Nextcloud instead of Enterprise NAS: RAM requirements and Enterprise costs
Nextcloud on VPS as an alternative to enterprise NAS: official RAM requirements per process and actual Enterprise subscription pricing, from 100 users upwards.
UptimeMag editorial team · 5 November 2026 · 2 min read
Anyone evaluating Nextcloud as an alternative to an enterprise NAS should start with two figures that marketing tends to keep in the background: how much RAM you actually need on the VPS and what it costs if you want vendor support instead of going it alone.
RAM: the official figure, not the blog average
Nextcloud does not publish a single figure for "the server": the requirement is expressed per PHP process. On the official user-facing page, the vendor specifies an absolute minimum of 128 MB per process and a recommended value of 512 MB per process for the simplest single-user setup. For a complete Hub installation with multiple users, you need between 3 GB and 8 GB of RAM.
In practical terms for anyone sizing a VPS: a single user can run on a modest machine, but as soon as you add Talk, collaborative editing and a few dozen accounts, the realistic threshold rapidly climbs towards the upper end of that range, especially if a database and Redis cache are also running on the same machine.
How much does Enterprise cost if you need vendor support
The Community version remains free and open source: the only cost is the server. But if a company wants hardening, SAML, audit logging and a direct support contract with Nextcloud GmbH, the entry threshold is high. The official price list publishes three tiers, all starting from 100 users:
| Enterprise Plan | Price per user/year (100 users) | Price per user/year (200 users) |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | €71.29 | €53.17 |
| Premium | €104.99 | €81.99 |
| Ultimate | €204.75 | €183.75 |
Data published on the official Nextcloud price list, with per-user/year pricing starting from 100 users.
For those managing 10, 20 or 50 workstations, the practical consequence is straightforward: below 100 users, direct Enterprise subscription cannot be purchased. Two options remain: keep Community self-managed on your own VPS, taking on updates and backups as you would for any other internet-facing service, or contact a hosting provider that offers Nextcloud as a managed service, with a monthly fee rather than an annual per-user fee.
In either case, the basic caveat applies: the security of a Nextcloud instance depends on the discipline with which you apply updates and verify backups, not on your choice of plan.
Written with the help of artificial intelligence and checked by the editors (EU AI Act, art. 50).