Open source alternatives to Google Drive

What Google Drive does

Google Drive is Google’s file storage and sharing service, part of every Google Account and of Google Workspace. It holds uploaded files as well as documents made in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and the other Google editors. Drive for desktop shows cloud files on Windows and macOS as placeholders that download when opened, and files can be shared with people or through links. Workspace admins on supported editions can pin data to US or EU regions.

Why people look for an alternative

• One quota for everything. A Google Account includes up to 15 GB shared across Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos. When you go over, you cannot upload to Drive or back up to Photos, and Gmail sending and receiving can be affected.
• Deletion after long over-quota periods. If an account stays over quota for two years or more, Google may remove all of its content in Gmail, Photos and Drive, after giving at least three months’ notice.
• Keys held by the provider. Client-side encryption, which keeps data unreadable to Google’s servers, is limited to the Frontline Plus, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus editions. Data regions also require a supported edition.
• Format lock-in. Native Docs, Sheets and Slides files live in Google’s own format. Moving away means exporting them, for example with Google Takeout.

What to compare in an alternative

1. Office editing. Whether the platform integrates Collabora Online or OnlyOffice, so documents, spreadsheets and presentations can still be edited together in the browser.
2. Sync and access. Desktop sync with files on demand, mobile apps and WebDAV.
3. Encryption and keys. Server-side encryption at rest, end-to-end options, and what each one leaves visible.
4. Storage you control. Quotas set by you, on your own disks or object storage.
5. Migration. Export your files with Google Takeout, then upload them or copy them to the new server.

Which one to choose

Nextcloud is the closest overall replacement for Google’s suite, with Nextcloud Office, calendars, contacts and many more apps around the files. Seafile adds its own collaborative document editor, SeaDoc, wikis and OnlyOffice or Collabora integration to very fast sync. ownCloud Infinite Scale and OpenCloud organize files into team spaces, connect to web office suites through WOPI and run without a database; ownCloud Classic remains an option for existing ownCloud setups. Sync-in supports Collabora Online, OnlyOffice, Euro-Office and draw.io, and keeps files readable on disk, which makes later migrations easy.

For storage only, without office editing, see the other tools in our file storage and sync guide.