Relayium vs Nextcloud for sending files

What Nextcloud does well

Nextcloud is a complete self-hosted cloud suite: file storage with desktop and mobile sync clients, calendars, contacts, an office suite, chat, and a large app ecosystem on top. Once it's running, it behaves like a private Google Workspace — files live there permanently, sync automatically across devices, and stay available whenever you need them.

That's a genuinely different job than sending a file. Nextcloud is the right choice when you want a permanent, shared home for your data: a team drive, a photo library, a place your household or company keeps files long-term.

Where they differ: a storage platform vs a transfer tool

Because Nextcloud does so much, running it means running a real application platform: a web server, a database (MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite), a PHP runtime, scheduled cron jobs, and periodic updates to the core and whichever apps you've installed. That's a fair trade for everything you get, but it's ongoing work, and you're the one planning storage capacity for everything you keep there.

Relayium doesn't try to be a storage platform. Realtime transfer keeps no server-side content copy: browser files move directly on a LAN and use TURN by design across networks, where the relay cannot read or decrypt the end-to-end ciphertext. Its self-hosted server remains one Go container with SQLite and unreadable encrypted blobs for stored links; an optional profile adds TURN. That is much less to run when the job is only A to B.

docker compose up -d --build

Realtime transfer, no server-side content copy

Relayium's realtime mode keeps no server-side content copy. Browser files move directly on a LAN; across networks, TURN carries end-to-end ciphertext the relay cannot read or decrypt. Nextcloud has no equivalent because every share uses your server. Relayium derives AES-256-GCM keys with X25519, shows a matching 6-digit SAS, and checks each file with SHA-256.

On the same network this needs no account at all: open relayium.com on both devices, pick up to 1,000 files, verify the code, and send. Sending across networks with a pairing code requires the sender to sign in — the recipient never needs an account. If a connection drops mid-transfer it resumes instead of restarting. On the same network the files go straight between the two devices; across networks the transfer runs over an encrypted TURN relay by design — it forwards ciphertext only and never holds the key.

When the recipient is offline: zero-knowledge stored links

Realtime transfer needs both people online at once, which is where Nextcloud's always-on server has a real edge. Relayium covers that case too, without giving up privacy: your browser generates a random AES-256-GCM key, encrypts the files with it before anything leaves your device, and the key lives only in the URL fragment — the part after the # that browsers never send to a server. The server stores ciphertext it cannot decrypt.

Creating a stored link requires the sender to sign in; the recipient needs no account to download. Each link can be set to expire after 1 hour, 1 day, 3 days, 7 days, or up to 14 days depending on your plan, or to burn after the first complete download — it isn't meant to be a permanent home for the file like a Nextcloud share, it's meant to disappear.

Feature comparison at a glance

The differences that matter most, side by side:

• Purpose: Nextcloud is durable synced storage; Relayium is focused on realtime transfer without a server-side content copy, or an expiring link.
• Where files live: Nextcloud keeps files on the server; Relayium realtime is LAN-direct or cross-network TURN ciphertext without server-side content history, while stored links expire or burn.
• Self-host footprint: Nextcloud needs a web server, database, PHP runtime, and ongoing app updates; Relayium's self-host is a single container (docker compose up -d --build) plus an optional TURN relay for cross-network transfers.
• Accounts: Nextcloud needs an account for every user who accesses it; Relayium needs none for same-network transfers, only the sender signs in for cross-network pairing or stored links, and recipients never need one.
• Encryption: Relayium realtime is end-to-end with a 6-digit SAS — LAN content travels directly, while cross-network browser TURN forwards ciphertext it cannot read or decrypt; signaling metadata is still handled. Stored links are zero-knowledge. Nextcloud shares use your server, TLS, and your configured at-rest encryption.
• Cost and openness: Relayium is open source under AGPL-3.0 at github.com/relayium/relayium, with same-network transfers free, and hosted relay and storage bounded by a monthly traffic allowance plus a separate cap on how much you keep stored at once, both of which paid plans raise; Nextcloud's server software is also free and open source (AGPL), with paid hosting and support available from Nextcloud GmbH and partners.