Why Binadit Workspace is not another Nextcloud provider
Many European office suites are Nextcloud with a different logo. Binadit built the key components itself. What that difference means in practice.
These articles are available in English, Dutch, German, French and Spanish.
If you look for a European alternative to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, you will now find dozens. Most of them have one thing in common: under the bonnet, they run Nextcloud. A provider installs Nextcloud on a server, adds its own name and colours, connects a browser-based office suite, and sells it as a “European workplace”.
There is nothing wrong with that. Nextcloud is good open-source software from a German company, and it is a fine way to share files without a US cloud. But it does explain why many of these packages look alike, and why a good part of what they promise is still labelled “coming soon”.
Binadit Workspace is built differently. This is what that means.
We built the key components ourselves
Binadit Drive is not a modified Nextcloud but a sync platform of our own, written by Binadit from the first line. The server is a single program in Rust with PostgreSQL. The apps for macOS, Windows and Linux put your files in Finder or File Explorer, and only download them when you open them. Sharing uses links that expire, team folders have their own storage, and every file is encrypted before it touches a disk.
Binadit Receive lets clients and contacts deliver confidential files to you, without an account and without an email attachment. Everything is encrypted in the sender’s browser and deleted after the retention period. It replaces Cryptshare and is built into Drive.
Northmail is our own mail client for macOS, Windows and Linux, in the style of classic Outlook. It works with Binadit Workspace, and also with Exchange and Gmail, so you can switch gradually.
Conserio is our own business chat, instead of Slack or Teams. One price per company, several companies in one app, and calls through Meet.
Where good open source already exists, we use it: Stalwart for mail, calendar and contacts, Collabora Online for documents in the browser, and Jitsi for video meetings. But we connect them with one login and one visual style, and we build the missing pieces ourselves. In Binadit Meet, for example, you can share a document from the Team Drive with the whole meeting and work on it together while you talk.
What works today, not soon
Mail, calendar, contacts, Drive, documents in the browser, video meetings, booking pages, secure file receipt and business chat: it is all there, now. The apps are signed and update themselves. The downloads page lists the release history and checksum for every version.
Who runs the servers
Many European packages involve a chain: one party supplies the software, a second sells it, a third rents out the servers. Every link is a party that can access your data, and a contract that has to be right.
At Binadit there is one. Binadit B.V. in Rotterdam builds the software, runs the servers in Dutch data centres itself, and is your point of contact when something goes wrong. There is no US parent, no subcontractor outside the EU, and no party in the chain that falls under the US CLOUD Act.
A price that fits your company
You choose the size each mailbox needs, starting at 2 GB for info@ and reception. You buy Drive once for the whole company rather than per person, with a Team Drive and Receive alongside if you want them. On the pricing page you can work out what that costs, and what you save on separate subscriptions for chat, video, appointments and file transfer.
What this is not
For us, open source is a means, not a selling point. We use it where it is good, and we build our own where we can do better. If you would rather run Nextcloud yourself on your own server, that is a fine choice and we are happy to help. If you want a complete, managed workplace where everything fits together and one company stands behind it, that is Binadit Workspace.
Compare Binadit Workspace with Nextcloud packages or request a demo.