Self-host Google Drive

Cloud file sync + sharing for teams · Category: files, photos & sync

Google Drive is the file-sync-and-share layer of Google Workspace — folders shared with people, real-time co-edit on Docs/Sheets, mobile and desktop sync clients. The self-hostable replacements all do the sync + share + web-view core; the gap they don't fully close is real-time collaborative document editing (which needs an extra add-on like Collabora or OnlyOffice).

Google Drive pricing anchor: $6/user/mo (Workspace Business Starter, 30GB) up to $18/user/mo (Business Plus, 5TB).

Nextcloud nextcloud/server alive

GitHub: ★ 34.9k · last commit today · 3356 open issues
License: AGPL-3.0
Setup time: 30min docker-compose (Nextcloud AIO image bundles app + Postgres + Redis)
Monthly cost: $10-20/mo VPS for 10-50 users; storage scales with attached block storage (~$10/TB-mo on Hetzner).

Migration sketch. Use the Nextcloud All-in-One image (`docker run --rm -it --pull always --name nextcloud-aio-mastercontainer -v ...`) — it provisions everything from a setup wizard. For data: Google Takeout exports your Drive as a multi-part zip; unpack to `/var/nc-data/<user>/files/Drive/` and run `occ files:scan --all` to index. Add the Collabora Online or OnlyOffice integration for real-time .docx/.xlsx co-edit.

Good fit forTeams that want the full suite — files, calendar, contacts, talk, docs co-edit — under one login.

Weak atPerformance with very large libraries (>1M files) — needs Redis tuning + APCu and tends to feel sluggish vs. native Drive at scale.

Seafile haiwen/seafile alive

GitHub: ★ 14.7k · last commit 4d ago · 85 open issues
License: AGPL-3.0
Community Edition is AGPL-3.0; Pro Edition adds search, audit, and S3 backend under a commercial license.
Setup time: 20min docker-compose (Seafile + MariaDB + Memcached)
Monthly cost: $5-10/mo VPS for the app; storage is whatever block volume you mount (or S3 with the CE plugin).

Migration sketch. Deploy via the official `docker-compose.yml` from manual.seafile.com; create a library per Google Drive folder, install the Seafile desktop client, and drop the Takeout-exported tree under the local sync root. Seafile's killer feature is its block-level sync — it stores file deltas in librarys with content-addressed chunking, so re-uploads are fast and disk usage is low.

Good fit forTeams whose Drive use is dominated by sync — fast desktop client, very efficient on bandwidth, predictable performance at scale.

Weak atWeb preview / co-edit story — Seafile leans on file sync rather than browser editing; integrates with OnlyOffice but less polished than Nextcloud.

OwnCloud Infinite Scale owncloud/ocis alive

GitHub: ★ 1.96k · last commit 1d ago · 585 open issues
License: Apache-2.0
Setup time: 20min single-binary or docker-compose
Monthly cost: $10/mo VPS for the app; storage attached separately.

Migration sketch. Pull the `owncloud/ocis` image, run it with `OCIS_INSECURE=true OCIS_URL=https://drive.example.com ocis init && ocis server`. Migrate Drive content via Takeout zip → unpack into the per-user `/var/lib/ocis/storage/users/<id>/` tree. Infinite Scale is the Go rewrite of classic OwnCloud — much faster than the PHP original, microservices-shaped, deploys cleanly on Kubernetes.

Good fit forLarger orgs that need a Go-based, horizontally-scalable file backend with S3-compatible storage support.

Weak atApp ecosystem — Infinite Scale doesn't have Nextcloud's plugin marketplace; it's a file backend, not a suite.

In a terminal? npx os-alt google-drive prints this table — how the CLI works →