Hetzner Storage Box vs Nextcloud: Complete Comparison (2026)
Choosing between Hetzner Storage Box and Nextcloud is a common decision for cloud storage buyers in 2026. Hetzner Storage Box has been in the market since 1997, giving it a 19-year head start over Nextcloud (founded 2016). Hetzner Storage Box serves 500K+ users while Nextcloud has 20M+ users globally. Hetzner Storage Box differentiates with sftp and rsync access and samba/cifs support, while Nextcloud leads with self-hosted storage and collaborative editing. In this head-to-head comparison, Hetzner Storage Box earns a higher hiltonsoftware.co score of 90/100 — but the right choice depends on your specific needs, budget, and team size.
Quick Comparison
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
Pros & Cons at a Glance
After comparing Hetzner Storage Box and Nextcloud across features, pricing, and user satisfaction, Hetzner Storage Box takes the lead with a score of 90/100 versus Nextcloud's 90/100. Hetzner Storage Box's key advantages include "extremely affordable pricing" and "european data hosting (gdpr)". That said, Nextcloud has its own strengths — particularly "full data sovereignty" — making it a viable alternative for specific use cases.
On pricing, there's a clear difference: Nextcloud offers a free plan, making it more accessible for individuals and small teams exploring cloud storage solutions. Hetzner Storage Box starts at $3.81/mo (1TB) with no free tier, but often justifies the cost with sftp and rsync access and samba/cifs support.
Bottom line: Choose Hetzner Storage Box if you need european businesses and developers wanting cheap, reliable storage with sftp. Go with Nextcloud if your priority is privacy-focused orgs and it teams wanting self-hosted cloud storage. Both are strong cloud storage tools — we recommend trying the free plan of each before committing.
European businesses and developers wanting cheap, reliable storage with SFTP.
Privacy-focused orgs and IT teams wanting self-hosted cloud storage.