I'm thinking seriously about getting Google out of my life, and trying NextCloud.

Looking to get a personal account through a managed provider.

Does anyone have any experience with it?

How does it compare to ownCloud?

Any hosts I should look at or avoid?

Any apps I should get for it, or avoid?

Any issues I should be aware of before I switch?

@asklemmy #NextCloud #OpenSource #Linux #Cloud

33 comments

@ajsadauskas @asklemmy I host Nextcloud on an computer at home using docker. Nextcloud is great as a file, calendar, contact server to replace Google drive and their calendar and contacts sync service.
It does not do photos well at all, neither the memories plugin nor the photos plugin, IMHO. If you are looking to replace Google Photos and are able to self host, I would recommend Immich.
- I'm going to go ahead and disagree with Memories not doing photos well. If you have it and Recognize setup properly, they replicate nearly all google photos features.
  
  @Routhinator Maybe, but I had considerably less trouble setting Immich up than memories. I had to try to install extra stuff to the docker container itself, IIRC. I seem to remember python libraries and things needing to be installed. Immich, I just spun up and it worked. The hardest part was GPU passthrough, but that is not even a requirement to use it nor was it terribly difficult.
  That said, I moved on fairly quickly and respect your opinion. If it works for you, then it is the correct tool.
- @denshirenji @asklemmy On photos, does NextCloud Photos or Memories play nice with Digikam or any other desktop photo gallery applications? And what about Immich?
  
  Same person answering from Lemmy because character limit.
  I don't know much about digiKam, but looking at it got me interested in checking it out! One problem I have with Immich is that there is really good Android integration with its app, but poor Desktop integration (I use a web app).
  For Immich, I suppose you could mount an external library and use that same folder for digiKam. Immich will store its own set of files in its data structure for the external library, not the pictures just it's own metadata as I understand it. Any changes will be reflected in Immich after a library scan. (I will be trying this option soon.😁)
  You could do the same with Nextcloud by just mounting the Nextcloud drive and setting its photos folder as the folder for digiKam, I suppose. You would be losing out mainly on Android integration with the Immich app. I can't whatever the opposite of recommend the Nextcloud options enough.

My only advice would be to go full NextCloud at first for simplicity instead of trying to integrate it with other services.
That being said, if later on you're looking for a way to store images I'd highly recommend Immich, I just finished setting up my own hosting setup a few days ago and it is gorgeous.
- Does immich have a good way to hide or lock certain photos? I'd love to share most of my photo library with my friends but there are some photos I want backed up that I'd rather not share
  
  Kind of, you can share individual albums so it is possible to share all but one. This may or may not be practical though depending on your album structure.
  Another option is to share your entire library but archive the photos you don't want to be seen.
  It would be good of there was an official feature for this but these are currently the two best options.

2 weeks ago, I suscribed to a pre-installed Nextcloud service. IT IS SO WORTH IT!!! It's much more that what I was expeting. Data storgage of course, but tons of super usefull apps. Deck to replace Trello, News for rss feeds, Only Office for an online suite, Memories for picture, a very usefull media player, and much more. In the age of AI, I'm never again storing anything on Google or MS storage. We nees to take the internet back, fuck the GAFAM.
- @Yerbouti @ajsadauskas thanks for sharing. I've been using Synology's things because I have their NAS and it comes with it. But I haven't been too happy with their docs though their drive feature is great. Maybe next cloud might completely fill the void.

I selfhost my own nextcloud for notes and documents that I would like on my phone but not via google.
It is not a google docs/gmail/whatever replacement. They've spent the past few years hardening it and pushing for all the hallmarks of enterprise first software (e.g. making it a complete fustercluck to not have a proper domain name) but you still have stability and performance issues and the occasional upgrade issue that fucks up everything
I would also point out that if you aren't selfhosting, what are you actually getting out of this? You are just spreading your data out to other companies who are often less transparent about how they monetize you.
- Nextcloud with OnlyOffice is way better than GDocs

@ajsadauskas @asklemmy I have been using Nextcloud on a cheap Australian VPS for a few months now. It is far from a perfect solution, it is slow, the quality of it's apps are.. mixed, BUT, I prefer it over the big tech solutions I used to use by far.
If you do want to go down this route, I recommend getting a cheapo VPS (4 GB of ram will do the job) or setup an old laptop or PC as a home server, then chuck the Nextcloud AIO docker image on it. It handles everything for you and makes life easy.

@ajsadauskas@aus.social @asklemmy@lemmy.ml Nextcloud is a lot better than owncloud IMO

@ajsadauskas @asklemmy It's awesome! I have storage share from Hetzner.
https://www.hetzner.com/storage/storage-share/

@ajsadauskas@aus.social @asklemmy@lemmy.ml Maybe the selfhosted community in lemmy can help you

I trialled the self hosted NextCloud for a while, but the quality of apps is just meh. So instead I bought a Synology NAS. Turned out their apps are actually on par with Google. And you own everything.

Late to the party but just another vote for Nextcloud. I used a paid subscription initially but then took the plunge, bought a Pi 4 & SSD for storage then read up & figured out how to self host.
It was my first experience with Linux, I fell over many times but dont give in as after all the hair pulling & teeth grinding it becomes rewarding & even a little "fun" when you get there & then become confident enough to take on & complete further Pi projects.
The Pi can handle Libre Office (synced through Nextcloud, handled on mobile by Collabora Office).
Whilst you're at it, why not sync the notes you'll inevitability make on your self hosting journey through your Nextcloud instance? Try Joplin & do away with Google Docs, Evernote etc into the bargain

@ajsadauskas @asklemmy I've been self-hosting and also use my instance for my private IT business. From what I can tell it's built on owncloud and the the server commands use the occ command that references that codebase.
Key apps to check out:
Memories (for photos)
Deck (for Kanban productivity boards)
Mastodon Integration
Polls (Doodle Alternative)
Forms
Appointments
Talk (May need a high-end signaling server but can replace Google Meetup/Teams/Zoom/Slack)

I recommend portknox.net. One of the Nextcloud team suggested them to me, and they are pretty awesome.

@ajsadauskas @asklemmy I wish there was a better alternative than NextCloud (or that NextCloud was better). It's not great, but it's ok and it depends on what you're going to use it for.
You should probably find an Australian provider, but look for someone that has an actual Collabora server with your managed account (avoid the community version server which is unstable).
Also, make sure that you can install apps (which in most cases you can), you need them. For instance, if you're going to use it for photos, the default Photos app very limited and you need the Memories app for timelines and albums.
If some of your money (to the provider) goes into development, not only hosting, it's probably a better investement.

If you ever decide to self-host and not use a managed provider, take this advice: install it on an SSD (fastest possible you can).

@ajsadauskas @asklemmy I’m also doing this but doing some of the hosting myself. I’m using @doncow to host my own email. I’m also looking at @cryptpad for apps. Those could fit your needs also. I’m not a nextcloud fan but I think these do have integrations.

@ajsadauskas@aus.social @asklemmy@lemmy.ml I ditched Google & Microsoft and went to #NextCloud.
Overall, works well. The interface is a bit dated looking and sometimes slow, but overall it has not let me down.

!selfhosted@lemmy.world

Nextcloud is awesome for most things, but for photos I would recommend Immich. It’s just as good as Google Photos imho.

@ajsadauskas @asklemmy Be aware, that Nextcloud is awesome. But it is also open source and moving fast. Its' core (Files, Calendar, Contacts) works perfectly for a long time for me now on Windows, Linux and Android. Some things might be a bit clucky but you can always file ideas for improvement. And that is much better than at Google... ;-)