head to head
Google Drive vs ownCloud
ownCloud is the open source alternative to Google Drive — cloud storage and file sync. Here is the honest comparison.
Yes — ownCloud is a viable free replacement for Google Drive. ownCloud is open source under Apache-2.0, written in Go, with 2,122 GitHub stars, 274 forks and 628 open issues; it was last pushed 5 hours ago. Google Drive costs from $1, while self-hosting ownCloud carries no licence fee — the trade is your operational time instead of a subscription. 2 other open source Google Drive alternatives are tracked here, led by Nextcloud at 36,828 stars. ownCloud ranks #3 of 3 tracked open source Google Drive alternatives by stars. The tracked set, by adoption: Nextcloud (36,828 stars), Seafile (15,254 stars). Replacement criteria on this page: 4 reasons to move to ownCloud and 3 reasons to stay on Google Drive.
choose ownCloud if
- Your Google Drive bill is growing with seats or usage
- You need your data in a format and server you control
- Your compliance posture requires auditing the code that touches sensitive data
- You have (or can rent) a server and basic Docker comfort
stick with Google Drive if
- You need the polished onboarding and support SLAs of a commercial vendor
- Your team has zero capacity to operate software, even self-hosted-simple
- You depend on a Google Drive integration ecosystem that the OSS alternatives have not replicated
Side by side
| ownCloud (open source) | Google Drive | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (self-hosted) | Free 15GB / $1.99-$18/month |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary |
| Source code | Public, auditable | Closed |
| Self-hosting | Yes — owncloud/ocis | Cloud only |
| Data ownership | Your server, your format | Vendor's cloud |
| Community | ★ 2.1K · ⑂ 274 | — |
| Built with | Go | — |
Why people look for a Google Drive alternative
About ownCloud
ownCloud Infinite Scale (oCIS) is a self hosted file sync and share server written in Go under the Apache 2.0 license. It lives in the ownCloud ecosystem and uses reva as a scalable backend with open APIs such as WebDAV and CS3. It presents itself as the foundation for a data management platform and as an open alternative to Google Workspace and Google Drive.
read the full ownCloud overview →
Other open source alternatives to Google Drive
last updated nightly · ranking method: github stars, live-tracked
Frequently asked questions
Is ownCloud a good replacement for Google Drive?
ownCloud is an open source alternative to Google Drive (Cloud storage and file sync). It is written in Go and licensed under Apache-2.0, with 2,122 GitHub stars.
Is ownCloud free compared to Google Drive?
Yes. ownCloud is open source — there is no licence fee, and you can self-host it. Google Drive is typically a paid subscription, so the trade-off is licence cost against the operational work of running it yourself.
How do I migrate from Google Drive to ownCloud?
Migration effort depends on the data formats involved. Check ownCloud's documentation for import options, and compare the feature table above to confirm the capabilities you depend on are covered before switching.