Short answer: MassiveGRID's Nextcloud Hub plans do not have a feature-limited free tier. Instead, any plan ordered on monthly billing with coupon code NEXTCLOUD costs $1 for the whole team for the first month, after which the regular $5.90, $12.90 or $19.90 per user applies and you can change plan or cancel at any time. That gives you a full Nextcloud Enterprise workspace (files, office, chat, calls, email, calendar, contacts) in the region you choose for 30 days, which is enough to run a real pilot. This walkthrough covers how to order, what to set up in the first hour, and a four-step pilot that produces a decision before the first full invoice.
How the $1 first month works
- Which plans: all three, Starter, Business and Enterprise.
- Which billing cycle: monthly. The coupon applies to the first monthly invoice; longer terms have their own discounts (5% to 40%) and are the better deal once you have decided.
- How to apply it: enter NEXTCLOUD at checkout, or use the Order buttons on the pricing page, which carry the code over.
- What you get: the full plan for every user on the order, not a trial edition. 100 GB per user on Starter, 1 TB on Business and Enterprise, Nextcloud Office, Talk, mailboxes, Calendar and Contacts, on MassiveGRID's Nextcloud Enterprise Ultimate platform with daily backups.
- What happens after: the regular per-user price from month two. Change plan, add or remove users, switch to annual billing, or cancel, at any time.
- What to decide before ordering: the region (United States, Europe, United Kingdom or Asia; it is fixed per order) and the user count for the pilot. Five people is a good pilot; the region guide helps with the first choice.
The first hour
Your order confirmation gives you the sign-in details for the workspace. Spend the first hour on structure, because what the pilot users find on day one shapes their opinion more than any feature.
- Create the folder structure you want, not the one you had. Three to five top-level shared folders with obvious names and one owner each. Set permissions at that level and let subfolders inherit. Resist recreating a decade of Dropbox.
- Add the pilot users and put them in a group. Share the top-level folders with the group, so adding the sixth user later is one step.
- Install the desktop client on each pilot machine (Windows, macOS, Linux) and pick the folders to sync. Selective sync matters on laptops with small disks; virtual files on Windows let people see everything and download on demand.
- Set up phones. The Nextcloud mobile app for files and photos, and the calendar and contacts accounts over CalDAV and CardDAV (the app offers to configure them). This is the step that makes Nextcloud feel like a product rather than a website.
- Open the mailbox. Mailboxes are part of every Hub plan; connect them in the Mail app and, if you want to test with real traffic, forward a copy of each pilot user's current mail to the new box for the month. Leave MX records alone until the decision is made.
- Turn on two-factor authentication for the pilot users. If you are going to make it mandatory later, start now so nobody experiences it as a change.
Total time: about an hour for the administrator, ten minutes per user. The onboarding playbook has the user-facing walkthrough you can forward.
A four-step 30-day pilot
Step 1 (days 1 to 7): live in Files and Office. Move one active project's files in and work on them there: edit the proposal in Nextcloud Office with two people in it at once, share a folder with a client by password-protected link with an expiry date, restore a previous version of something on purpose. Note anything the team reaches for that is not there.
Step 2 (days 8 to 14): move the meetings. Hold the project's weekly call in Talk with screen sharing, create the shared project calendar, book the next three meetings from it, and watch them appear on everyone's phone. Try a call with an external guest, who needs only a browser. The Talk comparison sets expectations against Teams and Meet.
Step 3 (days 15 to 21): test the hard files. Open the spreadsheet with the macros, the 80-page document with tracked changes, the slide deck with embedded video. Where Nextcloud Office struggles, decide whether the desktop editors or a different workflow solves it; the Office in practice guide is honest about the edges. This is also the week to try the Business plan's Deck, Tables and Notes if your work runs on boards and lists.
Step 4 (days 22 to 30): rehearse the migration and decide. Export a slice of the real data from Google, Microsoft or Dropbox with the relevant guide (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Dropbox) and import it, so you know how long the full move takes and which shared links will break. Then hold the decision meeting with three questions: did anyone lose work, did anyone go back to the old tool, and what would it cost to keep going.
What to decide before the first full invoice
| Decision | Options | Rule of thumb |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | Starter, Business, Enterprise, or a mix | Starter unless you used Deck, Tables or 1 TB in the pilot; Enterprise for the people who need delegated mail or 24x7 support |
| Billing cycle | Monthly, or 3 to 36 months at 5% to 40% off | Annual once the head count is known; it takes a Starter seat to $4.72 |
| Users | 1 to 50 online | Order for everyone who will have a mailbox; add contractors as guests via share links instead of seats where possible |
| Region | Fixed per order | Same region as the pilot unless the pilot showed latency problems |
| Cutover date | Your choice | Mail last; keep the old suite read-only for a month |
| Beyond 50 users or own domain | Dedicated Nextcloud Enterprise instance | Request a quote; the pricing guide explains the calculator |
If the answer is no, cancel before the renewal and export anything you created with the desktop client or WebDAV; the data was yours throughout. If the answer is yes, switch the order to annual billing, add the rest of the company, and follow the four-week rollout in the small business buyer's guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a free trial of Nextcloud Hub?
Not a free tier, but the first month costs $1 for the whole team on any plan ordered on monthly billing with coupon code NEXTCLOUD. You get the full plan, including office, chat, calls, email, calendar and contacts, and can change or cancel at any time afterwards.
How do I apply the NEXTCLOUD coupon?
Use the Order buttons on the MassiveGRID Nextcloud pricing page, which carry the code to checkout, or type NEXTCLOUD into the coupon field at checkout. It applies to the first monthly invoice; from month two the regular per-user price applies.
What should I set up first in a new Nextcloud workspace?
The shared folder structure and a group for the pilot users, then the desktop client on each machine, then calendar and contacts on phones, then the mailbox, then two-factor authentication. About an hour for the administrator and ten minutes per user.
Can I keep my data if I cancel after the trial month?
Yes. Files sync to your machines through the desktop client and are reachable over WebDAV; calendars and contacts export over CalDAV and CardDAV; mail is available over IMAP. Export before the renewal date and cancel the order.
How many users should be in a Nextcloud pilot?
Five is a good number: enough to test sharing, a group call and collaborative editing, small enough to support personally. Order the rest of the company once the pilot has produced a decision.
Start your $1 first month
Order any Nextcloud Hub plan on monthly billing with coupon code NEXTCLOUD and run a real 30-day pilot: files, office, chat, calls, email, calendar and contacts for your whole pilot team, in the region you choose, on MassiveGRID's managed Nextcloud Enterprise platform.
Order a Nextcloud Hub Plan