I currently have the following services which I’d like to migrate elsewhere:
OneDrive
Google Drive
Google Photos (some photos doubled in OneDrive, too, but I will just delete those)
Bitwarden (potenitally)
Google Calendar (but may use the calendar at Mailbox.org)
I keep searching for solutions and I keep coming back to Nextcloud. On the one hand, it seems like it’s too big and too complex (even Nextcloud’s website defaults to business version and talks about collaboration), but on the other hand it seems modular and has all I need (Files + Virtual Files, Photos / Memories, Calendar and more).
I may one day want to self-host at home, but this is not the day yet, especially with the ridiculous storage prices. I think I’d rather go the cloud route first, but would like to have an option of switching to another provider or taking everything home.
I understand that with a VPS that’s a no-brainer because it’s essentially a rented virtualized server. But what about the Storage Share? What is easy to take out and what is difficult to take out? I guess files and photos would be as easy as downloading them to my machine (for example via SFTP, rsync, etc. – I’m on Linux). What about Calendar, if I used that? CalDAV, I guess, and sync to another calendar?
On one hand, using the VPS is a good learning experience, but also more prone to errors on my part. But I am not limited to only Nextcloud, I can spin up other services (for example Immich or even Vaultwarden), especially if I use Docker containers. But VPS will be more expensive, especially if I keep adding services.
Managed Nextcloud is easy to set up and there’s virtually no maintenance apart from installing some apps and managing my data. But I am limited to only what Hetzner offers and it may be troublesome to move away.
What am I missing?
You can export and import calendars and contacts as .ics and .vcf files from/to Nextcloud.
The mobile apps even have a setting to do this automatically on a schedule, they’re saved to your files in Nextcloud. It’s a bit strange it’s not a server-side feature, but it’s there anyway.
Many Nextcloud apps only store their data to the database, if you end up using those, you’ll be reliant on Hetzner’s backups with Storage Share, and you can’t get those for yourself. I don’t think you can get a db dump from Hetzner even via customer support.
A VPS will start to get expensive if you have more data, but you can just lift-and-shift that to a home server later.
I really don’t understand this “Nextcloud does too much” rhetoric, the standard bare metal installation is basically just Files, Photos, Calendar and Contacts. Also a built-in text/markdown editor. Everything else is an add-on, which needs to be installed separately.
That’s just my impression based on their website, it looks like a business suite, but I’m probably looking at it wrong. Thank you, the part about the database is important.
Of course that depends on the apps in question and if you are even able to install additional apps in a managed environment.
But not all apps are so limited. The cookbook app for instance saves all recipes as markdown files you can easily share with others, download or backup.