German firm Nextcloud, with Ionos, is unveiling an open source alternative to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace to meet Europe’s growing demand for digital sovereignty.
Nextcloud, a German productivity and collaboration software vendor, is set to launch Nextcloud Workspace on November 4 in partnership with data centre provider Ionos. The new platform positions itself as an open source, digitally sovereign alternative to Microsoft 365 (M365) and Google Workspace.
Designed to combine the ease of popular SaaS tools with full European data control, Workspace will be subscription-based and priced competitively with US cloud offerings. Nextcloud will deliver the software, patches, and updates, while Ionos manages servers and backups.
“Now, we basically have the best of both worlds: we have a super easy-to-use SaaS product, but it is completely European,” said Frank Karlitschek, CEO and cofounder of Nextcloud. He added that European customers are increasingly wary of relying on US cloud providers, citing risks tied to tariffs, political leverage, and uncertainty in transatlantic relations. “There was a huge wakeup call in Europe — several, actually … There’s a huge, huge amount of uncertainty in Europe [around] how reliable the US is.”
European organisations have grown more motivated to seek local alternatives, with IDC identifying protection from extraterritorial data requests as the top driver. “When we’ve asked organizations, ‘Are you interested in implementing digital sovereignty solutions because of all the unrest you’ve seen in 2025?’ the answer is, ‘Yes, we are,’” said Rahiel Nasir, Research Director at IDC. Yet Nasir cautioned that the shift is gradual: “Despite all the hype, Europe is not abandoning the US providers in droves … There’s a small shift away from them, not a huge shift.”
Founded in 2016, Nextcloud already offers Nextcloud Hub with tools for editing, email, meetings, and AI assistance. The firm reports a threefold increase in requests for its tools, underscoring Europe’s appetite for sovereign, open-source alternatives.
