Oracle recently changed their free VPS allowances, taking down my Nextcloud instance. I’m moving my file sync to a local machine but was wondering if anyone had any experience with alternatives, as Nextcloud AIO was a major pain in the ass to set up last time.
I used it for sharing WIP music projects so having a web interface where I can listen to audio files from a browser was really convenient. It seems however, that all apps offering this feature are just as heavy as NC.
I tried installing cloudreve, but the web media player seems borked on firefox.
Does anyone know any good alternatives, preferably ones which can run off a single docker compose file?
Migrated from NC to FileBrowser Quantum and its super light weight. https://github.com/gtsteffaniak/filebrowser
Strong recommend for Seafile. It’s way faster than nextcloud, it has a good web ui, and nice clients on all platforms.
I can not express how much faster than nextcloud it is.
Obviously open source too.
Instead of installing a massive all in one solution, why not install individual services specifically to cover your requirements? Navidrome for music consumption, synching to actually sync files, WebDAV and OnlyOffice for office docs, VLC, Kodi or jellyfin for video consumption, immich for photos, etc.
It will end up being much lighter and more specialised
Do you use plain webdav for all your files? Mounted on your computer or via libreoffice somehow?
No, I have the file system mounted to my pc with sshfs. My pc comes on and my server gets mounted in fstab using sshfs, and then I can use anything on my pc to interact with the files and data just like it was directly on my pc. I use WebDAV for my android phone to be able to access office files with only office. I also have file browser quantum on the server providing access through a web interface to the files.
I use OwnCloud, which was forked into NextCloud ages ago. I originally intended it as a temporary measure, but it has turned out to be a very reliable, no-frills but adequately featured fileserver. For example, it has file versioning, and companion apps on major OSs that help with managing local and cloud stored files.
If you want a dead simple option, CopyParty is amazing. It’s a 1MB Python file that is basically a Swiss Army knife of file hosting. FTP, web interface, WebDAV, SMB, etc., etc. It wont have system integrations or file versioning, but it’s impressive what it can do.
Edit: worth mentioning CopyParty has an in-browser media player, which is perfectly adequate for previews.
For example, it has file versioning, and companion apps on major OSs that help with managing local and cloud stored files.
Nextcloud also got both.
Yes? OP is specifically looking for something other than NextCloud. OwnCloud has basically zero bloat and in my experience is easier to set up than NextCloud.
I tried all of them over a few months and ended up with Immich + Syncthing.
It turns out that without photos (in immich), my filesync requirements are much smaller and I could get away with a cheap cloud storage offering.
Still using sync thing for obsidian notes and pc <-> phone stuff.
ultra minimal but might do everything you need
copyparty + syncthing
This comment led me to investigating copyparty for myself. It looks good.
Do you know if you can specify existing folders?
what do you mean?
i use it in the most basic way… when I need to quickly access a folder on one my servers I cd into it, copy party, access it on my PCs browser and go, then I quit copy party
I was just wondering if I could point it to folders that already exist on my server. In particular, my Syncthing folder.
Ah yes sure you can do that.
If you install it as a simple package you just cd into the folder you want and run the command ‘copyparty’ otherwise you can simply use docker compose and set it up that way: https://jaredheinrichs.substack.com/p/how-to-setup-copyparty-using-docker
there you can just point the path of your syncthing folder into the /media directory inside the docker container
Excellent, thanks!
File Browser Quantum is AWESOME, I’m shocked I don’t hear about it more often.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
Fewer Letters More Letters DNS Domain Name Service/System SMB Server Message Block protocol for file and printer sharing; Windows-native VPN Virtual Private Network VPS Virtual Private Server (opposed to shared hosting)
[Thread #93 for this comm, first seen 2nd Sep 2026, 15:20] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]
Owncloud, Opencloud, Sync-in, and Seafile are some lighter-weight options I know of with docker builds.
Owncloud is very handy for sending things to people in a pinch. I have it running in Yunohost on my VPS.
OpenCloud is a simpler and lighter version of OwnCloud written mostly in Go. There is a docker compose version of it. Also there is a mobile application for it, as well, if wanted.
OxiCloud is a newer project written in Rust. It’s functional but it is still in development. Deployment is pretty simple and mostly docker. No clients yet outside of the web interface.
Copyparty. It’s not pretty but it’s lightweight and does a lot. Including the “single docker compose” setup you’re after.
i find the phi95 dark theme actually very pleasing :D
Haha, I actually use the regular phi95 theme, mostly because it is a little nostalgic. :)
Not web based but you could always use Samba
