Euro-Office launches as Europe’s open-source Office rival

IONOS and Nextcloud have launched Euro-Office, a European open-source office suite backed by a coalition of more than a dozen organisations across Europe.

The software is positioned as a sovereign alternative to Microsoft Office for editing documents, spreadsheets and presentations. A public tech preview is available now, with the first stable release planned for summer.

Euro-Office is being developed under a shared governance framework that brings together commercial open-source companies, independent developers and civil society groups. Participants include IONOS, Nextcloud, EuroStack, XWiki, OpenProject, Soverin, Abilian, OpenXchange and bTactic.

The initiative comes as European organisations reassess their dependence on non-European workplace software. It also follows the closure of ONLYOFFICE’s cloud offering, which has prompted some users to reconsider their current office software arrangements.

Euro-Office is built on ONLYOFFICE. The coalition says it is opening the code base under open-source licensing and removing trademark constraints. Its stated aim is to create a sustainable office suite under European stewardship that can be integrated into different platforms

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Market shift

Backers argue that many existing alternatives involve trade-offs in compatibility, usability or governance. They also cite legal and licensing concerns, particularly for public bodies and organisations handling sensitive information.

The argument reflects a broader European debate over digital sovereignty, as governments and businesses seek more control over software, infrastructure and data. Office productivity tools have become part of that discussion because they remain central to day-to-day work across public administration, education and business.

Achim Weiss, Chief Executive Officer of IONOS, said the political backdrop had increased demand for European options.

“With the geo-political developments we have seen in the last year, there is a clear need for a reliable, fully Microsoft-compatible and easy to use sovereign office solution in Europe,” Weiss said. “Our joint initiative delivers a suite with an extremely familiar interface and capable of working with documents, presentations and spreadsheets.”

Frank Karlitschek, Chief Executive Officer of Nextcloud, said the sector already had many of the underlying components needed to assemble such a product.

“Europe has had the technical building blocks for years. What was missing until now was an initiative to bring them together into a meaningful, comprehensive solution,” Karlitschek said. “With Euro-Office, we’re not starting from scratch; instead, we’re taking responsibility for a vital piece of digital infrastructure. This finally gives organizations tools they can trust: transparent, durable, and managed in Europe.”

Coalition model

The organisers say the project is intended to be more than a single software launch. They describe it as an effort to build a longer-term ecosystem around an office suite maintained by a broader European community rather than controlled by a single vendor.

According to the coalition, participants have committed staff and other resources to the effort. The code is being developed through a process that backers say is open to public scrutiny and outside contribution.

That structure may prove important if Euro-Office is to win support from public sector buyers and regulated industries, where procurement decisions often take governance, licensing terms and long-term maintenance into account. It may also appeal to organisations looking to reduce reliance on a narrow group of overseas software suppliers.

The immediate test will be whether the tech preview shows enough compatibility with widely used Microsoft document formats to persuade organisations to evaluate it seriously. Ease of migration and user familiarity are likely to be central issues, especially in large administrations and businesses with established workflows.

IONOS says it serves around 6.6 million customers and operates in 17 markets across Europe and North America. Nextcloud says its software is used by tens of thousands of private and public organisations and by tens of millions of individuals.

The coalition is inviting other companies, public bodies and community contributors to join the project and help shape the suite’s development.