What is Nextcloud?

Nextcloud is the Swiss Army knife of self-hosting. It replaces Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, and dozens of other cloud services with a single platform you control. File sync, document editing, video calls, task management — it does it all. It’s the most popular self-hosted cloud platform, backed by a commercial company with an active open-source community.

Prerequisites

Docker and Docker Compose installed (Docker Compose basics)
A server with at least 2GB RAM (best mini PCs for self-hosting)
A domain name pointing to your server (recommended for SSL)
Sufficient storage for your files

Docker Compose Configuration

# docker-compose.yml for Nextcloud
# Tested with Nextcloud 29+

services:
  nextcloud:
    container_name: nextcloud
    image: nextcloud:29-apache
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
    volumes:
      - nextcloud_data:/var/www/html
      - ./data:/var/www/html/data
    environment:
      - MYSQL_HOST=db
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=nextcloud
      - MYSQL_USER=nextcloud
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
      - NEXTCLOUD_ADMIN_USER=${ADMIN_USER}
      - NEXTCLOUD_ADMIN_PASSWORD=${ADMIN_PASSWORD}
      - NEXTCLOUD_TRUSTED_DOMAINS=${TRUSTED_DOMAINS}
      # Performance tuning
      - PHP_MEMORY_LIMIT=1024M
      - PHP_UPLOAD_LIMIT=16G
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy
      redis:
        condition: service_healthy
    restart: unless-stopped

  db:
    container_name: nextcloud_db
    image: mariadb:11
    volumes:
      - db_data:/var/lib/mysql
    environment:
      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=${DB_ROOT_PASSWORD}
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=nextcloud
      - MYSQL_USER=nextcloud
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
    command: --transaction-isolation=READ-COMMITTED --log-bin=binlog --binlog-format=ROW
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "healthcheck.sh", "--connect", "--innodb_initialized"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
    restart: unless-stopped

  redis:
    container_name: nextcloud_redis
    image: redis:7-alpine
    volumes:
      - redis_data:/data
    healthcheck:
      test: redis-cli ping || exit 1
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
    restart: unless-stopped

  cron:
    container_name: nextcloud_cron
    image: nextcloud:29-apache
    volumes:
      - nextcloud_data:/var/www/html
      - ./data:/var/www/html/data
    entrypoint: /cron.sh
    depends_on:
      - nextcloud
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  nextcloud_data:
  db_data:
  redis_data:

Create a .env file:

# .env file for Nextcloud
DB_PASSWORD=change-this-secure-password
DB_ROOT_PASSWORD=change-this-root-password
ADMIN_USER=admin
ADMIN_PASSWORD=change-this-admin-password
TRUSTED_DOMAINS=localhost your-domain.com

Step-by-Step Setup

Create a directory for Nextcloud:
Terminal window
```
mkdir ~/nextcloud && cd ~/nextcloud
```
Create the docker-compose.yml and .env files with the configs above. Change all passwords.
Start the containers:
Terminal window
```
docker compose up -d
```
Wait for initialization — first startup takes 1-2 minutes while the database is configured.
Access the web UI at http://your-server-ip:8080

Enable Redis caching — go to Settings → Administration → Basic settings and verify Redis is detected. If not, edit config.php:

'memcache.local' => '\\OC\\Memcache\\APCu',
'memcache.distributed' => '\\OC\\Memcache\\Redis',
'memcache.locking' => '\\OC\\Memcache\\Redis',
'redis' => [
    'host' => 'redis',
    'port' => 6379,
],

Install the desktop and mobile sync clients from nextcloud.com/install.

Configuration Tips

Increase upload limits: The config above already sets PHP_UPLOAD_LIMIT=16G. Verify in Settings → Administration.
Background jobs: The cron container handles background tasks automatically. Verify it’s set to “Cron” in Settings → Administration → Basic settings.
Reverse proxy: Put Nextcloud behind a reverse proxy for HTTPS. See our reverse proxy guide. You’ll need to set overwriteprotocol to https in config.php.
Collabora/OnlyOffice: Add document editing by installing the Collabora Online or OnlyOffice app from the Nextcloud app store.

Backup & Migration

Backup: Back up the data folder (your files), the MariaDB database (docker exec nextcloud_db mysqldump --single-transaction -u root -p nextcloud > backup.sql), and the config.php file.
Migration from Google Drive: Use Google Takeout to export your files, then upload them through the Nextcloud web interface or sync client.

Troubleshooting

Sync not working: Check that the trusted domains setting includes your actual domain/IP. See our Nextcloud sync troubleshooting guide.
Slow performance: Enable Redis caching (see step 6), increase PHP memory limit, and consider Nextcloud performance optimization.
502 Bad Gateway behind reverse proxy: Check the overwriteprotocol, overwritecliurl, and trusted_proxies settings in config.php.

Alternatives

If you only need file sync (without calendars, contacts, and apps), consider Syncthing (peer-to-peer, no server needed) or Seafile (faster sync for large libraries). See our Nextcloud vs Syncthing comparison or the full Best Self-Hosted File Sync roundup.

Verdict

Nextcloud is the default choice for self-hosted cloud storage. No other platform comes close to its breadth of features. The tradeoff is complexity — it’s heavier than single-purpose tools and needs tuning for good performance. But if you want one platform to replace Google Workspace, Nextcloud is it.

How to Self-Host Nextcloud with Docker Compose