Microsoft Copilot Data Privacy: What It Sees, and the Alternative
Microsoft 365 Copilot can read whatever the signed-in user can read: mail, files, chats, meetings and SharePoint libraries across the tenant. Microsoft's Enterprise Data Protection promises that prompts and responses are not used to train its models and stay inside the tenant boundary; the risk most organisations actually hit is oversharing, where Copilot surfaces things a user technically had access to but never found. This page explains what the controls do, what they do not, and the alternative: a Nextcloud workspace where AI exists only when you enable it, against models you choose.
What Copilot can and cannot do with your data
| Question | Microsoft 365 Copilot | Nextcloud Hub |
|---|---|---|
| Is tenant data used to train the models? | No, under Enterprise Data Protection with a work account; consumer Copilot without a work sign-in is different | No AI runs unless you enable the Nextcloud Assistant; then only the models you configure see anything |
| What can it read? | Everything the user's permissions allow across Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams | Nothing by default; the Assistant acts on the files and apps you point it at |
| Where does processing happen? | Microsoft's regions, with EU Data Boundary commitments for EU tenants | On your instance's region for local models, or the provider you choose for remote ones |
| Can administrators limit it? | Yes: licensing, Purview DLP policies for prompts (rolled out in 2026), sensitivity labels, restricted SharePoint search, Integrated Apps controls | Yes: the Assistant is an app you install, scope and remove; on Hub plans it is not enabled |
| The practical risk | Oversharing: Copilot finds what permissions already allow | Permissions are the same risk on any platform; Nextcloud's folder-based model is easier to audit |
| Who holds the keys | Microsoft, with customer key options on higher tiers | MassiveGRID on Hub plans; end-to-end encryption app on dedicated instances for zero-knowledge folders |
Microsoft's Enterprise Data Protection terms and admin controls change; check Microsoft Learn for the current state before relying on this table.
If you stay: what to do before enabling Copilot
- Audit sharing first. Run a SharePoint and OneDrive oversharing report and fix "Everyone" and "Anyone with the link" permissions. This is the single largest Copilot risk and it existed before Copilot.
- Label sensitive content with sensitivity labels so DLP policies for Copilot prompts have something to act on.
- Enable Purview DLP for Copilot so prompts containing sensitive data are blocked or not used for grounding.
- Restrict SharePoint search to vetted sites while you clean up.
- Assign licences deliberately rather than tenant-wide, and make sure nobody uses consumer Copilot with company data, which has no Enterprise Data Protection.
Our Microsoft 365 telemetry guide covers the data Microsoft collects regardless of Copilot.
If you leave: AI only when you say so
Nothing runs by default
Nextcloud Hub plans ship with no AI assistant enabled. Files, mail, office and chat work as they did before 2023.
The Assistant is yours to scope
On dedicated Nextcloud Enterprise instances (Ultimate tier) the open-source Nextcloud Assistant can run against local models on your instance or a remote provider you contract with, and you choose which apps it touches. Hub 26 Summer added OCR, skills and scheduled tasks.
Permissions you can read
Folder-based permissions and group folders, with file access logs, make the oversharing audit a morning's work rather than a project.
Where the data lives either way
Copilot processes tenant data in Microsoft's regions, with EU Data Boundary commitments for European tenants. A Nextcloud Hub plan puts the workspace in the U.S., E.U., U.K. or Asia at your choice, and a dedicated instance in any MassiveGRID datacenter. For organisations whose Copilot question is really a sovereignty question, the European alternative page is the one to read; the Microsoft 365 alternative page covers the move app by app.
Nextcloud Hub Pricing
Per-user plans on MassiveGRID's Nextcloud Enterprise platform: files, office, email, chat and video calls, calendar and contacts, in the U.S., E.U., U.K. or Asia. Pick the region and team size to see what your team would pay.
First month for $1 on monthly billing with coupon code NEXTCLOUD, applied by the Order buttons.
- Files, Photos, Calendar and Contacts
- Nextcloud Office: documents, spreadsheets and presentations
- Talk: chat, audio and video calls, screen sharing
- Standard Email
- 100 GB storage per user
- Desktop and mobile sync clients, public share links
- Nextcloud Enterprise platform with managed updates and daily backups
- Ticket support
- Files, Photos, Calendar and Contacts
- Nextcloud Office and Talk: documents, chat, audio and video calls
- Notes, Tables, Deck and Tasks
- Standard Email
- 1 TB storage per user, ten times Starter
- Desktop and mobile sync clients, public share links
- Nextcloud Enterprise platform with managed updates and daily backups
- Priority support: faster response and escalation
- Files, Photos, Office, Talk, Calendar and Contacts
- Notes, Tables, Deck and Tasks
- Enterprise Email with delegation and other enterprise mail features
- 1 TB storage per user
- Desktop and mobile sync clients, public share links
- Nextcloud Enterprise platform with managed updates and daily backups
- 24x7 support
- Upgrade path to a dedicated instance with your own domain and branding
USD per user per month before taxes; the billing-cycle discount applies to every plan. Order 1 to 50 users online. Need your own domain, a compliance boundary of your own or more than 50 users? See the dedicated instances below or contact us.
Frequently Asked Questions
Same suite, your region, from $5.90 per user
Order a Nextcloud Hub plan and the first month is $1 with coupon code NEXTCLOUD. Move one team, run a month of real work, then decide.