Today, Nextcloud is not “just” a solution for storing, synchronizing and sharing files, but also brings apps for collaboration and communication, such as the video telephony solution Nextcloud Talk. So which should you go for – Owncloud or Nextcloud? While both systems share the same code base, they have become increasingly divergent in their focus since Owncloud founder Frank Karlitschek left Owncloud in 2016 with other developers to found his Nextcloud. Once the connection has been successfully established, the contents of this folder on the user’s own PC or notebook are automatically synchronized with the server, who in return is able to synchronize it with other clients. Following the Dropbox principle, a folder is specified whose contents are to be constantly synchronized. When first started, the client asks for the connection parameters to the server. Clients are available for almost every conceivable platform, from smartphones to PCs – including Linux, of course. To synchronize data with this server, a client program is needed. If you don’t want to host and install it yourself, you can also find yourself a provider you trust and rent an instance there. This means that your data do not end up with a commercial provider from the USA, but on your own server, which, of course, requires the Owncloud or Nextcloud server software to be up and running. Owncloud and its spin-off Nextcloud are the best Dropbox alternative for a private cloud.

Nextcloud or owncloud