There’s a new version of Nephele WebDAV server (also on Docker Hub) that supports using an S3 compatible server as storage and encrypting filenames and file contents.
This essentially means you can build your own cloud storage server leveraging something like Backblaze B2 for $6/TB/month, and that data is kept private through encryption. That’s cheaper than Google Drive, and no one can snoop on your files.
Nextcloud offers a WebDAV server, but it’s not really meant to be used outside of Nextcloud. In other words, if you mess around with the files, Nextcloud gets confused. When you do that, the file structure and the database are no longer in sync. Nephele is meant to simply serve your files as a WebDAV share. So you can use it, for example, to upload things into a Jellyfin library (what I do on my Jellyfin server).
Nextcloud is also based on PHP, so you have to muck with PHP settings to get simple things like large uploads working. Nephele is based on Node.js, so it has full control over its server, and doesn’t limit your upload sizes.
Nextcloud requires a database. Nephele does not.
In my experience running both on my server, Nephele is generally a lot faster than Nextcloud. When you’re uploading a single large file, they’ll perform the same, because they’re limited by your network speed, but when you’re uploading many files, Nephele outperforms Nextcloud.
Nextcloud’s Benefits
Nextcloud offers a large, fully featured web client. You can manage files very easily from your browser. Nephele offers a much simpler web client. Managing your files can be more difficult and is more limited (for example, you don’t get thumbnails).
Nextcloud offers link based sharing, meaning you can share a file or folder with someone else just by giving them a link. Nephele does not have a sharing feature.
Nextcloud supports CardDAV and CalDAV. Nephele does not currently support either. Support for them is planned.
Nextcloud supports more data backends than Nephele, like Google Drive and SFTP.
Nextcloud has groupware features. Nephele does not, and there aren’t plans to develop them (other than CardDAV and CalDAV).
Bottom Line
If you need a full groupware suite with WebDAV functionality, definitely Nextcloud is for you.
If you need just a WebDAV server, or you need a WebDAV server for files that are changed through other methods as well, give Nephele a try.
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