- December 3, 2024
Why Nextcloud Talk?
Nextcloud Talk empowers secure collaboration for hybrid teams, enhancing productivity and connectivity from anywhere.
Take back the control
Stay in control over your data and improve the resiliency of your critical communication platform! Nextcloud Talk offers digital sovereignty without vendor lock-in and dependencies on proprietary vendors. Its open-source architecture enables organizations to customize Talk to meet specific needs and integrate it into existing systems.
Nextcloud Talk is ideal for on-premises private cloud deployments or hosting with a trusted, local provider!
Unlock advanced collaboration
Nextcloud Talk makes hybrid work easy. It combines chat, video calls, and webinars together with file sharing and document editing within a single application, supported by advanced AI-driven features designed to simplify daily workflows.
Collaborate with your colleagues on documents directly within chats or calls, or have a real-time brainstorming session with the whiteboard. For more mindfulness at work, Nextcloud talk comes with built-in functions for a healthier meeting culture.
Highly secure and compliant
With self-hosting options and robust data protection, Nextcloud Talk offers the security and compliance you need, without sacrificing control. It’s the first GDPR-compliant, private cloud collaboration tool that consolidates all essential functions for efficient collaboration in one application, and the only complete collaboration platform also deployable in airgap environments.
Main features
Nextcloud Talk lowers the barrier for communications and lets your team connect anytime, anywhere, on any device, with each other, customers or partners.
Federated chat and video calls
Nextcloud Talk supports federated collaboration. Join group chats on another Nextcloud server and use many of the core features like user mentions, markdown formatting, or polls. And even organize audio and video meetings across different Nextcloud Hubs — to meet with colleagues from another department, or maybe a partner who is using Nextcloud too.
Get personal with speaker video feed
Personal connection is always there during the stream with a speaker picture-in-picture present on the screen even when screen sharing. Once your video is on, participants will be able to see you while you are showing your screen or running a slide show.
Build a healthy meeting culture with Nextcloud
Nextcloud has honed in on what makes a healthy online culture – from meetings to file storage. This release brings you accessible, helpful and powerful tools that allow your work life to be less stressful, cluttered and overwhelming in Nextcloud Hub.
Unique protection
Nextcloud Talk protects your communication better than other team collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams or Slack, making sure your data stays on your servers.
Nextcloud Talk goes further than other encrypted communication technologies by keeping even metadata from leaking. This ensures you stay in complete control of communications.
Designed for privacy
Nextcloud Talk is a fully self hosted, on-premises audio/video and chat communication service. It features web and mobile apps and is designed to offer the highest degree of security while being easy to use. Message status indicators show when a message is sent and received – for more privacy, users can disable this on their side.
Private, group and public calls
Talk makes it easy to call customers and partners in one-to-one or group scenarios. Users can invite external chat participants with an URL into public rooms on the Nextcloud server.
The chat, which remains open even when the user leaves a call, enables participants to easily exchange messages, links and notes.
Configurable visibility on chats allows team members and/or guests to find and join open chat rooms.
Collaboration within Nextcloud
Documents can be shared directly into a chat from the Files app and are made available to all participants, both users and guests. Projects integration enables linking of chat rooms with files, calendars, tasks and other resources for easy finding. Our online office solutions provide a sidebar with Talk for chat and calls with the participants.
Integrated groupware, chat and project management
Nextcloud features tightly integrated chat, project management, mail, calendaring and more. Chat messages can be directly transformed into tasks, task deadlines are visible in the Calendar and files can be attached to a task from the sharing dialog.
A single platform means there is no need to juggle different accounts, keep track of where in the many cloud platforms the latest version of a document is floating around, or worry about security threats and invisible costs.
Learn more
Bridging with other networks
Nextcloud Bridging allows the connection of Talk rooms to one or more channels on other Talk servers, but also other services like IRC, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Matrix, Mattermost, XMPP and many more. A bridge sends any messages from the third party network into the Talk room where it was configured, and any messages put in the Talk room to the bridged third party network.
Multiple networks can be bridged into a single Nextcloud Talk room, so messages can go from Slack to Teams and IRC via Nextcloud.
Webinars and presentations
Share the content of a single window or a full desktop screen for presentations with chat-partners.
Manage participants permissions for audio/video and screen sharing.
Schedule meetings and be notified when they start.
A lobby is provided for guests to wait until the call starts. Moderators can let a selected guest in early.
Participants can raise their hand to get attention or be allowed to speak.
Video verification
In situations where extreme security is warranted and the identity of a recipient has to be verified with absolute certainty before they are granted access, Nextcloud includes the industry-first implementation of Video Verification.
Video Verification enforces a Nextcloud Talk video call before access is given to a share, making sure the identity of the recipient is properly checked. The call can be picked up through the Nextcloud Talk Mobile apps as well as the web interface.
A platform you can trust
Nextcloud Talk is the only solution that consolidates all essential functions for efficient collaboration into a single application, while ensuring full data control and independence. It’s the only high security collaboration platform also deployable in airgap environments.
It benefits from the many security, encryption and authentication capabilities of Nextcloud. It’s multi-layered encryption, brute force protection, artificial-intelligence based suspicious login detection, password-less login and the backing of our USD 10.000 security bug bounty program provide customers the confidence that their communication and collaboration remains confidential.
Compliance
Self-hosting communication simplifies compliance with national and international privacy and security regulations. By relying on existing, vetted infrastructure, your current compliance and security processes apply to Nextcloud Talk.
GDPR, CCPA and more
The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) makes organizations liable for any violations of user privacy and deviations from a high data security standard.
Legislation like the CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018) brings similar regulation to other countries.
Nextcloud has extensive GDPR compliance capabilities.
ePrivacy Regulation
The upcoming EU ePrivacy Regulation is designed as a complement to the GDPR. The objective is to reinforce trust and security in the Digital Single Market by ensuring that electronic communications from Europeans are confidential regardless of the technology used. The ePrivacy Regulation protects the confidentiality of electronic communications and information on devices, independently whether it is personal or non-personal data.
Nextcloud is designed to protect the confidentiality of communications and fully prepares customers for the upcoming ePrivacy Regulation.
Why metadata and self hosting matter
Metadata, often described as everything except the content of your communications, has less legal protections but can be incredibly revealing. From a list of who somebody talks to and when, much can be inferred!
The Electronic Frontier Foundation explains it well on their site.
Of course, service providers might promise not to store and track such meta data, but governments can simply force them if need be. For example, in the UK providers have been forced to record the website visits of their customers.
And that is not even mentioning the fact that even privacy-focused companies can suddenly be sold to a foreign entity. Like with the content of communication, the best way to protect metadata is to ensure it never leaks from your infrastructure in the first place.
Benefits
Get more done
Clean interface, clean communication
Decrease travel costs
Meet as often as you need
Build better relationships
Working together in real time
Stay in control
End-to-end encrypted calls on your own server
Easy to get started
Install, invite & call in with one click
Be mobile
Mobile clients & browser support
Stay connected
Bridge with other servers and chat networks
Fully on-premise, 100% open source
Key capabilities
- Remove and ban participants
- Recording consent in meetings for more privacy
- Interactive widgets, message editing and federated chatting
- Invite to calls via phone number
- “Note to self” – a personal safe space in Talk
- Conversation filters (see only rooms with mentions or unread messages)
- List open conversations
- Show “Talking time” in participants list during a call
- Group system message (X, Y and … others joined the call)
- 60 minute call popup (warning at 1 hour mark – to help avoid those endless meetings)
- Basic text formatting (bold/italics/strike-through/headings, bullet lists, code and more)
- Webhook based bots allow writing chat bots that integrate various third party services into Nextcloud
- New Pexip integration – Manage and access Pexip calls from within Talk, Calendar, Mail or other locations in Nextcloud through the Smart Picker
- User typing notification
- Custom chat icon/avatar
- Mention a group in your chat
- Call reactions 🤩👍🎉
- Smart Picker feature
- Smart Picker linking to an user profile
- Call transcripts of recorded video calls
- Custom background / blurring it in calls
- Translation integration with Nextcloud Translate
- Record and track every call
- Easy screen sharing
- Self-hosted, no leaking of metadata
- Permission management by moderators
- Encrypted, peer-to-peer audio/video calls
- Integration with Nextcloud Files and Groupware
- WebRTC for cross-platform support
- Mobile calls & chat with push notifications
- Powerful bridging capabilities with other platforms
- Commands to enable integration with other tools
- Jump start conversations in breakout rooms
- Individual and group calls & chat
- Webinars & public video conferencing with lobby (needs Nextcloud Talk High Performance Backend)
- Mobile apps for Android and iOS
- SIP bridge: dial in by phone to a call (needs Nextcloud Talk High Performance Backend)
- Join the same conversation and call from multiple devices
- Send voice messages, share your location or contact details
- Add groups to a conversation and new group members will automatically be added as participants
- A preview of your audio and video is shown before joining a call
- Assign general and individual permissions to participants
- React to chat message
- Quick and easy polls
- In the sidebar you can find an overview of the latest shared items
- Configure an expiration time for chat messages
- Start calls without notifying others in big conversations. You can send individual call notifications once the call has started.
- Send chat messages without notifying the recipients in case it is not urgent
- beta apps for Talk on the desktop
Nextcloud Talk comparison
Keep your online conversations, meetings and video conferencing private and secure with Nextcloud Talk.
Find below a comparison with a number of video chat solutions on the market.
On-prem hostable | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Open source | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Desktop client | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Included |
Mobile client | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Included |
Phone dial-in | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included | Included | Not included |
Phone dial-out | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included | Not included | Not included |
Breakout rooms | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Included | Included | Not included |
Stream to YouTube | Not included | Included | Included | Not included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Search messages | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Included |
Filter conversations | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
AI Assistant features | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Note-taking/editing | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Included | Included |
Office document editing | Included | Included | Not included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Public office document editing (edit via public link) | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Accessibility features (screen reader support, dyslectic font, high contrast mode) | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Included |
Federation | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included |
Push notifications | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Included |
Together mode | Not included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Message reminders | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Silent messages | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Call recording | Included | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Included | Included | Not included |
Moderation & lobby | Included | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Voting/polls | Included | Included | Included | Included | Stack polls add-on | Simple polls bot | Included | Included | Included |
Background blur & custom backgrounds | Included | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Included | Included | Included | Not included |
Rich interactive widgets | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
View time zones or local time of colleagues | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Outlook integration to send invitations | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Included | Not included | Not included |
Note to self | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Filters in video calls | Not included | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Quick slash commands | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Included |
Bots | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
Threads | Roadmap | Included | Included | Not included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Included |
Format messages | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Included |
Chat reactions (emojis) | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included |
Animated reactions in call | Included | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Message drafts | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Waiting music | Included | Not included | Included | Not included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Generate transcript | Included | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Live captioning | Roadmap | Included | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Live translations | Roadmap | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Integration with calendar app | Included | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Included | Included | Not included |
Sidebar view in calls | Included | Not included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Included | Not included | Included |
Profile cards | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Anonymous access | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
Guest accounts | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
User status | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included | Included |
Send message later | Not included | Included | Included | Not included | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Get started now
Reduce risk, improve citizen communication, reduce
operational expenses and regain full control over the communication in your organization with the leading content collaboration platform.
Contact us now to learn how Nextcloud can help you!
Scalability
Easy for private use
Nextcloud Talk is designed for easy installation and operation. Nextcloud hosts a STUN server to facilitate usage behind firewalls and we recommend the installation of a local TURN server to improve connectivity further. Note that calls get fully routed through a TURN server, causing a lot of network traffic.
The peer-to-peer nature of Talk does inflate network traffic, creating one incoming and sending stream per other participant. This places practical limitations on calls that depend on network capabilities. A typical private Nextcloud Talk setup should handle dozens of calls with each up to 6-10 participants, up to 20 if all participants have a good network connection and do not use video. Enterprise limits, however, are in the thousands of participants per call.
Scaling in enterprise setup
To help with scaling, Nextcloud lowers video quality automatically and disables video on large calls. Sending audio and video, as well as the compute power required to decode the video streams on clients, are the biggest limiting factors, with most asymetric internet connections bottlenecked on upstream bandwidth and laptops and mobile devices especially having trouble decoding multiple video streams.
The High Performance Back-end offered by Nextcloud solves the bandwidth bottleneck and allows scaling a single call to much larger numbers of participants, up to hundreds or even thousands.
Scaling further: webinars, school classes
High Performance Back-end
Webinars and other large scale broadcasting type calls are possible with hundreds or thousands of participants. The High Performance Back-end setup includes special features for this.
The HPB also lowers the load from calls on the Nextcloud server, taking care of ‘signaling’ and optionally enables connecting a SIP bridge so users can dial in by phone into calls. The HPB runs on-premises, like Nextcloud itself, or through a hosted offering by our partners. Customers should be aware that it has significant dedicated bandwidth and processing needs. The HPB is available through Nextcloud GmbH.
Sign up for a free 30 day test of the hosted HPB offering in the Talk settings page.
Enterprise-ready
The Nextcloud Talk High Performance Backend for large organizations offers the capacity, reliability and features enterprises need to conduct their business privately, securely and efficiently.
Dial-in anywhere
Let participants join through a phone line, wherever they are
No limitations
Improved connectivity behind firewalls and restrictive networks and more participants in a call
Get started quickly
Remote installation support from a certified Nextcloud engineer
The Nextcloud Talk High Performance Backend improves connection speed and reliability, decreases server load and allows more people in a call by improving network efficiency.