Nextcloud Hub 25 Autumn: The open source answer to the sovereignty threat

• European sovereignty is under pressure: international technical, political and economic pressure challenge Europe’s independence. Without stronger adoption of sovereign IT, Europe risks losing the freedom to shape its own digital future.
• Open source is no longer optional: transparency is indispensible to Europes democracy, innovation and economic strength
• Nextcloud Hub 25 Autumn: the latest Nextcloud release proves Europe can deliver a powerful, user-friendly collaboration platform of its own.

European digital sovereignty is under attack. In recent months, political and economic pressure has challenged Europe’s ability to uphold its own rules and values. Much of Europe’s IT infrastructure still depends on a handful of dominant foreign platforms, creating dependencies that reduce the freedom to act independently. At the same time, open source alternatives are already in use – from regional governments to public institutions across Europe. The path forward is clear: breaking monopolies and vendor lock-in requires consistent adoption of open source technology that ensures transparency, innovation and independence.

With today’s release of Nextcloud Hub 25 Autumn, Europe’s leading open source collaboration platform demonstrates that sovereign alternatives to big tech are not only possible, but already here. The new version combines a major usability lift with breakthrough features for communication, collaboration and administration – proving that Europe can set its own course.

What’s new in Hub 25 Autumn?

• Fresh redesign and usability lift: A cleaner interface and improved workflows make it easier than ever to navigate, organize and collaborate.
• New office UI: Fresh colors, intuitive tabs and simplified navigation bars provide a modern, distraction-free editing experience
• Performance and stability boost: Optimizations across the platform significantly accelerate loading times and ensure smoother day-to-day use for organizations of all sizes.
• AI Agent tools: Hub 25 Autumn expands the Nextcloud Assistant with new AI features, enabling smarter support in daily tasks while respecting user privacy.
• Talk threads & live transcription: Conversations in Nextcloud Talk become clearer and more structured with threaded discussions, while live transcription makes video calls accessible and searchable
• Calendar date poll: A new poll function in Calendar allows teams to suggest and confirm meeting times directly, reducing email back-and-forth.
• Intuitive file search: A new search interface helps users find documents, conversations and information more quickly.
• Teams 2.0 & quick guest accounts: Teams can be organized more flexibly, and guest accounts are set up in seconds – enabling faster onboarding of partners and external collaborators.
• Quick presets & admin updates: New presets and expanded tools for administrators , simplifying setup and maintenance for large deployments.
• Developer upgrades: Nextcloud transitions to Vue3, introduces WebSockets for real-time interaction, and expands OpenAPI support, providing a robust foundation for custom apps and integrations.
• A new naming convention: With this release, Nextcloud is also introducing a new naming convention. Versions will now be named after the year and season of their launch. This makes releases easier to follow and highlights their place in the product’s evolution. Hub 25 Autumn is the first to use this system.

The bigger picture

“Open source has become the backbone of the digital economy – and it is essential for Europe’s future,” says Frank Karlitschek, CEO and founder of Nextcloud. “If we want to protect our democracy, transparency and economic independence, we must invest in sovereign technologies. Hub 25 Autumn shows that open source is not just an alternative, but the most innovative and sustainable solution for modern collaboration.”

Organizations across Europe are already proving this in practice. One example is Jung von Matt, one of Europes leading creative agencies with high demands on both privacy and performance:

“Keeping sensitive client data fully under our control was non-negotiable for us. With Nextcloud we combined sovereignty and compliance with the performance our creatives need – proving that Europe can deliver collaboration technology at the highest level,” says Stephan Budach, Head of IT Jung von Matt.

The release of Nextcloud Hub 25 Autumn is announced at the annual Community Conference on September 27 and 28 in Berlin, where developers, users and open source advocates from all over Europe come together to build, learn and shape the future of digital collaboration.

About Nextcloud
Nextcloud is the world’s most popular privacy-focused collaboration platform. It is used by tens of thousands of private and public organizations and tens of millions of private individuals to stay in control of their sensitive data and ensure privacy compliance.

With Nextcloud, users can edit and share documents, chat and hold videoconferences, and manage emails, contacts and calendars via easy web and mobile apps. The open-source software has a modular design and can be extended with hundreds of apps. It runs on premises in a private cloud or with a trusted provider.

Founded in 2016, Nextcloud is fully employee-owned and has grown organically ever since. Learn more at www.nextcloud.com.

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Jos Poortvliet
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pr@nextcloud.com