Why people leave Microsoft 365
Microsoft's productivity suite of Office apps, Outlook, Teams and OneDrive, the default in most workplaces. A US-governed cloud under the CLOUD Act, with sovereignty offered contractually rather than by jurisdiction.
The everyday gripes
- Subscription creep. Microsoft has repeatedly raised 365 prices, most recently bundling in Copilot AI features that many subscribers never asked for or use.
- Deep ecosystem lock-in. Word, Excel and Outlook nudge you constantly to save to OneDrive and sign into a Microsoft account, making a clean switch away a real untangling job.
- Recurring outages. Multiple global outages have taken down Teams, Outlook and SharePoint simultaneously in recent years, including major incidents in 2024.
- Confusing plan tiers. Business, Family, Personal and enterprise E1/E3/E5 tiers overlap awkwardly, making it hard to tell what a given price actually includes.
- AI features are on by default. Copilot is switched on across the suite from the start, and turning it off means digging through admin settings most users never see.
And the bigger one – where your data actually lives
- Bundling ruled anti-competitive. The EU opened a formal antitrust probe in 2023 into Microsoft bundling Teams with Office; in 2025 Microsoft agreed to unbundle it worldwide to avoid a fine that could have reached $24.5 billion.
- Tied to military surveillance use. Reporting in 2025 found Israel's military used Microsoft Azure, the cloud underpinning 365, to store mass-surveillance data on Palestinians; Microsoft later cut the unit's access.
- Answers to US law. Microsoft is a US company, so 365 data sits under the CLOUD Act, with European data sovereignty offered contractually rather than by jurisdiction.
This guide only covers complete, all-in-one alternatives – suites that aim to replace mail, documents, storage and team collaboration together, not single-purpose tools that only cover one slice of Microsoft 365. None of the four below match Microsoft’s version feature-for-feature, and we say so plainly where they don’t. Here’s how the closest full-suite contenders compare, scored on our EuroPoints is PickEurope's scoring system. It rates each service out of 100, across legal jurisdiction, ownership, data sovereignty, and accountability. Learn more → system and ranked honestly, weaknesses and all.
1. Twake Workplace
Twake Workplace is our top score, and it earns it through sheer breadth: one Open source software has publicly available code, which anyone can inspect, so claims about privacy and security can be independently checked. Learn more → platform combining Matrix-based chat, a shared drive, mail and a calendar. It’s built by Linagora, a French open-source company that’s been in business since 2000, and every part of it can be self-hosted if you want to run it on your own servers.
The catch: nothing in Twake’s own listing points to a bundled Word, Excel or PowerPoint-style editor, so pair it with an editing suite like ONLYOFFICE below if documents are a big part of your day. It also doesn’t list dedicated iOS or Android apps yet, so mobile use runs through the browser for now.
Messaging, cloud drive, mail and calendar all live in one open-source platform instead of stitching together separate tools, and self-hosting is a genuine option if you want full control.
The all-in-one scope means individual features like chat or drive can feel less polished than a specialist tool built for just that one job.
| Service | EuroPoints | Tier | Country | From | Open source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twake Workplace | 100 | Certified European | France | Free | Yes |
 mailbox.org | 98 | Certified European | Germany | €1/mo | No |
 Nextcloud | 87 | Strongly European | Germany | Free | Yes |
 ONLYOFFICE | 72 | Mostly European | Latvia | Free | Yes |
2. mailbox.org
mailbox.org comes from Heinlein Support, a German Linux and hosting specialist that’s been running mail services since 1992. The plan bundles encrypted mail, calendars, contacts and an online office for documents, all on certified German data centres running on green electricity.
There’s no dedicated cloud-storage brand or a Teams-style video app in the lineup, and no free tier either – just a 30-day trial before plans start at €1 a month. If mail and documents are most of what you actually use Microsoft 365 for, it’s a tidy, no-nonsense swap.
A full office suite – encrypted mail, calendar, contacts and document editing – comes bundled together, and everything runs on green electricity in certified German data centres.
There's no free tier, just a 30-day trial, and the webmail interface feels more functional than flashy next to Gmail's.
3. Nextcloud
Nextcloud is the closest thing here to a build-your-own Microsoft 365: files, document editing, calendar, contacts and video chat, all added as apps on infrastructure you choose. It’s developed in Stuttgart, fully open source, and explicitly lists Microsoft 365 as one of the tools it replaces.
Running it well takes real server-admin know-how, since updates, backups and performance tuning are on you unless you pay for hosted or enterprise support. It scores lower here than Twake or mailbox.org mainly because Nextcloud GmbH is VC-backed rather than fully independent, not because the product covers less ground.
Docs, calendar, contacts, talk and file sync all live under one self-hosted roof, so you can genuinely replace a chunk of Google Workspace with a single install. A huge app-store ecosystem covers everything from Kanban boards to a password manager.
Running it well takes real server admin know-how – updates, backups and performance tuning are on you unless you pay for hosted or enterprise support.
4. ONLYOFFICE
ONLYOFFICE isn’t a full suite on its own: it’s a documents, spreadsheets and presentations editor, open source, with some of the closest Microsoft file compatibility around, so Word, Excel and PowerPoint files round-trip without much formatting damage. Pair it with a European mail and storage provider, like mailbox.org above, and between the two you’ve covered most of what Microsoft 365 does.
It’s legally registered in Riga, Latvia, but the holding company sits in Singapore rather than the EU or EFTA, which is most of why it scores lower here – worth knowing if where the company itself is based and owned matters to you.
File compatibility with Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents is some of the closest around, so round-tripping files with Office users rarely breaks formatting. Self-hosting is free and fully open source if you want to run it yourself.
The cloud version's free tier is limited to a handful of users, and collaborative editing feels a step behind Google Docs on very large, simultaneously-edited documents.
The verdict
For the most complete open-source suite, Twake Workplace is the pick – chat, mail, drive and calendar under one roof – though you’ll want to add a document editor alongside it. Want mail and documents handled for you without running your own server? mailbox.org does that cleanly for about a euro a month. Comfortable managing your own infrastructure? Nextcloud gets you the closest thing to a self-hosted Microsoft 365. And if documents are really all you need replaced, ONLYOFFICE’s file compatibility makes that swap painless. None of these matches Microsoft’s single app end to end, but stitched together, they get your suite off US-governed cloud entirely.
Frequently asked questions
What's the best European alternative to Microsoft 365?
By our EuroPoints score, Twake Workplace comes out on top with a perfect 100 – it's French, open-source, and bundles chat, mail, a shared drive and a calendar. mailbox.org follows close behind at 98 if you'd rather have mail and document editing from a German provider without running any infrastructure yourself. The right pick depends on how much of the suite you actually use day to day.
Are these more private than Microsoft 365?
Generally, yes. None of them build an advertising business out of your inbox or documents, and all four are covered by European data law rather than the US CLOUD Act. Nextcloud and ONLYOFFICE are also fully open source, so their code can be independently checked rather than taken on trust.
Do any of these fully replace Word, Excel and PowerPoint?
ONLYOFFICE comes closest on file compatibility, and Nextcloud can add document editing through its app store. Twake's own listing doesn't show a built-in office editor, so if documents are most of your day, pairing Twake or mailbox.org with ONLYOFFICE is a more realistic swap than expecting one app to do everything Microsoft 365 does.
Can I use a European Microsoft 365 alternative for free?
Twake, Nextcloud and ONLYOFFICE all have free tiers, and both Nextcloud and ONLYOFFICE can be self-hosted for nothing beyond your own server costs. mailbox.org skips the free tier in favour of a 30-day trial, with paid plans starting at €1 a month.
Will these work on my phone and desktop?
Mostly. Nextcloud and ONLYOFFICE both list desktop and mobile apps, and mailbox.org has iOS and Android apps alongside the web. Twake's listed platforms are web and self-hosted, so for now it reads as a browser experience rather than a dedicated phone app.
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