A coalition of over a dozen European tech firms just dropped Euro-Office, an open-source office suite built to give the continent full control over its own digital tools. A technical preview is already available on GitHub, with the first stable release expected in summer 2026.1 If this project delivers on its promises, it could reshape how millions of Europeans create documents, crunch spreadsheets and build presentations.
What Is Euro-Office and Who Is Behind It?
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.2
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.2
The project was announced at a press event in Berlin on March 27, 2026. IONOS and Nextcloud announced this jointly in Berlin on Friday.3 The event featured Achim Weiss, CEO of IONOS, Henri Schmidt, member of German Parliament, and Frank Karlitschek, CEO of Nextcloud.4
Here is a quick look at the key players involved:
| Organization | Role |
|---|---|
| IONOS | Lead backer, Europe’s largest cloud and hosting provider |
| Nextcloud | Co-lead, world’s leading private cloud platform |
| EuroStack | Digital sovereignty initiative |
| XWiki | Open-source knowledge management |
| OpenProject | Open-source project management |
| Soverin | European email provider |
| Abilian | Open-source enterprise software |
| bTactic | Open-source consultancy |
| OpenXchange | Email and collaboration platform |
IONOS says it serves around 6.6 million customers and operates in 17 markets across Europe and North America.2 Nextcloud says its software is used by tens of thousands of private and public organisations and by tens of millions of individuals.2
Euro-Office open source sovereign office suite Europe launch 2026
Why Europe Needs a Sovereign Office Suite
The timing of this launch is no accident.
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.2
ONLYOFFICE Workspace Cloud was discontinued as of March 2, 2026.5 That sudden exit left many teams scrambling for alternatives.
But the real pressure goes deeper than one product shutting down. The US Cloud Act, signed into law in 2018, gives American law enforcement the authority to compel US-based technology companies to hand over data stored on their servers regardless of where in the world that data is physically located. For European governments and regulated industries, this creates an uncomfortable tension with the EU’s own data protection framework.6
Achim Weiss, CEO of IONOS, put it plainly: “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.”
The fears are not theoretical. Microsoft purportedly disconnected the email account of Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in the Hague, following the imposition of US sanctions against him.7 That incident shook governments across the continent.
How Euro-Office Actually Works
Unlike some past European software efforts that tried to build everything from scratch, Euro-Office takes a smarter approach.
The two partners are not starting from scratch, but have forked the components of OnlyOffice available as open-source code and want to build on them.3 Nextcloud and IONOS justify the decision for the OnlyOffice fork with its more modern architecture and code base compared to LibreOffice and its browser variant Collabora. Karlitschek noted that “LibreOffice is 35 years old and no longer the most innovative and fluid.”3
The suite supports a wide range of file formats:
- DOCX, XLSX, PPTX (Microsoft Office formats)
- ODT, ODS, ODP (Open Document Formats)
- PDF and TXT files
- Real-time collaborative editing in the browser
Euro-Office provides a truly open, transparent, and sovereign solution for collaborative document editing. Euro-Office is not designed for stand-alone use, but developed to be web-based and integrated in another product that handles documents. With Euro-Office you can view, edit and work with others on spreadsheets, documents, presentations and even PDF files.8
One concern raised early: ONLYOFFICE has roots in Russia. This does not pose a security risk for Euro-Office, IONOS and Nextcloud emphasized. The partners have checked the open-source code. According to their own statements, they have rebuilt components that were not available as open source. Karlitschek stated, “We can vouch for our version.”3
The entire code base is released under fully open source licensing, free from trademark constraints, and developed in a transparent process open to public scrutiny and contribution.4
A Growing Wave of European Digital Independence
Euro-Office does not exist in a vacuum. It is part of a much bigger movement sweeping across Europe right now.
Last October, the German state of Schleswig-Holstein allowed its licences to lapse on Microsoft 365. More than 40,000 civil servants, politicians and other public servants are now using free and open-source replacements for Word, Outlook and Teams. The one-off transition cost of €9 million compares favourably to the €15 million it was paying to Microsoft annually.9
Other countries are making similar moves:
- France is rolling out “La Suite,” an open-source collaboration platform across its public service
- Denmark announced its Ministry of Digital Affairs would switch from Microsoft to LibreOffice
- Germany’s federal government is shifting the chancellery to the openDesk suite
- Italy’s Ministry of Defense projected savings of up to €29 million by replacing Microsoft Office
- Switzerland’s data protection authorities declared international cloud services unsuitable for personal data
One estimate suggests the EU spends over €200 million a year just on Microsoft 365 licenses.10 That is a massive amount of public money flowing out of the continent.
Meanwhile, Office.eu recently went live as an all-in-one work environment based on Nextcloud Hub, launched in The Hague in March 2026. The offering is aimed primarily at private individuals as well as small and medium-sized enterprises.1 Early access to Office.eu has attracted nearly 15,000 applicants.6
What Comes Next for Euro-Office
The road ahead is challenging but clear.
In the summer, the software is intended to replace the previous office component Collabora in Nextcloud and the IONOS Nextcloud Workspace.3 That gives the team a tight deadline to polish the product for real-world use.
The coalition aims to create a sustainable ecosystem around Euro-Office and invites other companies, public sector bodies, community contributors and all civil society organizations that support open standards, digital rights and sovereign digital infrastructure to join the collaboration.11
Frank Karlitschek, CEO of Nextcloud, captured the spirit of the project best: “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.”
The governance 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.2 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.2
The tech preview is live on GitHub right now. Anyone can test it, file issues and contribute code.
The question is no longer whether Europe wants digital independence. It clearly does. The real question is whether Euro-Office can deliver the kind of smooth, familiar experience that makes switching from Microsoft feel less like a sacrifice and more like an upgrade. For millions of public servants, teachers, business owners and everyday users across Europe, the answer to that question could change everything. Tell us what you think in the comments below. Would you switch to a European-made office suite
