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Nextcloud vs Passbolt

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Nextcloud and Passbolt — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Nextcloud vs Passbolt: at a glance

FeatureNextcloudPassbolt
SectorCollabCollab
Velocity score5.05.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesself-hosted, file-sharing, security-patches, performancepassword-manager, passkeys, autofill, quick-access
Last editorial update10h ago1d ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is Nextcloud?

Nextcloud's November patches lean on preview speed and sharing fixes across three branches.

Nextcloud released 35.0.3, 34.0.6 and 33.0.11 on November 12, a month after the previous patch round. 35.0.3 is the largest, with about a dozen calendar and contacts sync fixes, faster cold preview generation, a cached mimetype table, share expiration times that are kept, share-by-mail passwords sent readable instead of hashed, and sharing with remote owners. The two older lines get the same sharing, encryption and audit-log backports.

Read the full Nextcloud trajectory →

What is Passbolt?

Passbolt 5.18 puts secure notes and custom fields into Quick Access.

Passbolt 5.18 "Superstylin" adds two themes and brings Secure Notes and Custom Fields into Quick Access, where they can be searched, previewed and copied, suggested by URL and read in Offline Mode. It also improves autofill on high-resolution displays and speeds up sharing. The previous release, 5.17, added passkeys as a second factor and rebuilt autofill detection; 5.16 brought a read-only Offline Mode in beta.

Read the full Passbolt trajectory →

Nextcloud vs Passbolt: editorial side-by-side

N
Nextcloud
COLLAB
5.0

Nextcloud's November patches lean on preview speed and sharing fixes across three branches.

◆ Current state

Nextcloud released 35.0.3, 34.0.6 and 33.0.11 on November 12, a month after the previous patch round. 35.0.3 is the largest, with about a dozen calendar and contacts sync fixes, faster cold preview generation, a cached mimetype table, share expiration times that are kept, share-by-mail passwords sent readable instead of hashed, and sharing with remote owners. The two older lines get the same sharing, encryption and audit-log backports.

◆ Where it's heading

Since the 35.0 major in September, Nextcloud has returned to its monthly three-branch patch rhythm. The fixes concentrate on sharing correctness, CalDAV/CardDAV sync and performance on large instances, with few new features. The 35 line receives small additions, such as remote share owners, that the older branches do not.

◆ Prediction

The next patch round should land in mid-December on the same three branches; the entries do not show when 36 development will surface.

P
Passbolt
COLLAB
5.0

Passbolt 5.18 puts secure notes and custom fields into Quick Access.

◆ Current state

Passbolt 5.18 "Superstylin" adds two themes and brings Secure Notes and Custom Fields into Quick Access, where they can be searched, previewed and copied, suggested by URL and read in Offline Mode. It also improves autofill on high-resolution displays and speeds up sharing. The previous release, 5.17, added passkeys as a second factor and rebuilt autofill detection; 5.16 brought a read-only Offline Mode in beta.

◆ Where it's heading

The last three releases have moved from security controls towards daily convenience: offline access, better autofill, and now every resource type in the browser extension's quick view. The passwordless login the 5.17 notes pointed to has not shipped yet.

◆ Prediction

Expect more autofill and Quick Access work, and passkey sign-in without a password as the next major step the 5.17 notes promised.

Alternatives to Nextcloud and Passbolt

Other Collab products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Nextcloud or Passbolt.

See all Nextcloud alternatives → · See all Passbolt alternatives →

Recent activity from Nextcloud and Passbolt

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 1d agoPassbolt5.18 adds themes and secure notes in Quick Access
  2. 2d agoNextcloudNextcloud 34.0.6: sharing, encryption and upload backports
  3. 2d agoNextcloudNextcloud 33.0.11: sharing and legacy DAV auth backports
  4. 2d agoNextcloudNextcloud 35.0.3: faster previews, sync and sharing fixes
  5. 24d agoPassbolt5.17 adds passkeys for MFA and a rebuilt autofill engine
  6. 1mo agoNextcloudNextcloud 35.0.2: webhook metadata, sharing fixes, report API
  7. 1mo agoNextcloudNextcloud 34.0.5: share CSRF fix, log redaction, sharing backports
  8. 1mo agoNextcloudNextcloud 33.0.10: share CSRF fix and sharing backports
  9. 1mo agoPassbolt5.16 adds read-only Offline Mode in beta
  10. 2mo agoPassbolt5.15 adds database sessions and closes shared-tag permission bypasses
  11. 3mo agoPassbolt5.14.3 limits the permission dialog to actual secret changes
  12. 3mo agoPassbolt5.14 adds confirmation prompts before shared-resource edits

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Nextcloud and Passbolt?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Nextcloud and Passbolt are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is Nextcloud better than Passbolt?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Nextcloud and Passbolt are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Collab products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to Nextcloud?

Top Nextcloud alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Nextcloud alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/nextcloud for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Passbolt?

Top Passbolt alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Passbolt alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/passbolt for the full list with editorial commentary on each.