Why we built Oneva

There's something fundamentally wrong with how most of us work online today.

We store our files on servers we don't control. We send emails through systems that scan every word. We hold video calls on platforms that harvest our data. And we accept all of this because the alternatives have been too complicated, too expensive, or too unreliable.

We built Oneva to change that.

The problem

Most cloud workspace tools — Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and others — are built on a simple trade: you get convenience, they get your data. Your files, your emails, your calendar, your contacts, your conversations — all of it lives on shared infrastructure, in data centres you can't choose, governed by terms you can't negotiate.

For individuals, this might be an acceptable trade-off. For organisations — especially in Europe — it increasingly isn't.

GDPR requires that you know where your data is, who can access it, and how it's protected. But when your workspace runs on shared infrastructure operated by a US tech company, those questions don't have simple answers.

What Oneva does differently

Every Oneva workspace runs on a dedicated server — not shared, not multi-tenant, not "virtually isolated." Your server, in a European data centre in Helsinki, Finland, running open-source software you can inspect.

You get everything you need to work:

• Files — store, sync, and share across all your devices
• Email — professional email with your own domain
• Calendar and contacts — sync to your phone and desktop
• Office suite — documents, spreadsheets, and presentations
• Video calls — built-in, no third-party apps needed

One password works everywhere. One identity across all your tools. And everything is managed for you — we handle the servers, updates, backups, and security so you don't have to.

Why now

Three things have changed in the last few years:

1. European regulations are getting serious. GDPR enforcement is accelerating, and organisations are realising that "we use Google" isn't a compliance strategy.

2. Open-source collaboration software has matured. Nextcloud, the platform we build on, is now used by the German federal government, the French Ministry of Education, and thousands of organisations worldwide. It's production-ready.

3. Cloud infrastructure has become affordable. A dedicated server with enough power to run a full workspace for a small team costs less than most SaaS subscriptions.

The timing is right to offer something better.

Our approach

We're building Oneva in the open. We're in early beta, growing carefully, and we're looking for early users who share our belief that privacy and usability shouldn't be mutually exclusive.

During the beta, Oneva is free. In exchange, we ask for your honest feedback — what works, what doesn't, what you wish we'd build next.

If this resonates with you, join the waitlist or get started with an access code.

We'll be writing more here about privacy, digital sovereignty, and the technical decisions behind Oneva. If you'd like to follow along, subscribe to our RSS feed.

— The Oneva Team