Sovereign Collaborative Suite
Nextcloud — collaboration free from American dependency.
File storage, shared calendar, video conferencing, online office productivity. Open-source, hosted in France or on your own servers. A genuine alternative to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, with no data transfers outside the EU.
- AGPL source
- OpenAGPL source
- sovereign hosting
- Francesovereign hosting
- end-to-end encryption
- E2EEend-to-end encryption
- natively compliant
- GDPRnatively compliant
What is Nextcloud?
Nextcloud Hub is an open-source collaborative platform that brings together:
- Files: file storage and synchronisation (equivalent to OneDrive/Drive)
- Talk: chat, audio and video conferencing with screen sharing (equivalent to Teams/Meet)
- Office: collaborative office suite based on LibreOffice (equivalent to Word/Excel/PowerPoint online)
- Groupware: calendar, contacts, mail and tasks (equivalent to Exchange/Calendar/Contacts)
- Assistant: self-hostable integrated AI (summarisation, translation, transcription)
- Flow: workflow automation
All within a single platform that you control.
Why choose Nextcloud?
Sovereignty
- Hosted in France with a certified sovereign hosting provider, or on-premise on your own infrastructure
- No transfers outside the EU, natively GDPR-compliant
- Not subject to the American Cloud Act
Control
- Open-source code (AGPL) — fully auditable
- Your data remains yours: no profiling, no monetisation
- Full reversibility: standard exports, no lock-in
Security
- E2EE encryption available (files and Talk conversations)
- 2FA/MFA, SSO/SAML, granular permissions management
- Public security audits (BSI, ANSSI)
Our Nextcloud Service
Three deployment models to suit your IT maturity and constraints.
Managed sovereign SaaS
We host Nextcloud for you on sovereign French infrastructure (certified GDPR/HDS according to your requirements). You get all the benefits without managing a server. Ideal for small businesses and organisations without an in-house IT team.
On-premise at your premises
Installation on your own server (Synology/QNAP NAS or Linux server). Maximum sovereignty — data never leaves your walls. Ideal for firms and organisations with stringent data constraints.
Hybrid
Sensitive documents on-premise, everything else on sovereign SaaS. Transparent synchronisation. Ideal for SMEs with high mobility needs and regulated data.
What the IMACS integration includes
Needs audit
Mapping of your current M365/Drive usage, identification of sensitive data, migration plan.
Deployment
Installation, security configuration (E2EE, MFA, SAML SSO), branding to your guidelines, backups.
Migration
Import from OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox. Legacy document management migration. Integrity validation.
Training & support
User sessions, internal documentation, IMACS level-1 support, managed updates.
All Nextcloud Hub modules included
Nextcloud is open-source (AGPL v3). All these features are included in the installation we deploy for you, with no additional publisher licence costs.
Files
Storage, versioning, internal/external sharing, optional E2EE, quotas, at-rest encryption.
Talk
Chat + audio/video (up to ~6–10 participants at no extra cost) + screen sharing, SIP conferencing, persistent rooms.
Office
Collaborative editing of .docx/.xlsx/.pptx via OnlyOffice or Collabora Online — simultaneous multi-user editing.
Calendar
Shared CalDAV calendars. Sync with Outlook, Apple Calendar, Thunderbird and mobile.
Contacts
Shared CardDAV address book. iOS/Android sync, vCard import/export.
Integrated mail client (IMAP/SMTP). Access all your mailboxes from within Nextcloud.
Tasks
Shared to-dos by project/team, with due dates, priorities and subtasks.
Notes
Markdown note-taking, organised by category, with mobile sync.
Deck
Project Kanban board (alt. to Trello), shared boards, labels and due dates.
Forms
Form builder (alt. to Google Forms / Typeform). Hosted on your own infrastructure.
2FA / Passkeys
TOTP MFA, FIDO2/WebAuthn keys, email OTP, brute-force protection.
Enterprise SSO
LDAP, AD, SAML 2.0, OIDC. Sign in via Azure AD / Google Workspace / Okta at no extra cost.
What does it really cost? The 3 lines on your invoice
No hidden costs: here is exactly what you pay in IMACS managed SaaS mode. We systematically compare this against your current Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace spend.
Nextcloud publisher licence
**£0** — Nextcloud Community is open-source AGPL v3, freely redistributable. Included: Files, Talk (up to 10 video participants), Office (OnlyOffice/Collabora), Calendar, Mail, Tasks, Deck, MFA, SSO. No publisher cost for standard SME usage.
Infrastructure
**Included in the SaaS subscription** (or at your own cost in on-premise mode on your server). Covers: dedicated VPS on sovereign French hosting, SSD + object storage, daily encrypted off-site backup, bandwidth, TLS Let's Encrypt.
IMACS service
**Our people's time.** Initial installation (fixed fee), 24/7 monitoring, orchestrated security updates, IMACS SERVICES support in English by telephone, user training, directory integration (Azure AD / AD), contractual availability responsibility (SLA).
Nextcloud vs Microsoft 365 — an objective comparison
The total cost to compare is not the same as a M365 or Google Workspace licence, because those products include Microsoft/Google hosting.
What you are really comparing
| Line item | Microsoft 365 | Nextcloud + IMACS |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher licence | ✅ Paid (M365 Business Standard ~£10.30/user/month) | 🆓 Free (AGPL) |
| Hosting | ✅ Included — EU/France data (EU Data Boundary) | ✅ Included in IMACS subscription (France) |
| Support | Publisher support by ticket | ✅ IMACS SERVICES support, in English, by telephone |
| Sovereignty | ⚠️ American publisher subject to Cloud Act (EU hosting possible) | ✅ Publisher and hosting in France, outside Cloud Act jurisdiction |
For equivalent usage (50 users with 100 GB storage), total cost is broadly comparable — the difference lies in sovereignty (publisher jurisdiction) and proximity of support, not price. Microsoft 365 remains an excellent solution, which we also deploy: the choice depends on your sovereignty requirements.
Our added value at IMACS
- Day-1 installation done correctly (TLS, tuned PostgreSQL, Redis, OPCache, ClamAV antivirus)
- Branding + business configuration (password policies, restrictions, quotas)
- Directory integration (Azure AD, on-prem AD, Google Workspace)
- Guaranteed backups (3-2-1-1, quarterly restore testing)
- 24/7 monitoring + SLA-bound response
- IMACS SERVICES user support (English, telephone)
- Team training
- Orchestrated updates (without breaking installed apps)
- Regulatory monitoring GDPR / HDS
For which use cases?
- Encrypted client document sharing (solicitors, notaries, accountants)
- Project workspace with simultaneous collaborative editing
- Client video conferencing without Zoom/Teams
- Digital safe for legal documents
- Multi-device synchronisation (office + home)
- Secure external sharing (password protection, expiry, watermarking)
For whom?
- Law firms subject to professional secrecy — E2EE encryption of client files
- Notarial practices handling sensitive estate data — absolute sovereignty
- GDPR-sensitive SMEs (healthcare, finance, HR) — alternative to M365 without Cloud Act exposure
- Public bodies subject to the Cloud au centre doctrine
- Organisations looking to leave Google Workspace or Microsoft 365
Frequently asked questions
How much does Nextcloud cost?
The cost breaks down into 3 clear lines, and the total depends on the deployment model:
IMACS managed sovereign SaaS mode — monthly per-user subscription including:
- 🆓 Nextcloud licence (£0, open-source AGPL)
- 🖥 Infrastructure: sovereign French VPS, storage, encrypted backup, bandwidth
- 👨💻 Our service: 24/7 monitoring, IMACS SERVICES support in English, orchestrated updates
On-premise at your site — on your own server:
- 🆓 Nextcloud licence (£0, same as above)
- 🖥 Infrastructure at your own cost (your server, your storage, your backups — or we advise on sizing)
- 👨💻 Our service: initial fixed fee (audit, installation, training) + monthly/annual maintenance contract
Hybrid mode: blended pricing according to the cloud/on-site split.
We produce a personalised quote within 48 hours following the free pre-assessment, with a line-by-line comparison against your current Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace spend so the decision is fully evidence-based.
Are there Nextcloud licences to pay for?
From the publisher: no. Nextcloud Community Edition is open-source (AGPL v3), with code publicly available on GitHub and freely redistributable. You benefit at no publisher cost from:
- All Hub modules (Files, Talk, Office, Calendar, Mail, Tasks, Notes, Deck, Forms…)
- E2EE encryption, MFA, SSO LDAP/SAML/OIDC
- The full REST API, federation between instances
- Security updates
However — this does NOT mean 'entirely free': two cost items remain that have nothing to do with the Nextcloud licence:
- Infrastructure (sovereign VPS, storage, backups, bandwidth) — included in the IMACS SaaS subscription, or at your own cost in on-premise mode on your server
- Our service (installation, configuration, monitoring, support, training, contractual responsibility)
The Nextcloud Enterprise Subscription (paid, from Nextcloud GmbH) is only relevant for organisations with more than 200 users requiring publisher 24/7 SLA support, or regular video calls with more than 10 participants (Talk HPB). For the vast majority of SMEs, it is not necessary.
How long does a migration from Microsoft 365 take?
- Simple small business (1–5 users): 1 to 2 weeks
- SME (10–30 users with OneDrive + SharePoint): 3 to 6 weeks
- Complex firm/organisation (50+ users, legacy document management, business integrations): 6 to 12 weeks
We always proceed with a dual-running approach: Nextcloud operational alongside M365 for 1 month, then a clean switchover with no disruption.
Does Nextcloud REALLY replace Microsoft 365?
For 80% of office productivity use cases: yes. Collaborative editing of Office documents (native .docx/.xlsx/.pptx formats), video conferencing, calendar, mail and contacts. For specific use cases (complex Excel macros, Power BI, Power Automate, Teams telephony), analysis is required on a case-by-case basis. The free pre-assessment identifies precisely what needs to remain on M365 and what can be migrated.
What if I want to leave Nextcloud later?
All your documents are in standard formats (Office, PDF, image). Calendar and contacts are in standard iCal/CardDAV. Full reversibility is guaranteed by contract. No technical lock-in — unlike M365, where certain files (.docx with embedded Power BI, Forms forms) can be difficult to extract.
What about classic Microsoft Office on workstations?
You continue to use it if you wish. Nextcloud synchronises natively with local Office (your files are accessible via Windows Explorer just like OneDrive). You keep the comfort of Office on the desktop and Nextcloud sovereignty on the server side.
Compatible with your existing ecosystem
Nextcloud does not force you to replace everything. It integrates natively with the productivity tools you already use — for a smooth transition with no disruption.
Collaborative tools pre-assessment (free)
7 quick questions about your current usage (Microsoft 365, Drive, file sharing, sovereignty). An engineer analyses your situation and gets back to you within 24 working hours with concrete recommendations.
Let's assess your American dependency
Answer 7 questions: we identify where your sensitive data is stored, the real cost of Microsoft 365, and what Nextcloud would bring in your specific situation.