Which open-source alternative to Google Workspace fits your workloads
For most organizations the practical answer is Nextcloud with Collabora Online for files, documents and sharing, paired with OX App Suite or openDesk for mail and calendar. Nextcloud Hub is licensed under the AGPL and is free to self-host, and Collabora Online is licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0, so both can run inside your own infrastructure without per-user license fees. The trade-off is that you take on the operating work Google currently does for you: patching, backups, mail deliverability, identity integration and user support. openDesk is built for public administration and deploys to Kubernetes with Helm charts, which suits teams with platform engineering capacity. OX App Suite fits teams that want a mature mail and calendar product with on-premises, public cloud or managed options.
Teams usually look for alternatives for one of four reasons: a renewal or pricing change, a data residency requirement, concern about lock-in, or a desire to keep sensitive documents under their own control. Open-source licensing addresses the lock-in and control points directly, since the code can be audited, forked and hosted by you. It does not remove the commercial question. Nextcloud GmbH sells Standard, Premium and Ultimate enterprise subscriptions for support and additional features, and Collabora Online's enterprise edition adds support, SLAs and signed security updates. Confirm with each vendor which features you need under the free license and which require a paid tier, and ask for that comparison in writing before you commit.
Before choosing, map your workloads. Document editing in Docs and Sheets usually moves to Collabora Online, which edits ODF and Microsoft formats such as .docx, .xlsx and .pptx. Calendar, contacts and shared mail depend on the groupware choice, so test your Gmail delegation, shared mailboxes and calendar invitations against each candidate. Check whether your identity provider, mobile device management and archiving requirements are supported by the platform you pick. Pilot the stack with a small group of real users, record where formatting or sharing behaves differently, and use those results to decide which platform fits your workloads.
Open-source options that replace Google Workspace parts
Google Workspace bundles file storage, office editing, email and calendar into one service, so a replacement is usually several components. The cards below cover the four open-source building blocks most often considered, and each one answers a different part of the migration. Check which Workspace services you actually use before choosing, because a single platform rarely covers all of them equally well.
Nextcloud Hub for files and sharing
Nextcloud Hub covers file storage, sync, sharing links, calendar and contacts, and it is licensed under the AGPL and free to self-host. The main cost is operational: you run the storage, backups, upgrades and user lifecycle yourself, or pay Nextcloud GmbH for an enterprise subscription with support and additional features. Nextcloud One managed hosting is offered for organizations under 100 users. Confirm which Drive and Calendar features your users depend on before assuming parity, and test sync with your largest folders.
Collabora Online for document editing
Collabora Online provides browser-based editing for ODF and Microsoft formats, including .docx, .xlsx and .pptx, and it integrates with Nextcloud. It is licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0, and CODE is the free development edition. The paid enterprise edition adds support, SLAs and signed security updates, which matter if you must show a supported patch path to auditors. Test Google Docs, Sheets and Slides exports with real files, since Google-native formats need conversion first and complex layouts and macros can shift.
OX App Suite with Dovecot for email
OX App Suite from Open-Xchange provides email, calendar, documents, drive and tasks, and Dovecot is part of the Open-Xchange product line. You can deploy it on premises, in a public cloud or use the managed OX Cloud service, which shifts operations to a vendor. This option is the one to evaluate when Gmail is the central requirement, since Gmail migration is the hardest part of the move. Confirm mailbox migration tooling, shared mailbox support and calendar sharing with Open-Xchange before committing to a cutover plan.
openDesk as a full office stack
openDesk is an office and collaboration suite built for public administration, managed since January 2024 by ZenDiS, the German federal Centre for Digital Sovereignty. It deploys to Kubernetes with Helmfile and Helm charts, and the deployment repository is Apache 2.0 licensed, with both Community and Enterprise editions. It suits organizations that want one suite and have Kubernetes skills in-house, but it brings more platform complexity than a single-application deployment. Check which Gmail and Drive features it covers against your Workspace inventory, and confirm the edition you need.
How each Google Workspace capability maps to open source
This table maps each Google Workspace capability to the open-source option that covers it, with a coverage note for each. Read the Coverage column as a starting point, since no single platform matches Google Workspace feature for feature. Confirm every row against current vendor documentation and a proof of concept in your own environment before committing.
| Google Workspace capability | Open-source option | Coverage and what to confirm |
|---|---|---|
| Gmail | OX App Suite with Dovecot, or openDesk groupware | Email is a core strength of OX App Suite, which is deployable on premises. Confirm mail migration tooling, shared mailboxes and mobile sync for your users. |
| Google Calendar | OX App Suite calendar, Nextcloud calendar, or openDesk | Calendar sharing and scheduling are generally covered. Confirm free/busy lookup across the new platform and any resource booking you rely on. |
| Google Drive | Nextcloud Hub files with desktop and mobile sync | Nextcloud covers file storage, sharing links and sync. Confirm sync client behavior at your file volumes and how shared drive permissions map. |
| Google Docs, Sheets and Slides | Collabora Online, editing .docx, .xlsx and .pptx | Collabora covers core document, spreadsheet and presentation editing with Microsoft formats. Expect differences in complex formatting, Google-native features and co-authoring behavior. Test with your real documents. |
| Google Meet | Nextcloud Talk or openDesk video components | Real-time video meetings are a gap to assess. Confirm whether the chosen platform's video component meets your capacity, recording and network requirements, or whether a separate media service is needed. |
| Google Chat | Nextcloud Talk or openDesk messaging | Team messaging is partly covered. Confirm channel, threading and notification features against your usage patterns. |
| Google Groups | Mail distribution lists in OX App Suite or openDesk, Nextcloud group folders | Group mail and shared access are partly covered. Confirm how group membership, external senders and archive behavior are configured. |
| Apps Script and Marketplace add-ons | No direct equivalent | Gap. Scripts and third-party add-ons need to be inventoried and rebuilt, replaced or retired. Confirm this scope early in planning. |
| Admin controls and data export | Platform admin consoles, plus the Data Export tool and Takeout as export sources | Admin controls differ by platform. Confirm policy, audit logging and user lifecycle features against each vendor's current documentation. |
How the Google Workspace Data Export tool and Takeout differ
The admin Data Export tool and Google Takeout are not interchangeable, and choosing the wrong one wastes weeks. The Data Export tool is an organization-wide export run by super administrators. It packages Gmail, Drive, Chat and Calendar data as zip files and writes them into a Cloud Storage bucket. Before you start, confirm that the admin account is at least 30 days old, because the tool will not run otherwise. Plan for the timeline as well: exports typically take about 72 hours, but Google's documentation says they can take up to 14 days. Also note that the default bucket is deleted after 60 days, so the zip files must be downloaded, verified and copied to your target storage well inside that window.
Takeout works differently. It is a self-service tool that lets each individual user export their own data from products such as Gmail, Drive documents and Calendar. Administrators decide whether users can use it at all, so it is a control you set in the admin console, not a migration method. Takeout is useful for personal archives and for filling gaps the admin export misses, but it does not give you a consistent, complete, organization-wide snapshot. Asking every user to run Takeout on their own schedule will leave you with partial and inconsistent copies.
Before the export runs, decide where the zip files will land and who will download them. Confirm which storage project and bucket will hold the output, who holds the super administrator and bucket permissions, and how the files will be checked against the source. Ask your Google Workspace reseller or account team to confirm current export limits and retention behavior for your edition, and read the current Google Workspace Admin Help article on exporting organization data before you schedule anything. Agree the destination, the transfer path and the verification steps first, so the export delivers usable data for the Nextcloud and Collabora Online or openDesk target rather than an archive nobody can open.
Handling Gmail, Docs and Sheets conversion
Mail is the most sensitive part of the move because folder structure, flags and message identity all matter to users. Google's exports from the admin Data Export tool and from Takeout deliver mail as mbox-style archives, while the target mail server expects messages to be loaded over IMAP. The migration tool or the mail platform's import process reads those archives and writes each message into a mailbox. The mapping decisions are made before the first load, not after users complain. Gmail labels do not map one to one onto folders, because a single message can carry several labels. Decide which label becomes a folder, which becomes a flag or tag, and how messages with multiple labels are placed.
- Mailbox mapping: Map each Google account to a target mailbox and confirm how aliases and shared addresses are handled.
- Labels to folders: Choose a primary folder for multi-labeled messages and confirm whether the target supports tags.
- Duplicates: Confirm whether re-running the import skips messages already present.
- Message identity: Check that Message-ID headers, dates and read status survive the load.
- Scope: Confirm whether Chat, Calendar and Contacts move in the same run or in separate steps.
Check the result by logging in as a sample of users and comparing folder counts, newest message dates and attachments against the source.
Google Docs and Sheets are not stored as Office files. They are cloud-native documents, so they must be exported to a standard format before any editor can open them. The usual target formats are .docx for documents and .xlsx for spreadsheets. Collabora Online edits Microsoft formats including .docx, .xlsx and .pptx, and integrates with Nextcloud, so exported files can be opened and edited in the browser once they are in Nextcloud. Conversion is a fidelity question, not a yes or no question. Fonts, page breaks, numbering, tracked changes, comments, charts, named ranges, conditional formats and embedded objects can all change.
- Export format: Export Docs to .docx and Sheets to .xlsx, and decide whether any Docs must stay in ODF.
- Comments and suggestions: Confirm whether comments and suggested edits are exported and how they appear afterward.
- Formulas and charts: Compare formulas, cross-sheet references and charts after export, since functions may behave differently.
- Layout: Check tables, headers, footers, images and page breaks on long documents.
- Editing round trip: Open and save a sample in Collabora Online to confirm that the file keeps its structure.
Build a representative sample set with complex documents and spreadsheets, then sign off on the differences the business accepts before running the full conversion.
Drive exports carry files and folder structure, but they do not carry the full sharing model in a form the target can use directly. Google's Data Export tool can deliver Drive content as zip files into a Cloud Storage bucket, and the default bucket is deleted after 60 days, so the export must be copied to permanent storage on a schedule the team controls. Sharing settings, link-based access, shared drives and ownership are separate from the file bytes. Plan how each one will be recreated in Nextcloud, whether by group folders, user shares or public links, and confirm which accounts keep ownership of migrated content.
- Storage handoff: Copy exports out of the Cloud Storage bucket before the 60-day deletion window closes.
- Shared drives: Map shared drives to group folders and confirm who holds administrative rights.
- Link sharing: Review anonymous and domain-wide links, and recreate only those still in use.
- Ownership: Decide who becomes owner of files left by departed users.
- Permissions check: Compare access lists for a sample of folders before and after the move.
Confirm with your Nextcloud partner which sharing features need configuration and which need a manual step, and ask for a written list of what will not carry over.
What the multi-year cost of self-hosting includes
This table compares each cost component of a Google Workspace subscription with the matching items in a self-hosted stack, marking which are one-time and which recur. Read it as a checklist for building a quote request and a multi-year model, not as a price comparison. The main takeaway is that the software license is often the smallest line, and staff, infrastructure, migration and parallel running drive most of the total.
| Cost component | Who is paid or who carries it | One-time or recurring | What drives it up or down |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Workspace subscription | Google, per user under your agreement | Recurring | User count, storage plans and any add-on licenses; confirm current terms with your Google reseller or account team |
| Nextcloud Hub software | Free to self-host under the AGPL | Recurring only if you buy support | Nextcloud GmbH publishes Standard, Premium and Ultimate enterprise subscriptions plus Nextcloud One managed hosting for organizations under 100 users |
| Collabora Online support | Collabora for enterprise edition or a support provider for CODE | Recurring if chosen | Choice of CODE (free development edition) versus enterprise support, SLAs and signed security updates; ask what is covered |
| Open-Xchange or openDesk subscriptions | Vendor or ZenDiS-aligned provider, depending on the chosen stack | Recurring if chosen | Edition, support level and deployment model (on premises, public cloud or managed service); request a written breakdown |
| Infrastructure and storage | Your cloud account, data center or hardware budget | Recurring | Storage volume, backup retention, redundancy and availability targets; more users and tighter residency rules raise it |
| Implementation and integration | Internal team or an implementation partner under a fixed-scope agreement | One-time | Identity integration, admin console setup, client rollout and customization; a written scope is the basis for any quote |
| Data migration and conversion | Internal team or partner, plus tooling time | One-time | Volume of Drive files, Docs, Sheets and Gmail mailboxes, and the Data Export or Takeout workflow chosen; test conversion fidelity early |
| Internal administration staff | Your employees or contracted operators | Recurring | Number of tenants, patching cadence, backup testing and on-call coverage; small teams often underestimate this line |
| Training and change support | Your staff, plus any trainer or partner | One-time, with refreshers | User count, number of applications users must learn and how many departments change tools at once |
| Parallel running | Your staff and both platforms' costs during overlap | One-time, but often the largest transitional line | Length of the overlap period, mailbox synchronization needs and how long Google licenses remain active |
What you give up when leaving Google Workspace
Moving off Google Workspace means replacing more than mail and documents. The cards below cover the services that Google delivers as part of the platform, the workaround teams usually adopt for each, and the points to confirm before you commit to a target design. Treat each one as a separate line item in your scope and quote.
Real-time video and meetings
Google Meet is usually the first thing users notice missing. Self-hosted Nextcloud Talk or a separate video service such as Jitsi or BigBlueButton is the common replacement, and each brings its own server sizing, TURN relay and recording requirements. Confirm concurrent participant counts, whether recordings must stay in your region, and how calendar invitations will be generated. Office documents can still be co-edited in Collabora Online while a call is running.
Google Apps Script and add-ons
Scripts that run inside Sheets, Docs, Gmail and Forms often hold business logic nobody has documented. They do not port directly to Nextcloud or Collabora Online. Inventory every script, trigger and add-on before cutover, then decide per item whether to rewrite it as a workflow, move it to an internal service, or retire it. Ask your implementation partner to estimate the work from that inventory rather than from the number of apps.
Search quality and AI features
Gmail and Drive search, smart compose and summarization depend on Google's indexing and models. Self-hosted options offer full-text search and optional integrations, but relevance and assistant features differ and may need separate components. Test search on a representative mailbox and document set with your own users. Confirm which AI features you need, whether they can run on your infrastructure, and where any model traffic would go.
Mobile and device management
Google Workspace manages Android, iOS and Chrome devices, including account policies, app deployment and remote wipe. Replacing this means choosing an MDM product, configuring mobile sync for mail, calendar and files, and rebuilding conditional access. Confirm which device platforms your users run, how enrollment works for personal devices, and whether your identity provider can enforce the policies you rely on today.
Managed uptime and operations
Google runs the infrastructure, patches it and carries the availability commitments in its agreement. Self-hosting moves that responsibility to your team or to a managed hosting partner. Ask for the monitoring, backup, failover and patch cadence that will apply, who is on call, and what your recovery objectives are. Compare these against the terms you have now, not against an idealized target.
Admin tooling and audit trails
Google's admin console provides centralized user lifecycle, audit logs, data export and investigation tools. Export tooling such as the Data Export tool and Takeout covers data movement, but ongoing audit logging, eDiscovery and retention controls will need to be rebuilt in your target platform. Confirm which logs your auditors and legal team require, how long they must be kept, and which admin functions your identity and monitoring stack must replace.
Migrating from Google Workspace step by step
This sequence moves users, files, sharing and mail from Google Workspace to a self-hosted stack in an order that keeps a rollback path open until each group has been verified. The end state is a documented cutover with a confirmed export archive kept outside Google.
Inventory users, shared drives and mail volumes
The migration lead, with the Google Workspace super administrator, lists every user, group, shared drive, Gmail account and Calendar in scope, and notes which accounts hold large mailboxes or heavy Drive content. Ask the super administrator to confirm the admin account is at least 30 days old, since the Data Export tool requires it. The step is done when the inventory is signed off by the business owners of each department and every item has a named owner.
Run the admin Data Export or Takeout
The super administrator runs the organization-wide Data Export tool, which writes Gmail, Drive, Chat and Calendar data as zip files to a Cloud Storage bucket. Exports typically take about 72 hours but can take up to 14 days, so start early and track progress in the admin console. Individual users who hold data outside the admin scope can use Google Takeout, and the administrator should confirm whether Takeout is enabled for them. The step is done when every archive is downloaded, checksummed and copied to storage you control, because the default bucket is deleted after 60 days.
Map identities and sharing permissions
The identity owner builds a table that links each Google account to its target directory identity, and records how Drive folders and files are shared today, including link-based sharing and external collaborators. Decide which shared drives become team folders in Nextcloud and who will own each one. Review the table with department heads, because permissions in Google do not map one to one onto Nextcloud groups and shares. The step is done when every shared folder has an owner, a target location and an agreed access list.
Convert Gmail, Docs and Sheets
The migration engineer imports Gmail archives into the chosen mail platform and converts Google Docs, Sheets and Slides into formats the office suite edits natively, such as .docx, .xlsx and .pptx or ODF, which Collabora Online supports. Test a sample of complex documents, including comments, tracked changes, embedded charts and linked images, because conversion can alter layout and formulas. The step is done when a reviewer has signed off on a sample set from each document type and the known differences are written down for users.
Pilot with a small group
Choose a small, willing group that covers typical use, such as one team with shared folders, a shared calendar and external collaborators. Move their accounts, files and mail, then have them run normal work for a set period agreed in advance, reporting missing items, broken links and sync issues. The pilot lead records each defect and its fix in a shared log. The step is done when the pilot group confirms their core workflows work and the defect log has no open items that block daily work.
Run parallel access during rollout
Keep Google Workspace available in read-only or active form for the remaining users while the self-hosted platform takes on migrated groups in waves. Confirm with users which system is authoritative for each folder and mailbox so that edits do not split across two places. Run a reconciliation check after each wave that compares item counts and recent changes against the export archives. The step is done when each wave passes reconciliation and the owners of every group have confirmed where their current work lives.
Cut over DNS and mail routing
The network and mail administrators change the DNS records and mail routing for the organization's domain to point to the self-hosted services, including MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records, and update any calendar or sync endpoints. Lower DNS time-to-live values in advance so the change propagates more predictably, and test inbound and outbound mail before announcing the switch. Confirm the mail flow with the security team, since mail authentication records must match the new sending path. The step is done when test messages arrive and send correctly from several client types and the last users have been moved.
Decommission and manage the 60-day bucket window
After cutover and a stable observation period, the administrator confirms that all required archives are copied out of the Cloud Storage bucket created by the Data Export tool, because that bucket is deleted after 60 days. Remove or suspend Google Workspace licenses only after legal and records owners agree that retention needs are met. Keep the verified archive set under your own retention policy and document where it lives. The step is done when the archive inventory is complete, retention sign-off is recorded and the Google Workspace tenant is marked decommissioned.
Which option fits your situation
When the requirement is that files and mail stay under your control, the usual fit is Nextcloud Hub as the file and collaboration core, with Collabora Online for browser-based editing. Both run in your own cloud accounts, data centers or, with planning, on networks that have no internet route. Nothing needs to leave your environment for documents to be created, shared and edited.
- Deployment location: Confirm where the Nextcloud data directory, database and object storage will sit, and who holds administrative access to each layer.
- Air-gapped operation: Ask whether Collabora Online and Nextcloud apps can be installed and updated from internal mirrors without outbound calls.
- Encryption at rest: Confirm which server-side encryption options apply to your storage backend and who manages the keys.
- Email is a separate decision: Nextcloud Mail does not replace a full mail platform, so plan mailbox residency with OX App Suite or another groupware option.
- Logs and audit trails: Verify that access and sharing logs stay in your SIEM or log store.
Before committing, ask your implementation partner to document every data flow, including backups and search indexes, and confirm each one stays inside the boundary you have defined.
The core of Nextcloud Hub is licensed under the AGPL and is free to self-host, so the software line item is zero. The remaining costs are infrastructure, administration, support and any enterprise subscription you choose. Standard, Premium and Ultimate subscriptions from Nextcloud GmbH add support and extra features, and Nextcloud One is a managed hosting option for organizations under 100 users. Collabora Online is licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0, with CODE as the free development edition.
- Recurring costs: Compute, storage, backups, monitoring and staff time for upgrades recur every year.
- One-time costs: Migration, integration, identity setup and user training are typically one-time, though a retainer may recur.
- Optional subscriptions: Compare an enterprise tier against the cost of an internal team that carries the same support obligations.
- Collabora edition choice: Confirm whether CODE meets your support and security update expectations or whether the paid enterprise edition is needed.
- Seat growth: Model how storage and compute scale with user count, since self-hosting costs grow in steps rather than per seat.
Ask any vendor or partner for a quote that separates license, subscription, infrastructure, implementation and support, so you can compare the options line by line.
Lock-in risk comes from proprietary document formats, closed sharing models and tools you cannot run yourself. Collabora Online edits ODF as well as Microsoft formats such as .docx, .xlsx and .pptx, and integrates with Nextcloud, ownCloud, Seafile, Alfresco and Mattermost. That gives you an exit path where documents remain readable in open formats and the editing layer is replaceable.
- Format fidelity: Test complex .docx layouts, tracked changes, comments and spreadsheet formulas, since round trips rarely match the original exactly.
- Open storage: Confirm that files are stored in a standard filesystem or object store you can read without the application.
- Sharing and permissions export: Ask how share links, groups and external users can be exported in a documented format.
- Export from Google first: Use the Data Export tool for organization data and Takeout for individual users, and verify the output before you retire the source tenant.
- Google-native files: Confirm how Docs, Sheets and Slides convert, because those files are not stored as Office documents.
Run a pilot with a representative set of files and ask your team to confirm each format conversion before deciding which documents move as-is and which are rewritten.
Public administration and regulated organizations often need a suite that a government can operate, audit and fund under its own control. openDesk is an office and collaboration suite for public administration, managed since January 2024 by ZenDiS, the German federal Centre for Digital Sovereignty, and it originates from the Federal Ministry of the Interior's Sovereign Workplace initiative. It is deployed to Kubernetes with Helmfile and Helm charts, in both Community and Enterprise editions.
- Operating model: Confirm your team can run a Kubernetes platform, since openDesk assumes that foundation.
- Edition choice: Compare the Community and Enterprise editions against your support and assurance needs.
- Licensing of the deployment repository: The deployment repository is licensed under Apache 2.0, so review the license of each bundled component.
- Accessibility and localization: Check the requirements in your jurisdiction and test them with your own users.
- Assessment support: DeployOpen prepares systems, controls and evidence for compliance assessments, but independent auditors issue any audit report or certification.
Ask your auditor and procurement office to confirm which standards and internal controls they will accept as evidence before you design the environment.
Questions buyers ask before replacing Google Workspace
How much effort and cost does replacing Google Workspace involve?
The cost depends on scope, not on a single license line. Effort comes from the number of users, the volume of Drive content, the number of shared drives and external sharing links, the Gmail archive size, and how many integrations depend on Google APIs. Costs fall into three groups: the open-source software itself (free to download under its license), the infrastructure you run it on, and the services you buy to plan, implement, integrate and support it. Software licensing is usually the smallest of these. Ask any provider for a quote built from a written scope that lists each component separately, and check whether support subscriptions for the chosen platforms are included or priced on their own.
How long does a Google Workspace migration take?
The timeline is set by data volume, how many people must be migrated in each wave, and how much cleanup is needed before export. Google's Data Export tool, which super administrators use for organization-wide exports, typically finishes in about 72 hours but can take up to 14 days. The admin account must also be at least 30 days old before it can run an export. The export bucket is deleted after 60 days by default, so the transfer must be copied to your own storage within that window. Plan for a pilot group, a parallel run period and a cutover date agreed in writing before work starts.
What does a migration require from our own staff?
Your staff must own decisions that only your organization can make, and they must provide access and testing time. In practice this means naming an executive sponsor, confirming which users, groups and shared drives move, approving the retention and archive rules, and having administrators who can grant export rights and manage the new identity provider. Users need time to test documents, calendars and mobile sync during the pilot. Ask your provider to list these roles in the scope so that the dependency on your team is visible before the project starts.
Can our own IT team run this migration without outside help?
Yes, if your team has experience with Linux server operations, identity integration, storage backends, email routing and backup testing. Open-source platforms are free to download and run, so the decision is about skills and time rather than licensing. Teams that have not operated these systems in production often use a fixed-scope implementation for the first deployment and then take over operations. Assess your team against the platform's documented requirements and decide which tasks you will keep in-house, such as user lifecycle, and which you will hand to a partner.
How do Gmail messages and Google Docs convert to open formats?
Gmail data arrives as mailbox exports in a format your target mail platform can import, and it must be tested with real messages, attachments, labels and folder structure before cutover. Google Docs, Sheets and Slides are not native files in most open suites, so they are exported to Microsoft or OpenDocument formats. Collabora Online edits ODF and Microsoft formats including .docx, .xlsx and .pptx, but layout, formulas, comments and revision history can differ after conversion. Plan a sample review with named document owners, and confirm the exact conversion behavior with the platform vendor and with your own test files. Takeout is useful for individual users, but administrators control whether users can use it, so organization-wide exports usually go through the admin tool.
What happens to shared drives, folders and permissions?
Google Drive sharing does not map one to one onto most self-hosted file platforms. Shared drives, link sharing, external collaborators and inherited permissions must be inventoried and mapped to groups, folders and roles in the target system before data moves. Exports carry file content and ownership data, but they do not replace a permissions design. Ask your provider to produce a mapping table with named owners and to flag any file that depends on Google-specific features such as Apps Script or add-ons. Stale external links and orphaned files should be reviewed with the business owners rather than copied automatically.
How does ongoing support work after cutover?
Ongoing support is usually a separate agreement from the migration itself. The migration is typically fixed-scope, with scope, deliverables and timelines agreed in writing. After go-live, teams choose between handling patches and upgrades internally, buying a vendor support subscription, or contracting a retainer for upgrades, backups, monitoring and continuous testing. Ask what is covered for incident response, how upgrades are tested before rollout, and who restores data if a backup fails. Nextcloud, Collabora and Open-Xchange each offer paid enterprise subscriptions, and those terms should be compared against the retainer you need.
How DeployOpen scopes and runs the replacement
DeployOpen plans, implements, integrates, hardens, backs up and documents self-hosted open-source platforms inside the client's own infrastructure, whether that is the client's cloud account, data center or air-gapped network. For a Google Workspace move, that means the Nextcloud, Collabora Online and mail or groupware components run in environments the client controls, and the Google Workspace export data stays under the client's custody from the first day. The work starts with a written scope that names the workloads in play, such as Gmail, Drive, Docs and Sheets, Calendar and Chat, and states which of them are migrated, which are archived and which are retired. Before any data moves, the team and the client agree on the identity source, the storage backend, the document editing integration and the cutover window in that document.
Most engagements are fixed-scope. Scope, deliverables and timelines are agreed in writing before work starts, and a quote follows from that written scope. DeployOpen does not publish a price list, so the reader should expect the quote to reflect the number of users, the volume of Drive content and mail, the number of Google Workspace domains and custom integrations, and whether the client needs managed operations afterward. Ask for the quote to separate one-time migration work from recurring items such as hosting, licenses for any enterprise edition the client chooses, and support. Ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing are available as retainers, which suits organizations that need the platform patched on a predictable schedule after cutover.
Security testing and compliance readiness are separate workstreams that can be added to the same scope. Security testing covers applications and APIs, cloud and infrastructure, and AI systems where the client deploys them. DeployOpen prepares systems, controls and evidence for compliance assessments, but it does not issue audit reports, attestations or certifications. Independent auditors and certification bodies perform those assessments, so the reader should confirm early which assessor will review the environment and what evidence that assessor expects. Agree in the written scope who holds the admin credentials, how keys and backups are handled, and how the Google Workspace retention obligations are met before the Google tenant is closed.
