Nextcloud Talk

What Nextcloud Talk does

Nextcloud Talk is the communication app of Nextcloud, the self-hosted file sync and collaboration platform. It adds chat and audio and video calls to a Nextcloud server: one-to-one and group conversations, public links for guests, password-protected calls, screen sharing, breakout rooms, polls, threads and voice messages. Because it lives inside Nextcloud, people can share files straight from Nextcloud Files, schedule calls from the Calendar and link conversations to Deck boards and other Nextcloud apps.

Talk also reaches beyond a single server. Users can join conversations on other Nextcloud servers through federation, and Matterbridge, which is integrated in Talk, can mirror a room to channels on Slack, Microsoft Teams, Matrix, Mattermost, IRC, XMPP and other networks. A Matrix integration lets users link a Matrix account so its rooms appear as Talk conversations.

Security and calls

Calls without the High Performance Back-end are peer to peer: each participant sends an end-to-end encrypted stream directly to every other participant, and Nextcloud also advertises end-to-end encrypted calls in the web and desktop clients. Chat messages are stored on your Nextcloud server, so they are protected by your own server’s security rather than by end-to-end encryption.

The peer-to-peer design limits call size. The documentation puts a single video stream at about 1 Mbit/s, so a five-person call needs about 4 Mbit/s up and down for each person; with video turned off, around 20 participants is realistic. For larger calls, webinars with a lobby and dial-in by phone, Nextcloud offers the Talk High Performance Back-end, which adds a selective forwarding unit and takes signaling load off the Nextcloud server. It scales to 30 to 50 active participants or more and hundreds of passive viewers, and is available through Nextcloud’s sales team or hosting partners.

Self-hosting Nextcloud Talk

Installation is a one-click app install from the Nextcloud App Store on an existing Nextcloud server. The server must be served over HTTPS because browsers only allow WebRTC on secure origins. SQLite must not be used; MySQL or MariaDB need 4-byte (utf8mb4) support. Apache or Nginx must run PHP-FPM with mpm_event or mod_php with mpm_prefork, because Talk uses long polling for chat and signaling. A TURN server on port 443 is required in almost all scenarios so that users behind strict firewalls can connect; the docs cover coTURN and eturnal.

Talk’s built-in signaling is fine for small and medium installs on a dedicated or decent virtual server, but the documentation warns that Talk increases server load with every active participant and may not work on shared web hosting.

Hosted version

Nextcloud GmbH does not run its own hosted Talk service. Partner providers offer Nextcloud accounts, and partners can also host the High Performance Back-end.

Limitations

Talk is not a standalone product: you need a full Nextcloud server and its upkeep. Group calls stay small unless you add the High Performance Back-end. The integration ecosystem is centered on Nextcloud apps rather than the developer tools that Slack-style servers connect to.

Who it suits

Talk suits organizations, schools and families that already run Nextcloud, or plan to, and want chat and calls next to their files without another server. Teams that need chat as their main tool with many integrations should look at Mattermost or Zulip.