new paradigm is smartphones firts, not only for childrens.
  - kkfx 2y ago
    I definitely follow you but noting a thing: the more we "advance" the more we implement again very old solutions, back for the pioneering Xerox PARC era, some random examples: - most UIs actually have switched from the "commercial menu" model to a "search&narrow" one, now are kind of very rudimentary CLIs; - from "commercial widget-based GUIs" back to some kind of DocUIs, today they are web, back than PostScript and alike, but the idea is essentially the same; - NotebookUIs (like Jupyter, IDEs like R-Studio where some "GUI elements exists mixed with text) are more and more common and well, tomorrow someone will rediscover Emacs buffers ideas... So, while most computer users are consumer only, those who can't consume only a little step at a time, following a kind-of Greenspun's tenth rule reimplement partially and with many bugs and limits old ideas. I do not know where we could go in 10+ years, but... Even with all the bug-ridden modern overhead, we actually rediscover classic solutions, at a certain point classic desktop computing will came back forcibly IMVHO...What I do not know it's how much time and injuries we will suffer in between...
ang_cire 2y ago
I love my nextcloud server. I set up an instant upload for my phones camera photos to replace Google photos. Now I get all my photos automatically synced to my server at home.
mort96 2y ago
I use Nextcloud, but I'm disappointed in their transition from a file host/sync solution to a "do everything" solution. Their sync client has languished and their server-side sync software has severe performance issues; the core of what made Nextcloud valuable to me has seemingly remained untouched for half a decade as they chase everything else. I hope some people find it valuable though.
- _cenw 2y ago
  I run Seafile for this reason. The sync client isn't pretty, but file transfers are fast, conflict detection good and it's pretty light on resources.
  - mort96 2y ago
    I have looked into Seafile, but the thing is that I like some of the extra Nextcloud things, especially the calendar. I just wish that file sync was the main focus and not an afterthought. But honestly, I should probably just use Seafile and get another, more lightweight CalDAV server.
    - kiney 2y ago
      I use syncthing for files and radicale for calendar and contacts. Very lightweight and stable for years. Radicale sits behind a proxy with basic auth, so dont have to worry about patching vulns to much.
      - _cenw 2y ago
        Syncthing is also a very solid choice and I'd use it if I didn't need the ability to create links for people - either to download or upload.
- NoboruWataya 2y ago
  I agree with this but at the same time I find NC very useful as a hub that centrally hosts my data and can then speak to other software using common protocols. For example my calendars, contacts, todo lists and notes are all hosted via NC, and I use WebDAV/CalDAV/CardDAV clients on my laptop and phone to interact with it. I definitely agree NC's core functionality could be more polished though. Performance issues don't bother me as I only host for myself but there are UI issues and bugs that get in the way of functionality. I feel like everything is 90% there but there seems to be little interest in making it to 100%. The collaboration stuff they are mostly focused on is useless to me but I can understand why it's their priority, commercially speaking. Occasionally I toy with the idea of replacing it with separate tools for file sync, photos, calendars, contacts, notes, etc, but it's very convenient to have it all as one.
jarbus 2y ago
I love nextcloud, it’s so easy to use once it’s set up and I love how it can do so much of what Google offers like contact sync and calendar
boramalper 2y ago
I started using Nextcloud first to have an alternative to big-tech in case Google locks me out of my account, and then it became my daily driver. It's fast, private, and has mature clients for all major desktop and mobile platforms. Together with OnlyOffice, it's a good-enough substitute for Google Docs Editors (the office suite) for non-collaborative editing. I love self-hosting but file storage is one thing that I don't want to risk. I've been paying for Hetzner Storage Share [0] happily to save myself the headache. If you want a different hosting provider, Nextcloud now has Simple Signup program[1] which helps new users to sign up for a free plan with a provider near them, offering ≥ 2GB of storage. You can also browse the entire list if you want to pick one manually.[2] [0] https://www.hetzner.com/storage/storage-share/ https://www.hetzner.com/storage/storage-share/ [1] https://nextcloud.com/sign-up/ https://nextcloud.com/sign-up/ [2] https://nextcloud.com/providers/#:~:text=Providers%20for%20home%20users https://nextcloud.com/providers/#:~:text=Providers%20for%20h...
- raybb 2y ago
  If you start on a free plan but then ultimately switch to another provider do you have any idea of how hard it would be to export and import all your tasks, files, etc?
  - boramalper 2y ago
    Files are files so you can download them to your computer and upload them to the new provider. Unfortunately I am not aware of any direct provider-to-provider sync. Application data depends on the app. For example, Notes [0] save your notes as Markdown files so you can move them (along with your files) wherever you want. However, News [1] don't and don't have export/import features at the moment either [2]. Nextcloud as a file storage solution and a non-collaborative office suite is great, but I cannot recommend its apps the same way. They are very convenient to install, but the quality varies a lot in my opinion so evaluate before you adopt. [0] https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/notes https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/notes [1] https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/news https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/news [2] https://github.com/nextcloud/news/issues/2503#issuecomment-2113646350 https://github.com/nextcloud/news/issues/2503#issuecomment-2...
zerof1l 2y ago
I've been using Nextcloud for some years now. Overall it's an ok replacement for Google Cloud. But for some time now their focus has been on developing features for business collaboration as opposed to personal & family ones. For example, their photo library is quite limited. There's Memories app for Nextcluod, but it isn't much better. I'm in the process of migrating to Immich. Nextcluod notes app on Android has been broken for some time.
- sureglymop 2y ago
  Interesting.. I use Immich and have been thinking of migrating to Nextcloud Memories. May have to reevaluate.
  - nolok 2y ago
    YMMV but any issue you have with Immich that may lead you to migrate to NCM you will find again there,IMHO. Update are easier but lots of other stuff are very much work in progress, even when it works well. My criteria is "when I want to show my vacation to X on the TV at a dinner 6 to 12 months after setup is it reliable or does it always need some tweak or whatever and ruin the moment". I dont know the apple ecosystem, for me Google photos is king but I want to own and host my data, Photoprism is my current goto.
    - Ringz 2y ago
      I would like to switch to Immich, but it is still unclear to me whether my existing directory structure will be preserved or not. In the beginning, Immich used his own structure, which is a no go for any photographer.
      - bo0tzz 2y ago
        Immich supports customizing the folder structure[1] or using an external directory[2]. [1]: https://immich.app/docs/administration/storage-template https://immich.app/docs/administration/storage-template [2]: https://immich.app/docs/features/libraries https://immich.app/docs/features/libraries
obnauticus 2y ago
I originally wanted to do this but the CVE history is a bit too colorful for something I’d want to trust as a “cloud replacement”: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=nextcloud https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=nextcloud A common misconception IMO is that running and owning your own infrastructure is somehow more secure. To that I lol, and I’m confident that the thousands of AWS/GCP/Azure/iCloud security engineers are all doing a more thorough job than you can. At the very very least they receive embargoed bugs which they often mitigate before the general public.
- zigzag312 2y ago
  > I’m confident that the thousands of AWS/GCP/Azure/iCloud security engineers are all doing a more thorough job than you can I'm not so confident about that: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=azure https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=azure It really depends on what you self-host. https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=syncthing https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=syncthing "Do everything" solutions go against the principle of minimizing the attack surface. EDIT: More is not always better in security. With more people doing more things, the statistical odds of miscommunication and misconfiguration increases.
- exe34 2y ago
  I think the threat model isn't that these popular services are going to be attacked, but that they will engage in the denial of service themselves without legal recourse.
- Timber-6539 2y ago
  > thousands of AWS/GCP/Azure/iCloud security engineers are all doing a more thorough job than you All these cloud services are just attack surfaces with a huge target on their backs. And the security engineers slip up too [0], in the case of Microsoft it's become more of a meme now. The North Korean hackers basically own them. [0] https://www.techspot.com/news/102573-microsoft-left-server-containing-employee-credentials-exposed-internet.html https://www.techspot.com/news/102573-microsoft-left-server-c...
antman 2y ago
Lets not forget iPhone vendor lock in that specifically slows down or entirely closes background connections for all other vendors except Apple. So syncing files with Nextcloud or any other app except Apple cloud is an exercise in undocumented futility. You can put it as a front application and wait (if corporate hasn’t forced a screen turning off timeout)
- raverbashing 2y ago
  Well, honestly, Apple is not wrong here. App Developers usually don't give a flying cluck about anything other than their apps. Battery, CPU, mobile data? Zero consideration. But then of course the fault lies on Apple (and MS - it's the same thing in Windows - see the CrowdStrike fiasco)
  - dual_dingo 2y ago
    Well, no. This argument might be correct if this policy wouldn't very strongly incentive people to use (possibly paid!) iCloud instead and if Apple would just allow any app onto the app store (or effortless sideloading like on Android). Instead, they heavily scrutinize everything that gets submitted. They could just have special permissions for apps like Nextcloud that would only be enabled if the app behaves correctly regarding this background sync functionality.
    - raverbashing 2y ago
      Yes, there is an anti-competitiveness aspect here, and I agree with you that the access to the api should be allowed (given some limits) But nobody wants to sysadmin their phone with rare exceptions
  - nrabulinski 2y ago
    The solution shouldn’t be to forbid anyone but apple from doing stuff in the background but to make permissions very clear, allow for stuff like scheduling background tasks and/or limiting background resources and, for power users, to outright allow specified apps to run in the background. So no, apple isn’t right here
PikachuEXE 2y ago
In case some people don't know using NextCloud + floccus = great bookmark sync (I self hosting it but setup one on a cheap cloud VM is also fine) Not using NextCloud for anything else yet though
- touggourt 2y ago
  Thanks! I didn't know about that. There is some under documented good little tools that can sync between devices, browsers and Nextcloud : - Qownnotes for notes, selecting text from web pages and bookmarking (I'm curently testing it). - Someone told me that Zotero can do that too. - Vdirsyncer for synchronizing calendars and addressbook between NC and uncompatible apps (Odoo mainly).
  - jmhammond 2y ago
    Zotero can sync the actual entry’s media via WebDAV which Nextcloud handles very well. I’ve been using it since around 2019.
  - PikachuEXE 2y ago
    I am using https://joplinapp.org https://joplinapp.org for notes, using Dropbox for sync though (can also use NextCloud or other sources see https://joplinapp.org/help/apps/sync/ https://joplinapp.org/help/apps/sync/
MrDisposable 2y ago
A newbie question: How does Nextcloud compare to Dropbox and Syncthing? Can it serve as a replacement / alternative to them?
- mglz 2y ago
  100%. Nextcloud Desktop works well and i use FolderSync on android. Has worked perfectly so far :)
  - noname120 2y ago
    +1 for FolderSync, it works great. I haven't had a single synchronization issue or missing files whatsoever after using it for 2-3 years already. Note that I never had the need to handle conflicts (I don't modify files from two different devices at the same time).
- touggourt 2y ago
  I don't know which one is better, but considering file hosting, sync and web access, Nextcloud works very well. Regarding usability, as NC doesn't works like Dropbox it is a matter of taste, I prefer NC over Dropbox.
- poisonborz 2y ago
  Apples and oranges. Syncthing is a selfhosted p2p syncing network and it's miles better for this. Nextcloud is a selfhosted "cloud platform" like Google Apps. How good it is for each use case varies greatly. Most often it is used for easy web/mobile access for files and photos.
- remram 2y ago
  Syncthing is much faster at syncing files. So much so that I use both.
a022311 2y ago
Honestly, I feel that Nextcloud is full of bloat, the performance is quite disappointing and it's very unstable. I only use it for file storage, because I can't find a better alternative out there. My advice: never upload directories that may have many small files (and certainly not git repos). For photos, don't even think about it. Use Immich or PhotoPrism.
- vr46 2y ago
  What issues did you find with the file storage? I’m using it backed by S3 and it hasn’t given me any issues at all so far, be nice to know what to watch out for.
  - preya2k 2y ago
    Performance of the S3 backend was pretty bad compared to local storage folders on the same host, last time I checked.
  - a022311 2y ago
    Every now and then uploads might crash, it takes ages for files to load and the whole app freezes. I'm using it with local file storage on an SSD over a relatively fast network. PHP just isn't made for file storage.
gchaincl 2y ago
The idea of using a private cloud sounded wonderful, ran an instance of Next Cloud using encrypted storage, it didn't take long when my files disappeared due to a bug on the encryption and los my files for ever. Never went back to it
greatgib 2y ago
I like very much Next loud (the idea, the project, some part of the design like storing files flat easily backup able) but my major issue is with the file synchronisation with the Android. It totally does not work. If you try to send or synchronize just a few files it is mostly ok. But when trying to upload more than a few dozen files, things starts to not work well, like transfer being stuck, or the transfer completing ok but then only a portion of files were transferred. That instability is the main reason preventing me to use it daily as in the end I will just use it on the computer where the main value would be on mobile.
- opengears 2y ago
  I have good experiences with Syncthing for file syncing.
- kgeist 2y ago
  When I tried Nextcloud, I found there was an option to sync all photos from Google Photos. It synced around 10% photos and reported success. Overall, Nextcloud had lots of breaking bugs/instability issues like that in almost all cases I tried, so I ended up just buying a second account at a different cloud provider, so everything is now synced to 2 providers, in case I lose access to my Google account. I experienced the bug you mentioned about 5 years ago, I wonder if they ever fixed it.
- Joeboy 2y ago
  File syncing also frustrates me, although I think it's working as intended. I would expect that if I update a synced file on my laptop, that should also automatically update it on the cloud. But it seems like there's an extra step where I have to go to the web ui and say that I want it to use the updated version. Also sharing has been very confusing, people keep thinking they've shared files they haven't. Maybe the problem is me / us, idk. Or maybe it's better as a "personal" cloud than a shared one. I have, overall, not enjoyed using it. I wish management would just let us store docs in a git repo, which would be much more intuitive for most of us.
  - sneak 2y ago
BrandoElFollito 2y ago
Nextcloud is a nightmare. First if all, it wants to do everything and does none well (or better than specialized apps) Its internals are a shitshow - a question about getting the real IP of the calling client raised a 10 pages discussion where people said "it works" and other days "it does not". The "solution" required you to change a volatile setting within the docker container (and do it again when the container changes) Finally the upgrade is insane. I once tried to upgrade my installation, was told that n+2 upgrades are not possible (fair enough) and ... the installer destroyed the database. What a piece of crap. Thanks god for backups.
- sneak 2y ago
  Nextcloud ate my data on a single user installation with no fancy settings turned on, with no upgrades attempted. The sync client on desktop said it was fully synced. Only 200GB of 800GB was on the machine. It’s some of the worst software I have ever used. It’s the pentagon house with the inverted roof built with the two-clawed hammer that eevee described.
  - TonyTrapp 2y ago
    I had a similar experience with ownCloud. Regularly, file uploads were timing out, leaving the database in an inconsistent state (apparently), which then later caused the files to be deleted on my desktop where the files were coming from. I'm still not sure why I put up so long with it. It was a slow mess, especially on the single-board computer I ran it on, and SyncThing was a breeze compared to it, with no data loss at all (and much faster on the same SBC).
    - BrandoElFollito 2y ago
      I ultimately moved to Syncthing too. It requires understanding how it works, but once you do it is wonderful.
  - touggourt 2y ago
    > The sync client on desktop said it was fully synced. Only 200GB of 800GB was on the machine. Did you read the manual? It is recommended for such size to do the first sync using rsync (or similar) followed by the CLI command to build the files database.
aae42 2y ago
Used to use next cloud, just recently switched to owncloud infinite scale it certainly seems much more stable so far. The lack of features might be a feature itself.
vid 2y ago
I've been looking into NextCloud to recommend to a government agency. The world desperately need competition or at least something compatible with the m365 stack, because it's eating the world and taking a lot of choice away and killing a lot of innovation outside the Microsoft funnel, since Microsoft is not interested in a lot of tech (for example, network schemas, useful for "tell us once" type applications, since they'd rather you just use their tech for everything, and the messier it is behind the scenes, the better for them). Anyway, I have mixed feelings. I admire the community and the support it has by many governments, its staunch Open Source basis so it's useful for an individual or a large organization. But it is building on a lot of crufty PHP, their collection of apps is very uneven and it's hard to know what works well without a lot of research, and it's going in a few directions to upgrade. AppApi in particular is on one hand very innovative, on the other going in some odd directions. I know it is successfully used by very large organizations, but without spending a lot of time with it, it's hard to get a sense of the commitment and considerations required.
- rc_mob 2y ago
  How can I donate tonthis project? I do not see any limks to donate.
  - vid 2y ago
    I think more than anything they need advocacy and good quality product contributions (support, documentation, code). From what I know, a lot of the development happens via a few consulting firms that support their larger clients.
bakugo 2y ago
I wish the Android app for this wasn't so unstable and unintuitive, currently you can't even sync multiple selected files without it getting stuck on the "wait a moment" screen forever and forcing you to restart.
jmakov 2y ago
Looks like an opportunity to "rewrite it in Rust"
- tomrod 2y ago
  Given the heavy php nature, absolutely. I have only just started using it (and hence wanted to check what others in HN were using it for). Seems like the personal use case for file syncing is difficult; I'm more interested in self-hosting Kanban and other things I don't want to pay yet-another-SaaS a per-user-per-month for the small business tax. Setting up NextCloud with an IdP wasn't too bad, a little weird on Googe's side that it doesn't permit SAML SLO (but that's my not-terribly-deeply-informed opinion).
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
grahamj 2y ago
Just want to say it's times like these I really appreciate the HN community. The NextCloud site makes it all look great and probably easier than some parts of my current DIY strategy, but reading here I think I'll stick to said strategy.
mynameyeff 2y ago
It is better to use several open-source projects that "do one thing well" instead of a single product that attempts to do everything well. If we can advance portable specs so different open source projects can interop... that would be better time spent.
- tomrod 2y ago
  Sort of. At some point, you need a platform that orchestrates all those "do one thing well" outputs. I'm using NextCloud for that -- too early to totally be satisfied, but nothing crazy going on yet! Waiting to see a few upgrades and backups to see how things go.
kragen 2y ago
how does nextcloud compare to owncloud? my wife is mostly using owncloud
ajdude 2y ago
If you're using Mailinabox for your mail server, it comes with a copy of NextCloud by navigating to "/cloud" -- you can sign in with your mailinabox credentials! I'm using it for everything from my keepass database to gnucash syncing, calendar and contacts too!
mystified5016 2y ago
Similar to many commenters here, I really want to love nextcloud. It was the very first thing I installed when I built my homelab and it's still running years later. However. I just plain can't use the thing. The only thing that works well is automatically uploading new photos from my phone. That's it, that's the only thing. My server is old, yes, but we're still talking about dual 8c/16t Xeons, 128GB RAM, and a 7-disk striped RAID storage. It's no slouch. I can connect to it with a bleeding edge gaming computer with the latest i9 16 core whatever and a fancy GPU with any browser direct over gigabit Ethernet and it still, somehow, takes a full thirty seconds to show the login page. Clicking on anything in the browser is at minimum a 15 second delay. Trying to browse files takes a good 30 seconds just to switch views to the new folder and another 30-60 to render a plain text list of files. Browsing photos is only slightly slower. I get the exact same level of performance when my client is an ancient first generation i3. It's astonishing, really. I've debugged this far beyond my abilities and the best I've been able to determine is that the browser is spending most of its time just waiting for the server to respond. The server shows no interesting trends in CPU usage, so I have no clue. I can only assume it's attempting to render server-side on a single thread. Given the poor single thread performance on the Xeon this seems fairly plausible. But regardless, this is by far the single worst performing website I've ever seen anywhere, ever. We've all seen horrendous single-word-per-page scroll-scroll-scroll slideshow websites that take ages to load. Nextcloud makes those sites look like bare HTML GeoCities pages. It's atrocious, unacceptable, and unusable. There's no excuse for this. And yes, I'm using the AIO docker image. I've also tried bare metal installs with the same performance. I've tried a more modern i5 machine. I've eliminated any problems that could be on my part and I'm left with the conclusion that nextcloud is just inexcusably bad. Which is a damn shame because this is everything I want from self-hosting. I'd love to get my family onto this. Have a central place to share photos and files. Keep everyone's devices backed up in a place I know is safe and secure. But I wouldn't inflict this thing on my worst enemy. This all sounds like hyperbole, but it truly is the worst of the worst. I have never, since the invention of the internet, seen a website this bad. Edit: oh and also all of the desktop clients are barely-working garbage. The UX feels like it was designed by aliens who heard about human interfaces in a Chinese-room scenario. Utterly absurd nonstandard unintuitive garbage. The android client isn't much better and the iPhone client is famously broken on purpose.
rewgs 2y ago
Chiming into agree that, yes, Nextcloud really does not deliver on its promise. Its S3 performance in particular is absurdly bad. I want to love it, but it's just so not there yet -- I worry that its lack of focus will prevent it from ever getting there.
bellajbadr 2y ago
Basic question, what problem it solves?
bellajbadr 2y ago
what problem it solves?
- tomrod 2y ago
  For my company, I needed a low-traffic Kanban board solution for cheap. Stood up on a small DO droplet and has been working well for a few days. It was my first time using Google Workspace's IdP and it mostly works without a hitch (though logout isn't supported, only way to logout is to clear site cookies and that is weird). Total cost should be under $250/year, which is about 10X less than a SaaS for our use (free Trello is missing a lot of features that I'd like), and gives us more options besides. I plan to evaluate some of the additional apps for chat/video calls and docs, though I know this would increase the price for beefier infra, because Zoom, MS Teams either expensive for accounts or just damn buggy.
aborsy 2y ago
Snaps are not popular in hacker news, but if you want basic functionality, try nextcloud snap. It is good, and takes care of itself. I like nextcloud, and always have an instance for file sharing with people. For basic features, it works good. That said, I think it would have been better if they could focus on core features, remove code complexity, make it faster, remove bugs around the edges, make sure it just works and upgrades reliably. It could not possibly do such diverse range of applications, and now AI.

310 points by tomrod 2y ago

still love it. Been hosting a small (aprox 20 people) instance for a non-profit since more than 8+ years (even before owncloud and nextcloud split up).

jmakov 2y ago

https://owncloud.com/compare-filesharing/owncloud-vs-nextcloud/ https://owncloud.com/compare-filesharing/owncloud-vs-nextclo...

gostsamo 2y ago
No comment on anything else, but the tone of the page is so schoolyard. For a company that targets enterprise and government clients, petty jabs at the weather app look unprofessional.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- polycaster 2y ago
  The "Comparison" section of the Product Ownership also seems rather ridiculous, where NextCloud is just a questionable "fork" while ownCloud glouriously carries the torch of product ownership. Especially since it's placed directly below the "License" section. Apparently, someone didn't quite understand the idea behind the GPL.
  - CretinDesAlpes 2y ago
    Especially since ownCloud was started originally by Frank Karlitschek who left to fork and create Nextcloud!
  - davidee 2y ago
    This is just like Oracle claiming OpenOffice is the better project and the LibreOffice fork is a shady knock-off.
bloqs 2y ago
Contempt and snobbery are no way to win customers
phntxx 2y ago
With Owncloud having been bought by Kiteworks it’ll be interesting to see where they’ll be heading product-wise.
josephcsible 2y ago
The one legitimate point that page makes is that it's scummy that Nextcloud paywalls its documentation. See also https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-doc.en.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-doc.en.html

kkfx 2y ago

Honestly I do not favor this paradigm, no matter if NextCloud, O360, SandStorm and alike: the point is that we should teach the desktop paradigm, syncing data around, not using desktops as monsters, hyper-expensive thin clients or more properly dumb terminals of a remote "mainframe". It's easy today because current IT evolution is totally skewed, derailed for commercial reasons, but that's untenable. Who think it's normal being even unable to access already made documents only because "the remote service or the network is down"?

Propelloni 2y ago
I agree -- to a degree. But the "cloud first" paradigm broke MS' chokehold on the desktop and arguably enabled Linux and Mac to become viable alternatives in that space. Today I can use any major Linux dsitribution and just don't have to worry about interoperability in bread and butter use cases. Even MSO365 works fine. Considering the continued shrieks of pain coming from the graphics design people this is not the case. Those people are still tied to desktop applications and look what freedom of choice they have. Virtually none.
ezst 2y ago
> Honestly I do not favor this paradigm I think you are not alone, but I also wouldn't be surprised if this frog is boiled so slow that our opinion eventually becomes irrelevant: today's teenagers are *less* proficient on a keyboard than their elders, because they no longer "type" but "tap" instead. When the average exposure to computing is reduced to dumbed-down "consumption-only" devices running iOS/Android, and that goes for a generation or more, the perception of us would likely be that of old folks yelling at clouds.
- touggourt 2y ago
  The new paradigm is smartphones firts, not only for childrens.
- kkfx 2y ago
  I definitely follow you but noting a thing: the more we "advance" the more we implement again very old solutions, back for the pioneering Xerox PARC era, some random examples: - most UIs actually have switched from the "commercial menu" model to a "search&narrow" one, now are kind of very rudimentary CLIs; - from "commercial widget-based GUIs" back to some kind of DocUIs, today they are web, back than PostScript and alike, but the idea is essentially the same; - NotebookUIs (like Jupyter, IDEs like R-Studio where some "GUI elements exists mixed with text) are more and more common and well, tomorrow someone will rediscover Emacs buffers ideas... So, while most computer users are consumer only, those who can't consume only a little step at a time, following a kind-of Greenspun's tenth rule reimplement partially and with many bugs and limits old ideas. I do not know where we could go in 10+ years, but... Even with all the bug-ridden modern overhead, we actually rediscover classic solutions, at a certain point classic desktop computing will came back forcibly IMVHO...What I do not know it's how much time and injuries we will suffer in between...

ang_cire 2y ago

I love my nextcloud server. I set up an instant upload for my phones camera photos to replace Google photos. Now I get all my photos automatically synced to my server at home.

mort96 2y ago

I use Nextcloud, but I'm disappointed in their transition from a file host/sync solution to a "do everything" solution. Their sync client has languished and their server-side sync software has severe performance issues; the core of what made Nextcloud valuable to me has seemingly remained untouched for half a decade as they chase everything else. I hope some people find it valuable though.

_cenw 2y ago
I run Seafile for this reason. The sync client isn't pretty, but file transfers are fast, conflict detection good and it's pretty light on resources.
- mort96 2y ago
  I have looked into Seafile, but the thing is that I like some of the extra Nextcloud things, especially the calendar. I just wish that file sync was the main focus and not an afterthought. But honestly, I should probably just use Seafile and get another, more lightweight CalDAV server.
  - kiney 2y ago
    I use syncthing for files and radicale for calendar and contacts. Very lightweight and stable for years. Radicale sits behind a proxy with basic auth, so dont have to worry about patching vulns to much.
    - _cenw 2y ago
      Syncthing is also a very solid choice and I'd use it if I didn't need the ability to create links for people - either to download or upload.
NoboruWataya 2y ago
I agree with this but at the same time I find NC very useful as a hub that centrally hosts my data and can then speak to other software using common protocols. For example my calendars, contacts, todo lists and notes are all hosted via NC, and I use WebDAV/CalDAV/CardDAV clients on my laptop and phone to interact with it. I definitely agree NC's core functionality could be more polished though. Performance issues don't bother me as I only host for myself but there are UI issues and bugs that get in the way of functionality. I feel like everything is 90% there but there seems to be little interest in making it to 100%. The collaboration stuff they are mostly focused on is useless to me but I can understand why it's their priority, commercially speaking. Occasionally I toy with the idea of replacing it with separate tools for file sync, photos, calendars, contacts, notes, etc, but it's very convenient to have it all as one.

jarbus 2y ago

I love nextcloud, it’s so easy to use once it’s set up and I love how it can do so much of what Google offers like contact sync and calendar

boramalper 2y ago

I started using Nextcloud first to have an alternative to big-tech in case Google locks me out of my account, and then it became my daily driver. It's fast, private, and has mature clients for all major desktop and mobile platforms. Together with OnlyOffice, it's a good-enough substitute for Google Docs Editors (the office suite) for non-collaborative editing. I love self-hosting but file storage is one thing that I don't want to risk. I've been paying for Hetzner Storage Share [0] happily to save myself the headache. If you want a different hosting provider, Nextcloud now has Simple Signup program[1] which helps new users to sign up for a free plan with a provider near them, offering ≥ 2GB of storage. You can also browse the entire list if you want to pick one manually.[2] [0] https://www.hetzner.com/storage/storage-share/ https://www.hetzner.com/storage/storage-share/ [1] https://nextcloud.com/sign-up/ https://nextcloud.com/sign-up/ [2] https://nextcloud.com/providers/#:~:text=Providers%20for%20home%20users https://nextcloud.com/providers/#:~:text=Providers%20for%20h...

raybb 2y ago
If you start on a free plan but then ultimately switch to another provider do you have any idea of how hard it would be to export and import all your tasks, files, etc?
- boramalper 2y ago
  Files are files so you can download them to your computer and upload them to the new provider. Unfortunately I am not aware of any direct provider-to-provider sync. Application data depends on the app. For example, Notes [0] save your notes as Markdown files so you can move them (along with your files) wherever you want. However, News [1] don't and don't have export/import features at the moment either [2]. Nextcloud as a file storage solution and a non-collaborative office suite is great, but I cannot recommend its apps the same way. They are very convenient to install, but the quality varies a lot in my opinion so evaluate before you adopt. [0] https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/notes https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/notes [1] https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/news https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/news [2] https://github.com/nextcloud/news/issues/2503#issuecomment-2113646350 https://github.com/nextcloud/news/issues/2503#issuecomment-2...

zerof1l 2y ago

I've been using Nextcloud for some years now. Overall it's an ok replacement for Google Cloud. But for some time now their focus has been on developing features for business collaboration as opposed to personal & family ones. For example, their photo library is quite limited. There's Memories app for Nextcluod, but it isn't much better. I'm in the process of migrating to Immich. Nextcluod notes app on Android has been broken for some time.

sureglymop 2y ago
Interesting.. I use Immich and have been thinking of migrating to Nextcloud Memories. May have to reevaluate.
- nolok 2y ago
  YMMV but any issue you have with Immich that may lead you to migrate to NCM you will find again there,IMHO. Update are easier but lots of other stuff are very much work in progress, even when it works well. My criteria is "when I want to show my vacation to X on the TV at a dinner 6 to 12 months after setup is it reliable or does it always need some tweak or whatever and ruin the moment". I dont know the apple ecosystem, for me Google photos is king but I want to own and host my data, Photoprism is my current goto.
  - Ringz 2y ago
    I would like to switch to Immich, but it is still unclear to me whether my existing directory structure will be preserved or not. In the beginning, Immich used his own structure, which is a no go for any photographer.
    - bo0tzz 2y ago
      Immich supports customizing the folder structure[1] or using an external directory[2]. [1]: https://immich.app/docs/administration/storage-template https://immich.app/docs/administration/storage-template [2]: https://immich.app/docs/features/libraries https://immich.app/docs/features/libraries

obnauticus 2y ago

I originally wanted to do this but the CVE history is a bit too colorful for something I’d want to trust as a “cloud replacement”: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=nextcloud https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=nextcloud A common misconception IMO is that running and owning your own infrastructure is somehow more secure. To that I lol, and I’m confident that the thousands of AWS/GCP/Azure/iCloud security engineers are all doing a more thorough job than you can. At the very very least they receive embargoed bugs which they often mitigate before the general public.

zigzag312 2y ago
> I’m confident that the thousands of AWS/GCP/Azure/iCloud security engineers are all doing a more thorough job than you can I'm not so confident about that: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=azure https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=azure It really depends on what you self-host. https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=syncthing https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=syncthing "Do everything" solutions go against the principle of minimizing the attack surface. EDIT: More is not always better in security. With more people doing more things, the statistical odds of miscommunication and misconfiguration increases.
exe34 2y ago
I think the threat model isn't that these popular services are going to be attacked, but that they will engage in the denial of service themselves without legal recourse.
Timber-6539 2y ago
> thousands of AWS/GCP/Azure/iCloud security engineers are all doing a more thorough job than you All these cloud services are just attack surfaces with a huge target on their backs. And the security engineers slip up too [0], in the case of Microsoft it's become more of a meme now. The North Korean hackers basically own them. [0] https://www.techspot.com/news/102573-microsoft-left-server-containing-employee-credentials-exposed-internet.html https://www.techspot.com/news/102573-microsoft-left-server-c...

antman 2y ago

Lets not forget iPhone vendor lock in that specifically slows down or entirely closes background connections for all other vendors except Apple. So syncing files with Nextcloud or any other app except Apple cloud is an exercise in undocumented futility. You can put it as a front application and wait (if corporate hasn’t forced a screen turning off timeout)

raverbashing 2y ago
Well, honestly, Apple is not wrong here. App Developers usually don't give a flying cluck about anything other than their apps. Battery, CPU, mobile data? Zero consideration. But then of course the fault lies on Apple (and MS - it's the same thing in Windows - see the CrowdStrike fiasco)
- dual_dingo 2y ago
  Well, no. This argument might be correct if this policy wouldn't very strongly incentive people to use (possibly paid!) iCloud instead and if Apple would just allow any app onto the app store (or effortless sideloading like on Android). Instead, they heavily scrutinize everything that gets submitted. They could just have special permissions for apps like Nextcloud that would only be enabled if the app behaves correctly regarding this background sync functionality.
  - raverbashing 2y ago
    Yes, there is an anti-competitiveness aspect here, and I agree with you that the access to the api should be allowed (given some limits) But nobody wants to sysadmin their phone with rare exceptions
- nrabulinski 2y ago
  The solution shouldn’t be to forbid anyone but apple from doing stuff in the background but to make permissions very clear, allow for stuff like scheduling background tasks and/or limiting background resources and, for power users, to outright allow specified apps to run in the background. So no, apple isn’t right here

PikachuEXE 2y ago

In case some people don't know using NextCloud + floccus = great bookmark sync (I self hosting it but setup one on a cheap cloud VM is also fine) Not using NextCloud for anything else yet though

touggourt 2y ago
Thanks! I didn't know about that. There is some under documented good little tools that can sync between devices, browsers and Nextcloud : - Qownnotes for notes, selecting text from web pages and bookmarking (I'm curently testing it). - Someone told me that Zotero can do that too. - Vdirsyncer for synchronizing calendars and addressbook between NC and uncompatible apps (Odoo mainly).
- jmhammond 2y ago
  Zotero can sync the actual entry’s media via WebDAV which Nextcloud handles very well. I’ve been using it since around 2019.
- PikachuEXE 2y ago
  I am using https://joplinapp.org https://joplinapp.org for notes, using Dropbox for sync though (can also use NextCloud or other sources see https://joplinapp.org/help/apps/sync/ https://joplinapp.org/help/apps/sync/

MrDisposable 2y ago

A newbie question: How does Nextcloud compare to Dropbox and Syncthing? Can it serve as a replacement / alternative to them?

mglz 2y ago
100%. Nextcloud Desktop works well and i use FolderSync on android. Has worked perfectly so far :)
- noname120 2y ago
  +1 for FolderSync, it works great. I haven't had a single synchronization issue or missing files whatsoever after using it for 2-3 years already. Note that I never had the need to handle conflicts (I don't modify files from two different devices at the same time).
touggourt 2y ago
I don't know which one is better, but considering file hosting, sync and web access, Nextcloud works very well. Regarding usability, as NC doesn't works like Dropbox it is a matter of taste, I prefer NC over Dropbox.
poisonborz 2y ago
Apples and oranges. Syncthing is a selfhosted p2p syncing network and it's miles better for this. Nextcloud is a selfhosted "cloud platform" like Google Apps. How good it is for each use case varies greatly. Most often it is used for easy web/mobile access for files and photos.
remram 2y ago
Syncthing is much faster at syncing files. So much so that I use both.

a022311 2y ago

Honestly, I feel that Nextcloud is full of bloat, the performance is quite disappointing and it's very unstable. I only use it for file storage, because I can't find a better alternative out there. My advice: never upload directories that may have many small files (and certainly not git repos). For photos, don't even think about it. Use Immich or PhotoPrism.

vr46 2y ago
What issues did you find with the file storage? I’m using it backed by S3 and it hasn’t given me any issues at all so far, be nice to know what to watch out for.
- preya2k 2y ago
  Performance of the S3 backend was pretty bad compared to local storage folders on the same host, last time I checked.
- a022311 2y ago
  Every now and then uploads might crash, it takes ages for files to load and the whole app freezes. I'm using it with local file storage on an SSD over a relatively fast network. PHP just isn't made for file storage.

gchaincl 2y ago

The idea of using a private cloud sounded wonderful, ran an instance of Next Cloud using encrypted storage, it didn't take long when my files disappeared due to a bug on the encryption and los my files for ever. Never went back to it

greatgib 2y ago

I like very much Next loud (the idea, the project, some part of the design like storing files flat easily backup able) but my major issue is with the file synchronisation with the Android. It totally does not work. If you try to send or synchronize just a few files it is mostly ok. But when trying to upload more than a few dozen files, things starts to not work well, like transfer being stuck, or the transfer completing ok but then only a portion of files were transferred. That instability is the main reason preventing me to use it daily as in the end I will just use it on the computer where the main value would be on mobile.

opengears 2y ago
I have good experiences with Syncthing for file syncing.
kgeist 2y ago
When I tried Nextcloud, I found there was an option to sync all photos from Google Photos. It synced around 10% photos and reported success. Overall, Nextcloud had lots of breaking bugs/instability issues like that in almost all cases I tried, so I ended up just buying a second account at a different cloud provider, so everything is now synced to 2 providers, in case I lose access to my Google account. I experienced the bug you mentioned about 5 years ago, I wonder if they ever fixed it.
Joeboy 2y ago
File syncing also frustrates me, although I think it's working as intended. I would expect that if I update a synced file on my laptop, that should also automatically update it on the cloud. But it seems like there's an extra step where I have to go to the web ui and say that I want it to use the updated version. Also sharing has been very confusing, people keep thinking they've shared files they haven't. Maybe the problem is me / us, idk. Or maybe it's better as a "personal" cloud than a shared one. I have, overall, not enjoyed using it. I wish management would just let us store docs in a git repo, which would be much more intuitive for most of us.
- sneak 2y ago

BrandoElFollito 2y ago

Nextcloud is a nightmare. First if all, it wants to do everything and does none well (or better than specialized apps) Its internals are a shitshow - a question about getting the real IP of the calling client raised a 10 pages discussion where people said "it works" and other days "it does not". The "solution" required you to change a volatile setting within the docker container (and do it again when the container changes) Finally the upgrade is insane. I once tried to upgrade my installation, was told that n+2 upgrades are not possible (fair enough) and ... the installer destroyed the database. What a piece of crap. Thanks god for backups.

sneak 2y ago
Nextcloud ate my data on a single user installation with no fancy settings turned on, with no upgrades attempted. The sync client on desktop said it was fully synced. Only 200GB of 800GB was on the machine. It’s some of the worst software I have ever used. It’s the pentagon house with the inverted roof built with the two-clawed hammer that eevee described.
- TonyTrapp 2y ago
  I had a similar experience with ownCloud. Regularly, file uploads were timing out, leaving the database in an inconsistent state (apparently), which then later caused the files to be deleted on my desktop where the files were coming from. I'm still not sure why I put up so long with it. It was a slow mess, especially on the single-board computer I ran it on, and SyncThing was a breeze compared to it, with no data loss at all (and much faster on the same SBC).
  - BrandoElFollito 2y ago
    I ultimately moved to Syncthing too. It requires understanding how it works, but once you do it is wonderful.
- touggourt 2y ago
  > The sync client on desktop said it was fully synced. Only 200GB of 800GB was on the machine. Did you read the manual? It is recommended for such size to do the first sync using rsync (or similar) followed by the CLI command to build the files database.

aae42 2y ago

Used to use next cloud, just recently switched to owncloud infinite scale it certainly seems much more stable so far. The lack of features might be a feature itself.

vid 2y ago

I've been looking into NextCloud to recommend to a government agency. The world desperately need competition or at least something compatible with the m365 stack, because it's eating the world and taking a lot of choice away and killing a lot of innovation outside the Microsoft funnel, since Microsoft is not interested in a lot of tech (for example, network schemas, useful for "tell us once" type applications, since they'd rather you just use their tech for everything, and the messier it is behind the scenes, the better for them). Anyway, I have mixed feelings. I admire the community and the support it has by many governments, its staunch Open Source basis so it's useful for an individual or a large organization. But it is building on a lot of crufty PHP, their collection of apps is very uneven and it's hard to know what works well without a lot of research, and it's going in a few directions to upgrade. AppApi in particular is on one hand very innovative, on the other going in some odd directions. I know it is successfully used by very large organizations, but without spending a lot of time with it, it's hard to get a sense of the commitment and considerations required.

rc_mob 2y ago
How can I donate tonthis project? I do not see any limks to donate.
- vid 2y ago
  I think more than anything they need advocacy and good quality product contributions (support, documentation, code). From what I know, a lot of the development happens via a few consulting firms that support their larger clients.

bakugo 2y ago

I wish the Android app for this wasn't so unstable and unintuitive, currently you can't even sync multiple selected files without it getting stuck on the "wait a moment" screen forever and forcing you to restart.

jmakov 2y ago

Looks like an opportunity to "rewrite it in Rust"

tomrod 2y ago
Given the heavy php nature, absolutely. I have only just started using it (and hence wanted to check what others in HN were using it for). Seems like the personal use case for file syncing is difficult; I'm more interested in self-hosting Kanban and other things I don't want to pay yet-another-SaaS a per-user-per-month for the small business tax. Setting up NextCloud with an IdP wasn't too bad, a little weird on Googe's side that it doesn't permit SAML SLO (but that's my not-terribly-deeply-informed opinion).
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

grahamj 2y ago

Just want to say it's times like these I really appreciate the HN community. The NextCloud site makes it all look great and probably easier than some parts of my current DIY strategy, but reading here I think I'll stick to said strategy.

mynameyeff 2y ago

It is better to use several open-source projects that "do one thing well" instead of a single product that attempts to do everything well. If we can advance portable specs so different open source projects can interop... that would be better time spent.

tomrod 2y ago
Sort of. At some point, you need a platform that orchestrates all those "do one thing well" outputs. I'm using NextCloud for that -- too early to totally be satisfied, but nothing crazy going on yet! Waiting to see a few upgrades and backups to see how things go.

kragen 2y ago

how does nextcloud compare to owncloud? my wife is mostly using owncloud

ajdude 2y ago

If you're using Mailinabox for your mail server, it comes with a copy of NextCloud by navigating to "/cloud" -- you can sign in with your mailinabox credentials! I'm using it for everything from my keepass database to gnucash syncing, calendar and contacts too!

mystified5016 2y ago

Similar to many commenters here, I really want to love nextcloud. It was the very first thing I installed when I built my homelab and it's still running years later. However. I just plain can't use the thing. The only thing that works well is automatically uploading new photos from my phone. That's it, that's the only thing. My server is old, yes, but we're still talking about dual 8c/16t Xeons, 128GB RAM, and a 7-disk striped RAID storage. It's no slouch. I can connect to it with a bleeding edge gaming computer with the latest i9 16 core whatever and a fancy GPU with any browser direct over gigabit Ethernet and it still, somehow, takes a full thirty seconds to show the login page. Clicking on anything in the browser is at minimum a 15 second delay. Trying to browse files takes a good 30 seconds just to switch views to the new folder and another 30-60 to render a plain text list of files. Browsing photos is only slightly slower. I get the exact same level of performance when my client is an ancient first generation i3. It's astonishing, really. I've debugged this far beyond my abilities and the best I've been able to determine is that the browser is spending most of its time just waiting for the server to respond. The server shows no interesting trends in CPU usage, so I have no clue. I can only assume it's attempting to render server-side on a single thread. Given the poor single thread performance on the Xeon this seems fairly plausible. But regardless, this is by far the single worst performing website I've ever seen anywhere, ever. We've all seen horrendous single-word-per-page scroll-scroll-scroll slideshow websites that take ages to load. Nextcloud makes those sites look like bare HTML GeoCities pages. It's atrocious, unacceptable, and unusable. There's no excuse for this. And yes, I'm using the AIO docker image. I've also tried bare metal installs with the same performance. I've tried a more modern i5 machine. I've eliminated any problems that could be on my part and I'm left with the conclusion that nextcloud is just inexcusably bad. Which is a damn shame because this is everything I want from self-hosting. I'd love to get my family onto this. Have a central place to share photos and files. Keep everyone's devices backed up in a place I know is safe and secure. But I wouldn't inflict this thing on my worst enemy. This all sounds like hyperbole, but it truly is the worst of the worst. I have never, since the invention of the internet, seen a website this bad. Edit: oh and also all of the desktop clients are barely-working garbage. The UX feels like it was designed by aliens who heard about human interfaces in a Chinese-room scenario. Utterly absurd nonstandard unintuitive garbage. The android client isn't much better and the iPhone client is famously broken on purpose.

rewgs 2y ago

Chiming into agree that, yes, Nextcloud really does not deliver on its promise. Its S3 performance in particular is absurdly bad. I want to love it, but it's just so not there yet -- I worry that its lack of focus will prevent it from ever getting there.

bellajbadr 2y ago

Basic question, what problem it solves?

bellajbadr 2y ago

what problem it solves?

tomrod 2y ago
For my company, I needed a low-traffic Kanban board solution for cheap. Stood up on a small DO droplet and has been working well for a few days. It was my first time using Google Workspace's IdP and it mostly works without a hitch (though logout isn't supported, only way to logout is to clear site cookies and that is weird). Total cost should be under $250/year, which is about 10X less than a SaaS for our use (free Trello is missing a lot of features that I'd like), and gives us more options besides. I plan to evaluate some of the additional apps for chat/video calls and docs, though I know this would increase the price for beefier infra, because Zoom, MS Teams either expensive for accounts or just damn buggy.

aborsy 2y ago

Snaps are not popular in hacker news, but if you want basic functionality, try nextcloud snap. It is good, and takes care of itself. I like nextcloud, and always have an instance for file sharing with people. For basic features, it works good. That said, I think it would have been better if they could focus on core features, remove code complexity, make it faster, remove bugs around the edges, make sure it just works and upgrades reliably. It could not possibly do such diverse range of applications, and now AI.