Microsoft OneDrive for Business vs Nextcloud Files (Nextcloud Hub)

Microsoft OneDrive for Business

Windows and Mac sync apps plus iOS and Android apps are documented, and Files On-Demand — viewing, searching and freeing up space from File Explorer without downloading everything — is exactly what keeps our laptops lean with multi-gigabyte models. We found no public information on a Linux client, on delta or block-level sync, on mobile offline folders and camera upload, or on access through WebDAV, SFTP or S3, which is the drive letter our CAD software would want.

Nextcloud Files (Nextcloud Hub)

Sync clients for Windows, Linux and Mac plus Android and iOS, automatic camera upload, and synchronisation of selected files and folders are confirmed, and a Dokan-based virtual drive keeps every file visible on demand so laptops do not fill — my CAD software keeps a drive letter, though a community answer notes the client must be running for it. WebDAV access and a full-text search engine with ElasticSearch or Solr backends are documented, and external storage from Windows network drives to S3 can be mounted. I found no public information on block-level sync for multi-gigabyte BIM models, on file size limits, or on LAN sync, which is exactly the missing piece for us.

Microsoft OneDrive for Business

Anyone links grant view or edit with no login at all, which is precisely how our structural engineers pick up a folder without an account, and administrators can force link expiry, restrict Anyone links to view-only, and allow or block up to 5,000 domains; file requests act as upload links, guests come in via Microsoft Entra B2B and can view and edit documents in Office.com, and Outlook shares files as modern attachments. We found no public information on link passwords, download limits, watermarking, file locking or comments.

Nextcloud Files (Nextcloud Hub)

Password-protected links with enforced expiration, hide-download, video verification of the recipient, a watermark-protected secure view and a virtual data room with DRM and audit log reach data-room level, while File Drop and file requests let external structural engineers hand over folders without an account. Guest accounts that set their own password, file locking, co-editing with Collabora Online named, and an Outlook secure sharing add-in are documented. A captured forum discussion describes a share link as unprotected at the moment an email address is entered, with the password applied only afterwards — a workflow detail I would want tightened before relying on it for tender documents.

Microsoft OneDrive for Business

AES 256-bit per-file keys exclusive to a single tenant, TLS in transit, a FIPS 140-2 Level 2 validated encryption process and a Customer Key hierarchy held in Azure Key Vault are documented in real depth, and Files Restore reaches back 30 days with a 93-day recycle bin. We found no public information on two-factor or single sign-on, on end-to-end encryption, or on a named independent audit or certification such as ISO 27001 or BSI C5.

Nextcloud Files (Nextcloud Hub)

End-to-end encryption is documented as zero-knowledge and folder-level from desktop client 3.0, with a published whitepaper inviting scrutiny of the cryptographic approach, a twelve-word mnemonic held by the user, an optional offline master recovery key for administrators, and pluggable key handling with HSM or external key server support. TLS, AES-256 or stronger, server-side encryption, enforced two-factor with FIDO2 and WebAuthn, ISO 27001, BSI IT-GRUNDSCHUTZ and an ANSSI CSPN certification plus a $10K bug bounty give a verifiable picture — though the compliance documents cover the Enterprise offering only. I found no public information on ransomware detection or restoring a whole account to a point in time, and a community answer states a lost mnemonic cannot be recovered, so key discipline in the office is on us.

Microsoft OneDrive for Business

Retention policies and eDiscovery holds that block permanent deletion, disposition review, trainable classifiers and DLP conditions, plus Conditional Access limiting unmanaged devices and network locations, reach well into governance territory, and the SharePoint admin center sets per-user storage, sync restrictions and a 30-day default retention for departed users' data. We found no public information on remote wipe, an exportable audit log of logins, shares and file actions, SCIM provisioning by name, or SIEM streaming.

Nextcloud Files (Nextcloud Hub)

Active Directory, Azure AD and LDAP user directories, a full audit trail configurable to its own log file, data retention rules, automatic classification labels, location- and group-based file access control, configurable storage quotas per team and remote wipe even on unmanaged devices are all documented, and ownership transfer of files when someone leaves is listed — that keeps project folders with the practice. What holds me back: I found no public information on SCIM provisioning, legal hold, or export of the audit log to a SIEM, and a community answer states the audit app cannot log directly to syslog. That is governance enough for a 25-person practice, short of what a bank would sign off.

Microsoft OneDrive for Business

The Microsoft Graph API is documented to a depth we could genuinely build on — SDKs across languages, webhooks, a delta API, a file picker SDK, PowerShell — with named integrations into Excel, Teams, Outlook and OneNote. We found no public information on a bulk export preserving folder structure and versions, on migration tools from a named provider, on open protocols such as WebDAV or S3 for tool-independent migration, or on a self-hosted edition.

Nextcloud Files (Nextcloud Hub)

The code is fully open source and self-hostable — Docker, VM or our own cluster — with WebDAV and S3 access that makes any exit migration tool-independent, a REST API, and an app store of 600+ applications. Migration paths from Microsoft 365, Dropbox, Box, DRACOON and legacy file servers are named, including a dedicated migration service and a user migration app for moving individual users between instances. Two real caveats from the captured discussions: there is stated to be no general way to re-create shares on another system, and the user migration tool must be installed separately before it can be used.

Microsoft OneDrive for Business

The EU Data Boundary commits to storing and processing customer data inside the EU and EFTA on named datacentres including Germany, and the data protection addendum is published with a November 2026 edition, but the commitment applies only to EU or EFTA sign-ups, is forfeited the moment Multi-Geo is purchased, and limited transfers outside the boundary are still admitted. The contracting vendor is Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Washington, and we found no public information on subprocessor locations or security certifications, so the chain is conditional rather than end-to-end European.

Nextcloud Files (Nextcloud Hub)

Nextcloud GmbH is a German company with its seat in Stuttgart and a commercial register entry at AG München, publishes a data processing page listing subcontractors with their locations — mostly German, with stated transfer mechanisms for a US email provider and a Korean office-suite vendor — and documents a fully self-hosted open-source edition that keeps every file on our own servers, which for a Hamburg practice is the decisive fact. ISO 27001 is stated, though scoped to the Enterprise offering. It is not a zero call-home setup: mobile push notifications are forwarded through Google and Apple by default and the server reports configuration data for fourteen days, with documented alternatives such as unified push.

Microsoft OneDrive for Business

The plan structure and storage are public — 1 TB per user on the business plans, E3 and E5 expandable to 5 TB, F3 at 2 GB, Multi-Geo as a user-level add-on licensed for at least 5% of eligible users — and a free 30-day trial exists. No price figure appears on the captured pages, so I cannot compute what a 25-person practice would actually pay per year.

Nextcloud Files (Nextcloud Hub)

Three enterprise tiers are public — Standard from 71.29€/user/year, Premium from 104.99€/user/year, Ultimate from 204.75€/user/year — with 200-user prices also listed, a stated minimum of 100 users, and prices described as "in Euro per year and net/excl. VAT"; for a 25-person practice the 100-user minimum is the floor, not our headcount. Optional components "can be separately purchased" without figures, the phone support option and Global Scale carry no prices, and I found no stated minimum contract term or published price for support on the community edition. The subscription floor is computable from the public page; the real total also depends on the hosting we run ourselves.