Google Drive → Nextcloud
What it saves, what actually moves, what you rebuild — and the thing that catches people.
What it costs, and what it saves
Google, as listed on 2026-10-03: Google One Basic is $1.99 a month for 100 GB, Google AI Plus $9.99 a month for 2 TB and Google AI Pro $19.99 a month for 5 TB, with storage shared across Drive, Gmail and Photos. Google Workspace Business Starter is $7 per user per month on an annual commitment (30 GB pooled per user), and Business Standard is $14 (2 TB pooled per user). Nextcloud Server 35 (released 16 September 2026) is free under AGPL-3.0, so you pay for the server, disks, a second backup copy and your time. Nextcloud Enterprise subscriptions start at 100 users: Standard 71.29€, Premium 104.99€ and Ultimate 204.75€ per user per year. A 2 TB household pays $119.88 a year on monthly AI Plus billing (our arithmetic). Weigh that against 2 TB of self-run storage plus backup and power.
Moves cleanly
Uploaded files such as PDFs, photos, video, Office documents and archives come out in Google's Drive export together with the folder tree. Nextcloud's desktop client (Windows, macOS, Linux) uploads them unchanged. The export also carries the current version of each file, starred status, descriptions and folder colours as metadata. As an alternative to Takeout, Nextcloud's Google integration app runs a one-time import of Drive files, contacts, calendars and photos.
You rebuild
Native Google Docs, Sheets and Slides are converted on export, for example to .docx and .pptx. They are then opened in Nextcloud Office (Euro-Office) or Collabora Online, so check formulas, layout and comments after conversion. Apps Script attached to a file is exported but will not run in Nextcloud. Every sharing link and permission is recreated as a Nextcloud share: a public link with password and expiry, a user or group share, or a federated share.
What Google Drive costs you today
15 GB free, shared across Drive, Gmail and Photos; Google One from $1.99/mo (100 GB), $9.99/mo (2 TB) and $19.99/mo (5 TB)
What actually holds you in
Docs, Sheets and Slides files are Google-native formats that must be exported to leave, and the storage quota is tied to the same account as Gmail and Photos.
What you are moving to
Nextcloud is the most complete open-source Dropbox replacement — file sync and sharing plus calendars, contacts, and an app ecosystem — all on a server you control. It is the best all-round fit when you want Dropbox-style features without the cloud.
Free / open-source (self-host); paid support/hosting optional
Nextcloud strengths
- Closest all-round Dropbox replacement
- Sync, sharing, and an app ecosystem
- You own 100% of the data
What you give up
- You run and back up the server
- Fuller stack than a pure sync tool
The migration, step by step
- 1Inventory what you own and what others own. For Workspace accounts, Google's Data Export documentation says data not owned by an individual user, such as a shared-drive document, is not exported with that user. List the share links people actually use, and ask owners for copies of shared files you need.
- 2Stand up Nextcloud 35 on a 64-bit OS with PHP 8.3–8.5 and MariaDB, PostgreSQL or MySQL, with at least 512 MB RAM per PHP process recommended. Add Nextcloud Office or Collabora Online for browser editing, and test a backup and restore before any data arrives.
- 3Export with Google Takeout: select Drive and choose 50 GB archives to limit splitting. Each archive expires in about 7 days and can be downloaded 5 times, so download promptly. Alternatively, run Nextcloud's Google integration app for a direct one-time import.
- 4Unpack the archives locally and compare file counts and sizes against Drive. Then let the Nextcloud desktop client upload the tree. Use Windows virtual files or the macOS File Provider so laptops do not have to hold everything.
- 5Parallel run for 2–4 weeks with Drive read-mostly. Recreate the live share links as Nextcloud public links (password, expiry, upload or file-drop as needed) and send people the new URLs. Re-export anything that changed in Drive during the window.
- 6Cut over: stop Drive for desktop on every machine and take a final Takeout of files modified since the first export. Confirm a Nextcloud backup restores, and only then downgrade or cancel the Google storage plan.
The gotcha
Takeout is a snapshot with sharp edges. Archives expire in about 7 days and each can be downloaded only 5 times. Google's Drive export includes the current version of each file plus only the versions marked 'Keep forever', so ordinary revision history does not come across. Native Google files are converted on the way out, so formulas, layouts and comments need checking, and Apps Script code comes along but will not run in Nextcloud. Sharing does not travel at all. Every link and permission is recreated, and anyone holding an old Google link has to be sent the new Nextcloud one. Nextcloud's Google integration app is a one-time import that does not keep the two in sync. Its photo import is selection-based, capped at 2,000 items per session, and drops location data.
When to stay on Google Drive
Stay on Google Drive if you depend on real-time co-editing in Docs and Sheets with people outside your organisation, on Apps Script automations, on Gemini features bundled with Google AI plans, or on shared drives that Workspace admins manage centrally. Also stay if nobody will run updates and backups for a Nextcloud server. At $1.99 a month for 100 GB, a small personal Drive costs less than any server you would run.
More Layer 3 migrations
Figures verified 2026-09-17 against vendor pricing pages. Prices change and migrations differ by estate — treat the cost delta as a starting model, not a quote. Rankings and recommendations here are merit-only; affiliate income never changes a verdict. See our methodology.