Sovereign workspace gaining momentum: two million new seats in 2025

Berlin, 24.03.2026. Since the inauguration of the current US administration in 2025, there has been a significant increase in demand for digitally sovereign European solutions. Nextcloud, which offers the most popular privacy-focused collaboration platform, has seen a surge in roll-outs and customer inquiries.

Incoming leads for Nextcloud solutions tripled during the whole year of 2025 compared to the previous year, setting the stage for further growth in 2026 and 2027. Some countries clearly stand out: the largest number of inquiries came from German organizations. France came second, just ahead of the US. However, the highest growth rates were seen in countries such as the Netherlands, ahead of Denmark, and Brazil. ”This shows us that the trend towards sovereign solutions is not limited to Europe; it is a global development”, says Frank Karlitschek, CEO of Nextcloud.

Six figure implementation every month

During 2025, over two million new professionals began using Nextcloud. Among the new customers are some high-profile names: The Austrian Federal Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism (1,200 users); The Dutch IT cooperative for education and research SURF (100,000 users); the French Ministry of National Education (currently at 400,000 current employees using Nextcloud, with a goal of reaching 1.2 million); and the French Ministry of Energy Transition (50,000 users).

“Our sales cycle typically averages several months. In the public sector – one of the most important market segments for the professional use of Nextcloud – the procurement process can sometimes take years. Many projects have only started recently, so we expect roll-outs to accelerate during 2026 and 2027. We therefore expect further implementations to follow this year and next”, says Karlitschek.

Alongside the high adoption rates, Nextcloud’s bookings increased by over 50% compared to 2024. Frank Karlitschek: “Last year was exceptional, but we anticipate a continued increase in demand in 2026. Hence, we expect our organization to continue growing at a significant rate.”

Real sovereign solutions backed by regional expertise

In response to the high demand for sovereign IT solutions, Nextcloud is increasingly collaborating more and more with regional partners from various countries to develop joint workspaces. In 2025, the cloud provider IONOS has launched the Nextcloud Workspace based on their cloud platform. The Swedish systems integrator Redpill Linpro has introduced a similar offering in the Nordics.

In the Netherlands, KPN, Centric, SURF, Lucidon and Apura have formed or expanded partnerships to give businesses and public sector organisations access to sovereign technology. In France, Smile and Leviia have announced an extension to their partnership with Nextcloud.

In total, the global partner ecosystem grew by almost 300 percent in 2025. This is accompanied by a general increase of developments happening on top of the Nextcloud platform, with more than 500 applications provided by third party developers.