How to ungoogle your Business: Google Drive Edition

Google Drive is convenient. But it comes with tradeoffs and they get worse the bigger your team grows. Every document, every spreadsheet, every sensitive file: stored on servers owned by a 2 trillion US tech company, subject to US law, priced per user, and hosted who knows where. That might not bother you if you're a startup with three people. But if you're a company in the EU with 50 employees and growing privacy concerns, it’s time to ask: Why are you still using Google Drive? There’s a better way and it starts with open source. Step 1: Replace Google Drive with Nextcloud The most popular open source alternative to Google Drive is Nextcloud. It gives you: A modern file sharing interface Fine grained user permissions Calendar, contacts, and collaboration add ons End to end encryption Full control over where your data lives You can self host it. You don’t need Google anymore. Let’s prove it. Step 2: Self hosting with Docker Compose If you're comfortable with Docker, getting a basic Nextcloud setup running takes just a few lines of YAML. services: nextcloud: depends_on: - postgres image: nextcloud:apache environment: - POSTGRES_HOST=postgres - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=nextcloud - POSTGRES_DB=nextcloud - POSTGRES_USER=nextcloud ports: - 8000:80 restart: always volumes: - nc_data:/var/www/html postgres: image: postgres:alpine environment: - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=nextcloud - POSTGRES_DB=nextcloud - POSTGRES_USER=nextcloud restart: always volumes: - db_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data expose: - 5432 volumes: db_data: nc_data: Then run: docker compose up -d Visit http://localhost:8080, finish the browser based setup, and you’ve got a private Google Drive replacement running locally. Congrats. You're now hosting your own cloud. For a full setup guide, check out this blog post. Step 3: And now the catch You're also now responsible for: Regular Nextcloud updates Postgres and PHP security patches TLS certificates Offsite backups Monitoring uptime and disk usage Scaling storage DNS and domain config Email relay setup Fixing it all when it breaks on a weekend Self hosting gives you control. But it also gives you the burden of control. Step 4: Or let someone else handle it What if you could have all the benefits of self hosting like privacy, ownership, and flexibility without the operational burden? That’s where something like Sliplane comes in. It’s a platform for hosting open source apps like Nextcloud without needing to touch a server. You get: Simple deployment (no terminal access required) Full admin access Hosted in German data centers, by a German company Daily backups and uptime monitoring No per user pricing Watch how easy it is to deploy Nextcloud on Sliplane: Let’s talk numbers. Google Workspace Business Standard charges 12 euros per user per month. If you have 50 users, that’s 600 euros per month plus taxes. And that’s for just 100 GB of shared storage. With Sliplane.io, the same setup costs 44 euros per month. That’s a 93 percent saving, hosted in Germany, under your control. (If you need a lot of storage Google Drive is still a good deal.) Final Thought You can go the full DIY route with Docker. And if you're an engineer with time on your hands, that might be fine. But if you want something closer to the Google Drive experience, just without the Google part, there are better ways to run Nextcloud. Your business doesn’t need to feed user data into US hyperscalers. Your files don’t need to live in California. And you don’t need to pay 700 euros per month for 100 GB of data. You just need to degoogle. Ready to take back control? Cheers, Jonas, Co-Founder of sliplane.io

May 12, 2025 - 11:26

How to ungoogle your Business: Google Drive Edition

Google Drive is convenient. But it comes with tradeoffs and they get worse the bigger your team grows.

Every document, every spreadsheet, every sensitive file: stored on servers owned by a 2 trillion US tech company, subject to US law, priced per user, and hosted who knows where. That might not bother you if you're a startup with three people. But if you're a company in the EU with 50 employees and growing privacy concerns, it’s time to ask:

Why are you still using Google Drive?

There’s a better way and it starts with open source.

Step 1: Replace Google Drive with Nextcloud

The most popular open source alternative to Google Drive is Nextcloud.

It gives you:

A modern file sharing interface
Fine grained user permissions
Calendar, contacts, and collaboration add ons
End to end encryption
Full control over where your data lives

You can self host it. You don’t need Google anymore.

Let’s prove it.

Step 2: Self hosting with Docker Compose

If you're comfortable with Docker, getting a basic Nextcloud setup running takes just a few lines of YAML.

services:
  nextcloud:
    depends_on:
      - postgres
    image: nextcloud:apache
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_HOST=postgres
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=nextcloud
      - POSTGRES_DB=nextcloud
      - POSTGRES_USER=nextcloud
    ports:
      - 8000:80
    restart: always
    volumes:
      - nc_data:/var/www/html

  postgres:
    image: postgres:alpine
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=nextcloud
      - POSTGRES_DB=nextcloud
      - POSTGRES_USER=nextcloud
    restart: always
    volumes:
      - db_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    expose:
      - 5432

volumes:
  db_data:
  nc_data:

Then run:

docker compose up -d

Visit http://localhost:8080, finish the browser based setup, and you’ve got a private Google Drive replacement running locally.

Congrats. You're now hosting your own cloud. For a full setup guide, check out this blog post.

Step 3: And now the catch

You're also now responsible for:

Regular Nextcloud updates
Postgres and PHP security patches
TLS certificates
Offsite backups
Monitoring uptime and disk usage
Scaling storage
DNS and domain config
Email relay setup
Fixing it all when it breaks on a weekend

Self hosting gives you control. But it also gives you the burden of control.

Step 4: Or let someone else handle it

What if you could have all the benefits of self hosting like privacy, ownership, and flexibility without the operational burden?

That’s where something like Sliplane comes in.

It’s a platform for hosting open source apps like Nextcloud without needing to touch a server. You get:

Simple deployment (no terminal access required)
Full admin access
Hosted in German data centers, by a German company
Daily backups and uptime monitoring
No per user pricing

Watch how easy it is to deploy Nextcloud on Sliplane:

Let’s talk numbers.

Google Workspace Business Standard charges 12 euros per user per month.
If you have 50 users, that’s 600 euros per month plus taxes.
And that’s for just 100 GB of shared storage.

With Sliplane.io, the same setup costs 44 euros per month.

That’s a 93 percent saving, hosted in Germany, under your control.

(If you need a lot of storage Google Drive is still a good deal.)

Final Thought

You can go the full DIY route with Docker. And if you're an engineer with time on your hands, that might be fine.

But if you want something closer to the Google Drive experience, just without the Google part, there are better ways to run Nextcloud.

Your business doesn’t need to feed user data into US hyperscalers.
Your files don’t need to live in California.
And you don’t need to pay 700 euros per month for 100 GB of data.

You just need to degoogle.

Ready to take back control?

Cheers,

Jonas, Co-Founder of sliplane.io