Which whiteboard fits your workshops and data rules
Miro fits when your teams depend on its template library, third-party integrations and enterprise administration, and when your data residency needs are covered by its plans. Nextcloud Whiteboard fits when boards must stay on servers you control, when your organization already runs Nextcloud for files and collaboration, and when you have people who can operate a second service alongside it. Most decisions come down to four questions: how much your workshops rely on Miro's templates and integrations, where the law or your customer contracts require board data to be stored, whether Nextcloud is already part of your stack, and whether your team can run a websocket server for live collaboration. Start with the location question, because it can settle the matter before features are discussed. Miro offers EU data residency on all plans, with Ireland as the primary data center and Germany as the backup, while US, Australian and Japanese residency are limited to the Enterprise plan. Confirm with Miro which regions and plan tier your contract covers, and check whether your data classification allows any cloud-hosted board at all. If it does not, the comparison is effectively settled in favor of a self-hosted option, and the remaining work is a feature gap review. Next, check the operating cost of the self-hosted route with the same care you give the subscription. Nextcloud Whiteboard saves changes in the browser and syncs them to server storage, but live collaboration needs a separate websocket server that shares a JWT secret with Nextcloud and sits behind a reverse proxy that handles WebSocket upgrades. Recording boards also requires headless Chromium and ffmpeg, which the Docker image includes. Ask your platform team who will patch, monitor and back up that component, and whether they have the capacity to do so during the Nextcloud major version cycle.
Which option fits which scenario
This table matches common Miro situations with the better fit between Miro and Nextcloud Whiteboard, and names the condition that decides it. Read each row against your own constraints, since several scenarios point in different directions depending on which one dominates.
| Scenario | Better fit | Condition that drives the choice |
|---|---|---|
| Large facilitated workshops with many templates | Miro | Miro offers a broad template and integration catalog, while Nextcloud Whiteboard is a drawing canvas with fewer ready-made facilitation frameworks. Confirm the specific templates you need exist in Nextcloud Whiteboard before committing. |
| Teams already running Nextcloud for files and chat | Nextcloud Whiteboard | Boards sit beside existing files and permissions, so access follows the Nextcloud account and sharing model you already administer. |
| Strict data residency or on-premises rules | Nextcloud Whiteboard | Boards and files stay on servers you control. Miro's non-EU residency options are limited to its Enterprise plan, so check the plan and region your rules require. |
| Air-gapped or fully closed networks | Nextcloud Whiteboard | Self-hosting works without vendor cloud access, but you must deploy and update the websocket server and its dependencies inside the closed network yourself. |
| Need for SSO, SCIM and audit logs | Miro on Enterprise, or Nextcloud with directory integration | Miro provides these controls on its higher plans. Nextcloud can authenticate through LDAP, OpenID Connect or SAML, but confirm which audit and provisioning features your version provides. |
| Live multi-user editing across many participants | Miro | Real-time collaboration in Nextcloud Whiteboard depends on a separately configured websocket server behind a reverse proxy. Load test your deployment before relying on it for large sessions. |
| Small teams that want a simple shared sketch canvas | Nextcloud Whiteboard | Basic boards with saved files and no per-member licensing fits small teams, provided someone operates the collaboration server. |
Where boards live and who controls them
Board content, identity and compliance evidence are the three places where a Miro replacement changes who controls data. The cards below separate what Miro's regions promise from what a self-hosted Nextcloud Whiteboard deployment puts under your own administration, and what you must still document yourself.
Miro residency by plan
Miro offers EU data residency on all plans, with Ireland as the primary data center and Germany as the backup. US, Australian and Japanese residency is available only on the Enterprise plan. If your obligation is an EU or non-EU region, confirm the plan tier, the backup location and whether your existing workspaces were migrated to the region before you sign. Ask Miro for written confirmation of which data classes the residency covers.
Nextcloud storage in your own instance
Nextcloud Whiteboard saves changes locally in the browser and syncs them to server storage in the Nextcloud instance you run. Board data then sits in the same storage, backup and access model as your other Nextcloud files. Confirm where that instance runs, which storage backend holds the data directory, and whether your backup job covers it.
Hosting model choices
You can run Nextcloud in your own data center, in a cloud account you control, or in an air-gapped network. Each choice moves responsibility for patching, database operations and backups to a different team. Decide the model first, then size the database and PHP requirements to match. Nextcloud 35 recommends MariaDB 11.8 or PostgreSQL 18 and PHP 8.5, with PHP 8.3 and 8.4 also supported.
Identity through LDAP, OIDC or SAML
Miro's SSO and SCIM controls depend on the plan you buy. Nextcloud can let LDAP and Active Directory users log in with directory credentials, and it documents OpenID Connect and SAML authentication backends. Map joiner and leaver processes to the directory, because removing an account in the directory is what revokes board access. Test deprovisioning, not only sign-in.
Evidence you must produce
DeployOpen prepares controls, configuration records and evidence for compliance assessments, but it does not issue audit reports, attestations or certifications. Independent auditors and certification bodies do that work. Your organization must still collect access reviews, backup restore tests, change records and data location statements for the boards, and must confirm which parts of Miro's or Nextcloud's terms your assessor will rely on.
How the separate websocket server enables live collaboration
Nextcloud Whiteboard saves changes locally in the browser and syncs them to server storage, but live multi-user editing depends on a separate websocket server. Without it, a board still opens, edits and saves inside Nextcloud, so a single user can work on it without any extra component. Teams that run workshops with several people editing at once need the websocket server configured, and that is a second service to plan, deploy and monitor alongside Nextcloud itself. Confirm the real-time requirement for each workshop type before you size the deployment, because a board used mostly for asynchronous review has different needs.
The websocket server shares a JWT secret with Nextcloud, so the two components must agree on that value before live sessions work. Treat this secret like any other credential: generate it outside the Nextcloud admin interface, store it in your secrets manager, and rotate it through a planned change window. The server also needs a reverse proxy that handles WebSocket upgrades. Check that your existing nginx, Apache or load balancer passes the upgrade headers for the websocket path, and test a two-browser session from outside your network before users depend on it. Plan for a proxy configuration change in every environment where the public hostname differs.
You can run the websocket server on Node.js or from the official ghcr.io/nextcloud-releases/whiteboard Docker image. The image is the simpler route for most teams because it packages the dependencies. Board recordings are a separate function that needs headless Chromium and ffmpeg on the collaboration server, and the Docker image includes both. If you run Node.js directly, you must install and maintain those binaries yourself, along with their security updates. Ask your platform team which option matches your patching process, and confirm the current image tag and Node.js requirements in the Nextcloud Whiteboard repository before you build the environment.
How licensing and support tiers differ
Is Nextcloud Whiteboard free to use and modify?
Yes, Nextcloud Whiteboard is free to use, and its source code is available under the AGPL-3.0 license. The app is built on Excalidraw, which is MIT licensed, so the component underneath carries a permissive license. The AGPL-3.0 terms matter mainly if you modify the app and offer it to users over a network, because you then have to make your changed source available to those users. Most organizations running it unmodified face no license fee. Your recurring costs are the servers, the websocket collaboration server, storage, administration time and any support contract you choose to buy.
What license does Nextcloud Server use, and what does it mean?
Nextcloud Server is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and contributions made from 16 June 2016 onward are licensed under AGPLv3 or any later version. The community edition is free to download, install and run. The license governs how you may distribute and modify the code, not whether you pay Nextcloud GmbH. Ask your legal team to review the AGPL obligations if you plan to change the server or embed it in a service offered to outside parties. Legal review is a separate cost from any Nextcloud subscription.
How much does Nextcloud Enterprise cost per user?
Nextcloud Enterprise is sold in Standard, Premium and Ultimate tiers with a 100-user minimum. According to Nextcloud's pricing page, list prices start at 71.29 euros, 104.99 euros and 204.75 euros per user per year for 100 or more users, respectively, and lower rates apply from 200 users. Because these are list prices, confirm the current figures and any volume discount on the pricing page or in a written quote. Enterprise is optional: the community edition runs without it, but you carry the operational work the subscription would otherwise cover.
What do the Nextcloud Standard, Premium and Ultimate tiers include?
The tiers differ mainly in maintenance and support. According to Nextcloud's pricing page, Standard includes one year of maintenance. Premium adds a maintenance lifecycle of five or more years, extended support hours and clustered instance support. Ultimate adds support up to 24/7 with response times down to one hour. Check the pricing page for the exact contents of each tier before you compare them with your own uptime and staffing needs.
When does paid Nextcloud support matter for a whiteboard deployment?
Paid support matters most when the whiteboard is part of a system that people depend on for regulated work and when you lack in-house staff to troubleshoot it. The relevant questions are how long you need the platform to receive vendor-backed fixes, how quickly you need a response to a production incident, and whether you run a clustered instance. Nextcloud's major versions are supported for one year each through monthly maintenance releases, so a platform team that upgrades on schedule may need less paid support than one that falls behind. Ask Nextcloud or a partner which tier matches your response-time and lifecycle requirements.
What do Miro's per-member plans cost and what do they include?
Miro is sold on per-member plans, and the research supplied for this page does not include Miro's list prices, so confirm current figures on Miro's pricing page or in a written quote. Miro's data residency options show that tier matters: EU residency is available on all plans, while US, Australian and Japanese residency require the Enterprise plan. Enterprise is also where the admin controls your procurement team will ask about sit. Compare the per-member cost against your own seat count, the Enterprise features you need and the fixed costs of self-hosting.
What recurring costs does a self-hosted whiteboard still carry?
A self-hosted whiteboard has no per-member license fee, but it does have recurring costs. These include compute and storage for Nextcloud and the collaboration server, backups, certificate and reverse proxy management, security patching, and staff time for upgrades. The collaboration server also needs its own hosting, and board recordings need headless Chromium and ffmpeg, which add resource demands. Ask for a quote that separates one-time setup from these recurring items, and state which support tier, if any, you want to include.
What self-hosting Nextcloud Whiteboard costs over time
Miro is a per-member subscription that bundles the service, its hosting and its updates. Self-hosting Nextcloud Whiteboard moves those costs onto your budget as infrastructure, staff time and, if you want it, vendor support, and the split between one-time and recurring items decides the comparison.
Miro subscriptions per member
Miro is priced per member and per plan, with SSO from the Business plan and SCIM and audit logs on Enterprise, so the cost scales with headcount and with the controls you need. Recurring fees continue for as long as the subscription runs, and seat counts change with contractors and guests. Ask for the current per-member rates in writing, the plan that includes your data residency needs, and how seat true-ups are billed at renewal.
Server hosting, storage and database
Nextcloud Whiteboard stores boards in Nextcloud, so you pay for the servers, the database and the file storage that hold board data. Hosting is recurring, and it grows with the number of boards, images and users. Confirm the database engine you will run, since Nextcloud 35 recommends MariaDB 11.8 or PostgreSQL 18, and price storage for board attachments and image uploads, not only for the application.
Collaboration server and recordings
Live collaboration needs a separate websocket server, and board recordings need headless Chromium and ffmpeg on that server. These are extra components to host, patch and monitor, and their compute needs rise with simultaneous editors and recordings. Your budget should cover a second service, its reverse proxy with WebSocket upgrades, and the operating time to keep both current.
Backups and recovery testing
Backups are a recurring cost in storage and in the time needed to test restores. Nextcloud's upgrade guidance expects a backup before every upgrade, so backup capacity must hold at least one restorable copy beyond the production data. Ask your team to estimate restore time for a full instance, because a backup that has never been restored carries an unknown cost.
Upgrades and staff time
Nextcloud ships a new major version every four months and supports each one for a year, so upgrades are a recurring project. Nextcloud requires one major version at a time, and third-party apps must be checked before each upgrade. Staff time for upgrades, monitoring and user support is usually the largest recurring item, so compare it honestly with the administration work Miro's subscription removes.
Optional Enterprise subscription or DeployOpen services
Nextcloud Enterprise is a paid tier with support and longer maintenance, and it is optional for the open-source edition. Nextcloud's pricing page lists Standard, Premium and Ultimate tiers with a 100-user minimum, starting at 71.29 euros per user per year for Standard on 100 or more users. DeployOpen plans, implements and supports the setup under a written, fixed scope, and it provides no price list, so request a quote for each option separately.
What moving workshops from Miro involves
The sequence turns a Miro estate into a short list of boards worth rebuilding, a tested Nextcloud Whiteboard deployment with its collaboration server, and a pilot team that has validated live sessions before wider rollout.
Inventory boards and workshop history
The Miro workspace owner or an administrator lists every board, its owner, last edit date, sharing settings and whether it holds comments or linked content. Miro exports images, PDFs and CSV tables rather than an editable board format, so each board is classified by what it must preserve. The output is a spreadsheet with one row per board and a column for its business purpose. Confirm with Miro which export options your plan and board owner settings allow before you rely on any of them.
Decide which boards to rebuild and archive
Workshop owners and the platform team sort the inventory into three groups: boards that are still active and need to be rebuilt in Nextcloud Whiteboard, boards kept only as reference and stored as exported images or PDFs, and boards that contain sensitive content and should be retained under the existing retention policy. Rebuilding matters because the exported files cannot be reopened as editable boards in Nextcloud Whiteboard. The output is an agreed list signed off by the business owners of each board.
Deploy Nextcloud and the collaboration server
The platform team installs Nextcloud Server on the organization's own infrastructure, with Nextcloud Whiteboard and its separate websocket server. Nextcloud 35 recommends MariaDB 11.8 or PostgreSQL 18, PHP 8.5 and Apache 2.4 or nginx with php-fpm, and the Docker image ghcr.io/nextcloud-releases/whiteboard or a Node.js install can run the collaboration server. Confirm the supported versions against the system requirements before choosing a host. The check is a working Nextcloud instance where a test board saves and reopens.
Configure reverse proxy and JWT secret
The platform team configures the reverse proxy so WebSocket upgrades reach the whiteboard server, and sets the JWT secret so Nextcloud and the websocket server trust each other. The secret must be the same on both sides, so store it in the organization's secrets process and not in a shared document. Test the connection by opening one board from two browsers and confirming that edits appear live. The output is a documented proxy configuration and a passing live-collaboration test.
Confirm backup and upgrade procedure
Before users arrive, the platform team confirms that backups cover Nextcloud data and the database, and that the team knows the upgrade rule that Nextcloud does not allow skipping major releases. Each major upgrade is done one version at a time, with a backup taken first and third-party apps disabled until confirmed compatible. The output is a runbook and a restore test that the team has actually performed.
Rebuild and pilot with one team
A single workshop team rebuilds its active boards in Nextcloud Whiteboard and runs two or three real sessions, including a session with several people editing at once. The team records which templates, integrations or Miro-specific features it relied on and could not reproduce, and feeds those gaps into the rollout decision. The pilot ends when the team confirms that sessions run without disruption and the gap list is agreed.
Roll out and archive remaining boards
The platform team opens Nextcloud Whiteboard to the wider organization in agreed groups, with short guidance on where boards are saved and how sharing works, and the archived boards are moved to their approved store. Access to Miro is reviewed against the licence renewal, and the team confirms with its procurement contact when Miro seats end. The output is an announced rollout, an archive index and a documented list of remaining Miro dependencies.
What running Nextcloud Whiteboard means day to day
Running Nextcloud Whiteboard is mostly running Nextcloud itself, and the largest recurring task is upgrading. Nextcloud publishes a new major version every four months and supports each one for a year through monthly maintenance releases, so the platform owner should plan for a major upgrade roughly three times a year. Nextcloud does not allow skipping major releases, so a server several versions behind must be brought forward one major version at a time. Before each step, the administrator takes a full backup of the data and database, and disables third-party apps, including the whiteboard app, until each one is confirmed compatible with the new release. The platform team owns this cycle. The workshop or product lead should expect the whiteboard to be unavailable during each window, and should be told the schedule in advance.
The server stack has fixed requirements that the infrastructure team must provision and keep current. Nextcloud 35 recommends MariaDB 11.8 or PostgreSQL 18, supports PHP 8.5 with 8.3 and 8.4 also accepted, and runs under Apache 2.4 or nginx with php-fpm. Oracle Database is available only with an enterprise subscription. Before choosing a stack, confirm the supported versions for the release you plan to deploy, since they change with each major version. Nextcloud All-in-One, the official installation method, reduces this work by bundling Redis and APCu caching, PostgreSQL, Talk with recording, BorgBackup-based backups, ClamAV and full-text search, with a Helm chart for Kubernetes. It does not remove the need for the platform owner to own the backup restore test, the reverse proxy and the websocket server, which sits outside Nextcloud and needs its own patching.
What buyers ask before switching from Miro
Is Nextcloud Whiteboard free to run instead of Miro?
The software itself carries no license fee, because Nextcloud Whiteboard is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and built on the MIT-licensed Excalidraw. The recurring costs come from the infrastructure, the Nextcloud server it depends on, the websocket collaboration server, staff time for patching and backups, and any support contract you choose. Miro is billed per member on its own plan tiers, so compare your seat count against the hosting and operations hours you would carry. Ask any implementation partner for a written breakdown of one-time setup work and recurring operations, and confirm current Miro plan prices with Miro directly.
How long does a Nextcloud Whiteboard rollout take?
The duration depends on whether Nextcloud is already running, how many boards need to move, and whether live collaboration is required. A team with an existing Nextcloud instance may only need to install the whiteboard app and test it with a small group. A new deployment adds the server build, database, reverse proxy, TLS and backup work. No duration figure is given here, so ask for a timeline tied to a written scope and to the number of workflows that must be tested before users switch.
What does our internal team need to provide?
Plan for named owners in four areas:
- Platform operations for Nextcloud, its database and PHP runtime
- Network and reverse proxy staff who can configure WebSocket upgrades
- Identity staff for LDAP, OpenID Connect or SAML sign-in, if you use them
- A business owner who decides which Miro boards are rebuilt and which are archived
The whiteboard itself needs no specialist skill to use, but someone must own upgrades, backups and monitoring after go-live.
Can our own engineers install Nextcloud Whiteboard without a partner?
Yes, if your team already runs Nextcloud and is comfortable with reverse proxies and containers. The whiteboard app is installed through Nextcloud, and the websocket server can run on Node.js or from the official Docker image. Teams without this experience usually find the risk sits in the details: the JWT secret shared between Nextcloud and the websocket server, the WebSocket upgrade settings and the upgrade path. A partner can be engaged for a fixed scope covering only the parts you cannot staff, such as hardening or an initial test.
How do we set up live collaboration in Nextcloud Whiteboard?
Live collaboration requires the separate websocket server. Nextcloud Whiteboard saves changes in the browser and syncs them to server storage, but real-time editing between users needs this component. Configure a JWT secret that matches the value Nextcloud uses, place a reverse proxy in front of the websocket service that passes WebSocket upgrade requests, and test with two browsers on different networks. Confirm the exact configuration keys against the project's current documentation before you deploy, because they can change between releases.
Do board recordings work on a self-hosted whiteboard server?
Recordings are available only if the collaboration server has the extra tools they need. Nextcloud Whiteboard board recordings require headless Chromium and ffmpeg on that server, and the official Docker image includes both. If you run the websocket server directly on Node.js, you must install these yourself and size the host for the rendering work. Decide whether recordings are a requirement before choosing the deployment method, because a bare-metal install needs more attention.
Can Nextcloud Whiteboard run in an air-gapped network?
It can run inside a closed network if you mirror every component you need in advance: the Nextcloud server, the whiteboard app, the websocket server or its container image, and the operating system packages. Updates then arrive by transfer rather than from the internet. Miro's cloud features, such as its hosted templates and integrations, are not available in that setting. Confirm with your security team which browser and font assets the whiteboard loads and whether any of them reach external services, and review the dedicated air-gapped page for the full list of trade-offs.
How do we export Miro boards before we switch?
Miro exports images, PDFs and CSV tables, but its .rtb board backups restore only into Miro, so they do not give you an editable board file for Nextcloud Whiteboard. Export depends on plan and owner settings, so check what your account permits before the migration starts. Plan to rebuild active boards in Nextcloud Whiteboard and archive finished ones as images or PDFs. Ask your partner to inventory boards by owner, size and purpose so the choice is made per board, not in bulk.
When should we bring in an implementation partner?
Bring in a partner when the work outgrows your team's capacity or when a fixed, written outcome is needed. DeployOpen plans, implements, integrates, hardens, backs up and documents self-hosted platforms inside your own infrastructure, and most engagements are fixed-scope with deliverables and timelines agreed in writing before work starts. It also runs security testing and prepares systems and evidence for compliance assessments, but it does not issue audit reports or certifications. Ask for a quote built from a written scope that names the environment, the number of boards to migrate and the support model.
How DeployOpen supports a Miro to Nextcloud Whiteboard move
DeployOpen is a Chainscore Labs company that plans, implements, integrates, hardens, backs up, upgrades and documents self-hosted open-source platforms inside the client's own infrastructure, including their cloud accounts, data centers or air-gapped networks. For a Miro to Nextcloud Whiteboard move, that work usually starts with a decision about where the collaboration server runs. Nextcloud Whiteboard needs its separate websocket server for live collaboration, which shares a JWT secret with Nextcloud, sits behind a reverse proxy that handles WebSocket upgrades, and runs on Node.js or from the ghcr.io/nextcloud-releases/whiteboard Docker image. Board recordings add headless Chromium and ffmpeg to that host. Our role is to design that layout with your platform and security teams, then implement and document it so the components, secrets and proxy rules are owned by your team after handover.
Most engagements are fixed-scope. Before work starts, the scope, deliverables and timelines are agreed in writing, and a quote follows from that written scope rather than from a list price, since DeployOpen does not publish one. For this move, the scope typically covers the Nextcloud server and its identity integration, the whiteboard app and websocket server, backup of board data, and the decision on which Miro boards to rebuild and which to archive. Ask any provider to state which of these items are included, who performs the Miro export and board rebuilds, and which items your own staff must supply. Ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing are available as retainers, which fits the recurring work of Nextcloud's four-monthly major releases and monthly maintenance updates.
Security testing is a separate, optional workstream that many regulated teams add before they open a whiteboard to staff. DeployOpen runs application and API testing, cloud and infrastructure testing, and AI and agent security testing, so the websocket endpoint, the reverse proxy configuration and the JWT handling can be assessed before go-live. We prepare systems, controls and evidence for compliance assessments, but we do not issue audit reports, attestations or certifications. Independent auditors and certification bodies perform those. DeployOpen is also not an official partner, reseller or certified provider of Nextcloud, Miro or any other vendor. Confirm that position directly with the vendors and with your assessor before relying on it in procurement.
