The folks at Nextcloud have upped their game again with this release of Nextcloud Hub 10. Most impressive are the improvements made to the platform’s AI Assistant.
Warning Tech Goliaths: A “Tech David” – namely Nextcloud – is coming for you with a little more than just a slingshot.
Launching today, Nextcloud is releasing its new software, named Hub 10, that breaks the dependency myth with the latest version of its private cloud collaboration platform. Hub 10 offers the first open-source AI Agent, improved end-to-end encryption, built-in file conversion, and significant performance and stability improvements.
With Hub 10, Nextcloud doubles down on the vision that started it all: An integrated yet modular digital workspace built for freedom, security, and teamwork. Instead of juggling multiple disconnected apps, Nextcloud Hub provides a unified platform – easier to manage, scale, and secure — while still offering deep customization.
As a result, Nextcloud shatters the myth that open source cannot compete with big tech, and as a result Nextcloud’s Hub 10 demonstrates that open source solutions already exist that rival – and in some cases, surpass – those provided by the major hyperscalers.
“The dependency narrative has been a convenient tool for big tech, but it doesn’t reflect reality,” Frank Karlitschek, CEO and founder of Nextcloud, said last week during an online press briefing. “Hub 10 proves that open source can deliver innovative, privacy-first solutions that meet the needs of modern organizations. It’s time to stop doubting and start benefitting from open source innovation.”
Breaking the Dependency Myth
For Nextcloud, breaking the dependency myth was no easy task. Hub 10 rivals big tech solutions by introducing the first open-source AI agent, providing improved end-to-end encryption, providing built-in file conversion, all while also providing significant performance and stability improvements.
In other words, Hub 10 proves that open source can compete.
But not only can open source compete, it can lead.
Hub 10 is the only open source, all-in-one digital workplace which ensures full data soverignty, privacy, and compliance with privacy regulations.
Over the last decade, the hyperscalers — companies like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure – have pushed the myth that open source is unable to compete with them. Decision makers’ uncritical acceptance of this claim has shaped funding decisions, influenced policymakers, and ultimately reinforced dependence on the big tech firms.
Until now.
With the launch of Hub 10, Nextcloud proves that open source can not only compete, it can lead. It is the first on premises collaboration platform that challenges the major tech firms by integrating powerful AI agency features that respect the privacy and digital sovereignty of its users.
A Little History
Jos Poortvliet, Nextcloud’s co-founder and director of communications, told FOSS Force that the company’s intention in taking on the “big boys” has been ingrained since the company’s inception.
“Well, I don’t want all my data to be in the hands of a handful of big tech companies,” said Poortvliet, almost tongue-in-cheek. “Neither did our CEO, Frank, who for that reason started a project to do something about that in 2010. Nextcloud is still on that same mission, but has evolved from just file storage to communication and collaboration.”
Nextcloud started as a community project in 2010 at Camp KDE in San Diego, according to Poortvliet. With releases coming roughly every six months, “an invididual release – Hub 10 in this case – happens about twice a year,” he added.
What’s New in Hub 10?
Nextcloud provides the industry leading collaboration platform that prioritizes digital sovereignty and security. With Hub 10, Nextcloud continues to improve integration, security, and performance, offering organizations a competitive, self-hosted alternative that evolves alongside the users’ needs.
Hub 10 provides a range of improvements across the platform, enhancing performance, security, and usability, including:
- AI innovations: Improvements of Nextcloud’s existing AI features and introduction of the first open source AI agent.
- “Next Level” platform-wide features: Built-in file conversion and improved integration between Nextcloud components and external applications make workflows smoother and more efficient.
- Security enhancements: End-to-end encryption (E2EE) now includes web access to encrypted files and E2EE for video calls, ensuring secure communications and data protection.
- Community-driven improvements: Based on valuable feedback from the Nextcloud community, core products have been refined to enhance usability and functionality. Bug fixes ensure a more stable and faster user experience.
- Enhanced stability and performance: Performance and stability enhancements provide a smoother and more reliable user experience.
A Privacy-First AI Agent for Your Digital Workplace
Hub 10 introduces a new AI Agent feature for the Nextcloud Assistant that can execute actions, such as sending emails, creating calendar appointments, communicating with external services like the weather forecast or project management tools, and more.
“We introduced our AI assistant two years ago, as a way to interact with an LLM, and with a number of other features like audio transcription, image generation, and more,” Poortvliet explained. “The core idea behind the Nextcloud Assistant is that the user should stay in control over the data. So all Assistant features can be run with a self-hosted, open-source LLM.”
Last year, with Nextcloud Assistant V2, Poortvliet said that the platform introduced “context chat,” which allows the assistant to answer questions about your data.
“With this release we introduce the agency features: the assistant can actually execute actions,” he said. “You can ask it to send a message in a chat, look something up in your files, or send an email to somebody. As a concrete example: you can tell it to create a task in the kanban project management tool Deck for every feature request that came into a chatroom in the last week.”
Unlike proprietary AI tools from hyperscalers, the Nextcloud Assistant Agent capabilities can be fully self-hosted, meaning sensitive data stays under the user’s control. This aligns with privacy regulations and offers organizations an alternative that prioritizes data sovereignty.
Going hand-in-hand with data sovereignty, which is increasingly being required for enterprise users, is digital sovereignty.
“Digital sovereignty refers to the primary control or ownership you have over your digital life,” Poortvliet said. “Can you decide who has access to your data, where it is and how it is used? It is a wider term than privacy – also relevant for companies and even countries. Can a country’s economy be shut down by Amazon? Then their sovereignty is at risk.”
Poortvliet emphasized that the AI features are optional, “as are all components of Nextcloud. Nextcloud Hub is a very modular platform, with document sharing and editing, video chat, calendar and mail — but you can swap out pieces, if you want. And the key advantage is of course that all of that can run on your own server – data center, for a business, or home lab or even Raspberry Pi for home users.”
In addition to the AI Agent, Hub 10 introduces other improvements in its core platform. These include improved usability, advanced collaboration features, and deeper integration that streamlines workflows. Together these updates empower organizations to regain control over their data while maintaining productivity and compliance with strict privacy regulations.
If this piques your interest and you’d like to give Nextcloud Hub 10 a closer look, there are several options — including a one-hour test drive — all of which are available on the Nextcloud website.
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