Nextcloud vs Samba
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted file sync & storage options
— licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one
replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Compare Nextcloud with
choose an app… Immich Syncthing LocalSend MinIO Rclone copyparty Puter PhotoPrism croc Spacedrive File Browser Restic SeaweedFS Cloudreve Ente Photos DeepFace Magic Wormhole Snapdrop gallery-dl Docker Mailserver Kubo (IPFS) Ceph transfer.sh Mail-in-a-Box ProjectSend alt: Vert.sh File converter Seafile Duplicati Filestash Stalwart Kopia Color Thief BorgBackup darktable SFTPGo PairDrop ShareDrop Dufs Thumbor qrcp Nextcloud All-in-One Velero FilePizza OctoPrint ownCloud LibrePhotos CryptPad miniserve FileBrowser Quantum Mailu bup Conduit File Sync Backrest Resilio Sync alternative Onionshare ONLYOFFICE Docs wger Photoview closet GoToSocial NoNo upspin imaginary Maddy Mail Server h5ai Tiny File Manager Send Google Photos Takeout Helper OpenCloud Mox WebDAV Server Go Duplicacy Unison Flying Carpet Papra CKAN SparkleShare elFinder Pingvin Share gocryptfs Kinto pgBackRest Syncthing Android Wrapper bitmagnet Nextcloud Desktop Sync slskd Updog Collabora Online Zipline OnlyOffice Community Server FileGator PicoShare RcloneView gohttpserver Gokapi LubeLogger Chibisafe Mazanoke Syncthing-Fork Directory Lister Peergos Palmr Reitti CryFS Pydio Cells Mainsail SOGo OpenCloud Files Enclosed git-annex ProjectSend Zenko CloudServer bittorrent-tracker Apaxy PsiTransfer Plik Firefox SyncStorage Nextcloud companion go-filecoin none WebDAV-Aria Syncany Sync-in HortusFox FreeFileSync Garage Linx Slink Sharry rmfakecloud Morphos server Picsur rsync.net alternative Stash NoDuplicate HomeHub Uguu rustypaste Nextcloud Groupware XBackBone Zen scanservjs Gossa Threema Web FileRise Twake Drive Pomf Readur Poznote Webtor LibreOffice Online QuickShare ownCloud Web DumbDrop Wingfit Local Content Share Cryptomator CLI 015 IFM mikochi Open Web Calendar ThinkDashboard Davros Calligra Suite goploader Lufi EGroupware Files Sharing Group-Office Filebin Tracim Kleeja Z-Push PrivyDrop Flare Nephele Citadel File Drop Cryptomator Hub hash-calendar ZeroNote Pydio Cells Sync Shifter Passky Client Pydio Cells Client elixire Tine Dropgate Server IPFS Podcasting Digirecord Feber FileRun GoSƐ Jirafeau LibreOffice pacebin Resilio Sync ResourceSpace slcl Surfer Yetishare
Compare Samba with
choose an app… Syncthing LocalSend MinIO copyparty Puter croc Spacedrive File Browser SeaweedFS
Feature Nextcloud Samba Category File Sync & Storage File Sync & Storage License AGPL-3.0 GPL-3.0 Language PHP C Setup difficulty Medium Medium Min. RAM 512 MB 512 MB Deployment docker, bare-metal, snap bare-metal GitHub stars ★ 36,362 — First released 2016 2020 Replaces Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft 365 —
Why pick each one
Choose Nextcloud if… Feature-rich and extensible Active development and large community Integrates calendar, contacts and office Nextcloud details Choose Samba if… Released under the GPL-3.0 license Written in C Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM Samba details
Frequently asked questions Is Nextcloud or Samba better? Neither is universally better. Nextcloud has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Nextcloud and Samba free and open-source? Yes. Nextcloud is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Samba under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Nextcloud and Samba with Docker? Nextcloud: yes. Samba: check the project docs for container support.