Microsoft OneDrive for Business vs Nextcloud Files (Nextcloud Hub)

Microsoft OneDrive for Business

The Windows and Mac sync apps, files on demand that keeps cloud files visible in File Explorer, Known Folder Move for desktop and documents folders, and iOS and Android apps are documented, which covers how patient letters reach staff machines. We found no public information on a Linux client, block-level or delta sync, open protocols such as WebDAV or SFTP, or file size limits on the captured pages.

Nextcloud Files (Nextcloud Hub)

Sync clients exist for Windows, macOS and Linux as well as Android and iOS, with automatic upload of pictures and videos and synchronisation of selected files and folders; a virtual drive built on Dokan keeps files visible whether or not they are held locally, offline-cached copies remain usable, full-text search runs on ElasticSearch or Solr, and files are reachable through the documented WebDAV API. We found no public information on block-level or delta sync, file size limits, or LAN sync and performance figures for large folders.

Microsoft OneDrive for Business

Administrator-set link controls are well evidenced — forced expiry for Anyone links, view-only restriction, allow and block domain lists, guest verification by work, school or Microsoft account or verification code, and automatic guest access expiry — together with file requests and Outlook sharing of links instead of attachments. We found no public information on link passwords, download limits or a no-download view, watermarking, file locking or comments on the captured pages.

Nextcloud Files (Nextcloud Hub)

Sharing is documented at data-room level: link protection with enforced passwords and expiration, hide-download and one-time passwords, a watermark-protected secure view that disables downloads, a virtual data room with DRM and audit log, File Drop upload links including uploads into end-to-end encrypted folders, guest accounts, file locking, co-editing with Collabora Online, and Outlook and Teams add-ins; video verification even checks the recipient's identity before access is granted. We found no public information on numeric download limits, comments, or revocation that reaches copies already opened.

Microsoft OneDrive for Business

AES-256 at rest with unique per-file keys exclusive to one tenant, TLS in transit, FIPS 140-2 Level 2 validated encryption steps, a 93-day recycle bin and whole-drive restore to any point in the past 30 days are documented, and the optional Customer Key held in Azure Key Vault answers who holds the keys. The scheme is server-side, though: we found no public information on end-to-end encryption that survives a share link or browser editing, an independent audit, or ISO 27001, SOC 2 or BSI C5 on the captured pages.

Nextcloud Files (Nextcloud Hub)

Key custody is documented in writing: end-to-end encryption runs as a folder-level option on the clients with user-held keys from a 12-word mnemonic, a zero-knowledge server, a whitepaper inviting scrutiny of the cryptography, an optional offline master recovery key for administrators and HSM support on request, alongside TLS in transit, AES-256 or stronger at rest, enforceable two-factor including FIDO2, and ISO 27001, BSI IT-GRUNDSCHUTZ and an ANSSI CSPN certification stated for the Enterprise edition with their scope. The end-to-end encryption is opt-in per folder rather than default, the captured pages state that the key cannot be recovered if the mnemonic is lost, and we found no public information on ransomware recovery or restoring a whole account to a point in time. A $10,000 bug bounty program is documented.

Microsoft OneDrive for Business

Retention policies and labels, records with proof of disposition for up to seven years, eDiscovery holds, trainable classifiers, DLP conditions and a Preservation Hold library, plus access control by device management state or network location and 30-day retention of departed users' data, give me most of what a hospital group signs off. The audit trail is only partly evidenced — viewer information stays auditable and label administration is audited — and we found no public information on an exportable audit log of logins, shares and file actions, remote wipe, or SIEM integration on the captured pages.

Nextcloud Files (Nextcloud Hub)

An administrator gets user directories through LDAP, Active Directory and Azure AD with SSO/SAML, configurable data retention rules, automatic classification labels, File Access Control rules by location, group, file type and tags, ownership transfer of files and folders, per-team storage quotas with team-owned storage, remote wipe even on unmanaged devices, and a full audit trail in a separate audit log with a monitoring API. We found no public information on legal hold, SCIM provisioning, eDiscovery export or SIEM streaming, and a captured community answer states the admin audit log cannot be written to syslog directly.

Microsoft OneDrive for Business

One documented REST API with SDKs, webhooks, a delta query for synchronisation, a file-picker SDK and thumbnails for hundreds of formats, plus Outlook and Teams integration, is genuinely strong connectivity. We found no public information on bulk export with folder structure and versions, a migration path from another provider, open protocols such as WebDAV or S3, a self-hosted edition, or the treatment of data after cancellation on the captured pages.

Nextcloud Files (Nextcloud Hub)

The code is fully open source and the product is documented to run self-hosted on-premises, in the cloud or hybrid; a documented REST and WebDAV API, external storage via SMB, FTP/SFTP, S3 and WebDAV, an app store with more than 600 applications, and a dedicated migration service from Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Box, Dropbox and DRACOON plus user migration between instances are all on the record. The captured pages state there is no general way to re-create shares on another system and that the user migration app must be installed before export works; we found no public information on SDKs, webhooks, or the deletion of data on termination.

Microsoft OneDrive for Business

The EU Data Boundary commitment names EU and EFTA countries for storage and processing and the data protection addendum is downloadable, but residency is conditional on an EU or EFTA sign-up, is forfeited when Multi-Geo is purchased, and the documentation states that limited transfers outside the boundary continue. We found no public information on the contracting entity or on a subprocessor list with locations on the captured pages, and the vendor is a United States corporation in Redmond.

Nextcloud Files (Nextcloud Hub)

The vendor-side chain is published with names and locations: Zammad and Hetzner in Germany for support and the portal, Collabora and Stalwart in the United Kingdom, Thinkfree in Korea and Postmark in the United States each with a stated transfer mechanism, and ISO 27001 and BSI IT-GRUNDSCHUTZ stated for the Enterprise edition.

Microsoft OneDrive for Business

Storage per user is published per plan — 1 TB, rising to 5 TB on E3 and E5, 2 GB on F3 — and a 30-day free trial exists, but no monetary price for any plan appears on the captured pages. Additional tenant storage is a matter for 'your Microsoft representatives' and Multi-Geo is described only as a licensing percentage rule, so an annual cost cannot be computed from these pages.

Nextcloud Files (Nextcloud Hub)

All three tiers are published with per-user annual prices — Standard starting at 100 users for 71.29€/user/year, Premium at 104.99€/user/year, Ultimate at 204.75€/user/year, with lower per-user prices shown at 200 users — a stated minimum of 100 users, prices net excluding VAT, and tier contents itemised down to which integrations, support reaction times and maintenance lifecycles sit in which plan. We found no public pricing for the separately purchasable optional components, larger deployments are directed to framework agreements, and we found no public information on storage included, the minimum contract term, or the terms of the free community edition.