When you open a Word document in your browser in Nextcloud, there’s always a document server working behind it. Three candidates are up for the job: Euro-Office, OnlyOffice and Collabora. All three handle collaborative editing, all three run with us. The differences lie elsewhere — in the licensing model, the support path and the format strengths. This article is the decision aid, so you don’t have to guess.
What all three have in common
A document server is the server component behind browser office: it converts documents, synchronizes edits from multiple users in real time and saves the result back into your Nextcloud. To you it looks like “Word in the browser” — technically, your Nextcloud talks to the editor server through a connector.
All three candidates can do: simultaneous editing with visible cursors, comments, change tracking, the common document formats. None of them is a wrong choice. The question is which one fits your files, your cost model and your support requirements.
Euro-Office: the sovereign EU suite
Euro-Office is the new European office suite, backed by a consortium around Nextcloud, IONOS, XWiki and OpenProject. Two things make it interesting:
Proven technology instead of a fresh start. Euro-Office builds on a document-server engine deployed millions of times. Its DOCX/XLSX/PPTX compatibility is therefore at a level young projects usually can’t deliver — formulas, pivot tables and complex layouts survive round trips with desktop Office.
Fully open source, without connection licenses. There is no community edition with a cap and no commercial full version — exactly one suite for everyone. How many people can edit at once is purely a hardware question, not a license question.
With us, Euro-Office comes preinstalled in all Nextcloud plans — both in Nextcloud Hosting and on the Nextcloud Server. You click a document, the editor opens, done. If you have many concurrent editors, need predictable performance or want to connect Euro-Office to another platform (Confluence, Mattermost, your own app), Euro-Office Hosting gets you a dedicated server.
OnlyOffice: same engine family, commercial support path
OnlyOffice and Euro-Office come from the same engine family — in the editor you’ll barely see a difference at first glance. Same strong DOCX/XLSX/PPTX compatibility, same collaboration model, same connectors for Nextcloud, Confluence and friends.
The difference lies in the model around it:
- Community Edition: open source, limited to 20 simultaneous connections. Often perfectly sufficient for private users, clubs and small teams.
- Commercial license: lifts the cap (50, 100 or 200 connections) and comes with official vendor support plus an update guarantee. The license runs yearly.
That is the real reason to pick OnlyOffice: if your organization needs a commercial support contract on the software itself — say because IT policy or a tender requires it — you get that from OnlyOffice with a commercial license. A community project naturally can’t sell you such a contract. We’re an OnlyOffice partner and deliver server and license from one hand; details and prices are on the OnlyOffice Hosting page.
Collabora: LibreOffice in the browser
Collabora Online is the third path, and technically a different lineage: LibreOffice technology, packaged as a server service. That brings two traits:
Strong with ODF. If you consistently work with OpenDocument formats (.odt, .ods, .odp) — because a government requirement demands it or your document base comes from LibreOffice — Collabora is home turf. There, ODF is the native format, not an import target.
A different UI philosophy. Collabora feels like LibreOffice, not like Microsoft Office. If you’ve used LibreOffice on the desktop for years, you’ll find your way around immediately. Coming from the Microsoft world, you’ll need to adjust — menus and tools are in different places.
With us, Collabora is available on request. How to enable it in your Nextcloud is covered in Setting up and using Collabora Online.
Format question first: DOCX or ODF?
In our experience, this is the fastest pre-decision. Ask yourself which format 90% of your documents are in:
- DOCX/XLSX/PPTX — you regularly exchange files with Microsoft Office users, customers send Word documents: Euro-Office or OnlyOffice. Both work natively with the Microsoft formats, without intermediate conversion — which spares you the typical layout shifts.
- ODT/ODS/ODP — LibreOffice base, ODF requirement: Collabora.
Mixed collections work with all three. But if you send Word files back and forth with external people every day, the Euro-Office/OnlyOffice engine means noticeably less friction.
Decision logic in four questions
- Do you mainly work with ODF formats, or come from the LibreOffice world? → Collabora.
- Does your organization mandate commercial vendor support with a contract? → OnlyOffice with a commercial license.
- Do you want zero license costs — with MS Office compatibility and European backing? → Euro-Office, as a dedicated server if needed.
- No special requirements? → Euro-Office. It’s preinstalled in our Nextcloud plans — nothing to set up, nothing to add on.
For our Nextcloud customers it comes down to Euro-Office in most cases — it’s already there, costs nothing extra and covers everyday work. The typical exceptions are organizations with a support-contract mandate (OnlyOffice) and ODF purists (Collabora).
Frequently asked questions
Can I switch editors later? Yes, any time. Your documents live as normal files in Nextcloud — the editor is just the app in front of them. Switching means: enable the other connector, disable the old one. On our Nextcloud plans, open a ticket via mein.xaweho.de/kontakt and we make the switch.
Will my users notice a difference between Euro-Office and OnlyOffice? In everyday use, hardly — same engine family, very similar interface, same formats. The differences (licensing model, support path) sit behind the scenes and concern you as the admin, not your users.
Can I run two editors in parallel, say Collabora for ODF and Euro-Office for DOCX? Technically, Nextcloud can map one editor per file type. We advise against it anyway: double the maintenance, and users rarely understand why the same click feels one way today and another way tomorrow. Pick one standard and stick with it.
What does each option cost me? In our Nextcloud plans, Euro-Office is included at no extra charge. For dedicated servers and OnlyOffice licenses, check the product pages Euro-Office Hosting and OnlyOffice Hosting — current prices are there.
Do I need a dedicated document server at all? In most cases, no. The preinstalled Euro-Office in our Nextcloud plans covers everyday use. A dedicated server pays off when many people regularly edit at the same time, performance has to be predictable, or you want to connect the editor to a platform outside your Nextcloud.
What’s next
First login as a Nextcloud admin
What to do after your Nextcloud is provisioned — login, profile, the important first settings, what we handle and what you handle.
Admin GUI overview — what you'll find where
Nextcloud's administration settings are big. Here's a tour of the sections that matter and what they do.
Creating users and groups
Create users for family, club or team, organize groups, set quotas, control login behavior.
Sharing — files with others, internally and externally
Sharing files in Nextcloud — within your cloud with other users, with groups, or externally via sharing link.