Private Cloud Software Solutions
Open Source. Unlimited Growth. Full Control.
At Rockhopper, we help organizations break free from the costly limitations of centralized cloud services. Wherever possible, we recommend secure, open source solutions — giving you full ownership, unlimited user accounts, and powerful control over your data
Below are the private cloud platforms we trust and recommend based on your organization's unique needs.
Why Choose a Private Cloud?
- Cost Savings: Most cloud providers charge per user. With your own server, you pay a flat hosting fee —
no limits on users. - Ownership: Your data, your software,
your terms. - Security: Enhanced privacy and compliance without depending on
third-party platforms. - Flexibility: Customize your systems exactly to your needs, now and
as you grow.
*Competitor pricing below as of
NextCloud
nextcloud.com
Over 400,000 deployments, and
tens of millions of users at thousands of organizations
Collaboration Solutions For:
| Click for Documentation | YouTube |
| Shared Files | |
| Talk: Online Meetings | |
| Groupware: Calendar, Contacts, Mail | |
| Office: Collaborative Editing | |
| AI Assistant | |
| Workflow Automation | |
| Countless Apps |
An Alternative To:
- Google Drive, Docs, Spreadsheets, Slides
(Google Workspace starts at$7.00 per user per month) - Dropbox (starting at
$15.00 per user per month) - Slack (starting at
$8.75 per user per month) - Asana (more than 15 users starts at
$13.49 per user per month)
Combined, these alternatives
Nextcloud with just 9 users costs more than an Nextcloud server
with Rockhopper
| One-Time Setup Fee | $125.00 |
| Monthly Tech Support Fee | $70.00 |
| Monthly Hosting Costs | $28.40 |
- $24.00/month for server with minimum specs
- $4.80/month for automated weekly backups
Collaboration Solutions For:
An Alternative To:
- Google Drive, Docs, Spreadsheets, Slides
(Google Workspace starts at$7.00 per user per month) - Dropbox (starting at
$15.00 per user per month) - Slack (starting at
$8.75 per user per month) - Asana (more than 15 users starts at
$13.49 per user per month) - Salesforce (starting at
$25.00 per user per month)
Combined, these alternatives
Google Workplace with just 9 users costs more than an ONLYOFFICE server
with Rockhopper
| One-Time Setup Fee | $125.00 |
| Monthly Tech Support Fee | $70.00 |
| Monthly Hosting Costs | $28.40 |
- $24.00/month for server with minimum specs
- $4.80/month for automated weekly backups
Collaboration Solutions For:
| Click for Documentation | YouTube |
| Password Management | |
| Sharing Passwords within Team |
An Alternative To:
- LastPass (for business plans start at
$3.00~per user per month) - 1Password (for business plans cost
$2.50-9.99 per user per month)
| One-Time Setup Fee | $20.00 |
| Monthly Tech Support Fee | $20.00 |
| Monthly Hosting Costs | $7.20 |
- $6.00 per month for server with minimum specs
- $1.20 per month for automated weekly backups
More Passbolt Resources:
Collaboration Solutions For:
| Click for Documentation | YouTube |
| Instant Messaging Channels with Threaded Chats | |
| Voice Calls and Screen Sharing | |
| Mobile Apps | |
| Desktop Apps | |
| Boards | |
| Playbooks |
ONLYOFFICE does include basic instant messenging for your organization to chat internally. But you might prefer something fancier, and the ability to send and receive messages through your smart phones. If so, Mattermost is a great alternative to Slack.
| One-Time Setup Fee | $80.00 |
| Monthly Tech Support Fee | $35.00 |
| Monthly Hosting Costs | $8.40 |
- $7.00 per month for server with minimum specs
- $1.40 per month for automated weekly backups
Collaboration Solutions For:
| Click for Documentation | YouTube |
| Video Chat Meetings |
Jitsi provides secure, more flexible video conferencing with end-to-end encryption. They have a completely free service that anyone can use at meet.jit.si. But for added privacy and control, you can run it from your own server space.
| One-Time Setup Fee | $100.00 |
| Monthly Tech Support Fee | $35.00 |
| Monthly Hosting Costs | $42.00 |
More Jitsi Resources:
Collaboration Solutions For:
| Click for Documentation | YouTube |
| Website Content Management |
WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that lets you build your own website or blog, and maintain the content.
An Alternative To:
- Hosting with WordPress.com (starting at
$4.00 per month) - Wix (starting at
$16.00 per month) - Squarespace (starting at
$16.00 per month)
| One-Time Setup Fee | $150.00 |
| Monthly Tech Support Fee | $50.00 |
| Monthly Hosting Costs | $7.20 |
- $6.00 per month for server with minimum specs
- $1.20 per month for automated weekly backups
More WordPress Resources:
Email Accounts for Your Organization
Because the spam-filled email ecosystem is a complex arms race, Rockhopper has better things to focus on.
But we are happy to help get your email out of Google's clutches.
|
Any project with Rockhopper's server management services
- OR custom web-based software - includes the setup and migration of up to 10 |
|
|
- OR - Standalone Email Setup & Migration Fee |
$100.00 |
Rockhopper Email Support Service
- Consultation to help you select the best email provider for you
- Help creating and managing email accounts, doing it for you if needed
- Migrate emails from old accounts to new ones (up to 10), if needed
Below are Rockhopper's choices for least bad email solutions for business. Our planning meetings will help you determine what is best for you.
For reference, Gmail for business costs
Runbox
- Based in Norway
- $19.95 per year for 2GB for the first user,
then $7.95 per user per year
or $34.95/yr for 10GB, $49.95/yr for 25GB... - Webmail. Can be accessed through desktop clients.
- ikipedia
- YouTube How Tos
- Privacy Review, More Reviews
Protonmail
- Based in Switzerland
- $6.99 per user per month for 15GB
or $9.99 for 50GB - Highly secure webmail, and apps for Android and iOS mobile devices.
- Can be accessed through desktop clients. But cannot be accessed most email clients.
- Runs largely open source software.
- ikipedia
- YouTube How Tos
- Privacy Review, More Reviews
Mailfence
- Based in Belgium
- $3.50 per user per month for 40GB
or $9.50 for 78GB, $29.00 for 225GB - Webmail. Can be accessed through desktop clients.
- ikipedia
- YouTube How Tos
- Privacy Review, More Reviews
Zoho
- Based in India, with data centers in the U.S.
- $1.00 per user per month for 10GB,
$4.00 for 50GB - Webmail. Can be accessed through desktop clients.
- ikipedia
- YouTube How Tos
- TechRadar Review, More Reviews
Server Hosting
Along with each software solution described above, the current raw server/hosting costs are listed. These are minimum monthly costs to
Some of these solutions are quite powerful and are best to run on their own server. But in some cases, more than one software installation can safely run on the same server, saving on
By default, Rockhopper Software Designs will rent server space for you on DigitalOcean. It is a top-tier web hosting provider based in the U.S., with data centers in New York City and
But if you want to rent your own server space on DigitalOcean, then we can help set you up with an account, and then manage your servers through Rockhopper's account. This will remove the monthly raw server costs from your Rockhopper invoices. Other than Amazon (AWS) and GoDaddy, we can probably work with hosting providers of
Hopefully in the coming years, Rockhopper can provide it's own server hosting based in western Maryland. But until we can offer local organic servers, DigitalOcean is a
Website Domains
It only takes one domain name to brand as much of your software as you want. With one domain, many subdomains can be associated with different servers and
Most organizations prefer to register their own domain names, and Rockhopper Software Designs will work with anyone to point the appropriate domains or subdomains to our
If you do not want to deal with buying your domain, then Rockhopper can buy and manage that for you too. If you wish to transfer your domains to your own account with any registrar, then we will transfer it to you as
When outsourcing your domain registrations to Rockhopper, you will only be invoiced the raw cost charged by NameSilo . This annual cost will be added to one invoice per year. Here are NameSilo's prices as of
| TLDs | Register | Renew |
|---|---|---|
| .com | ||
| .us | ||
| .net | ||
| .org | ||
| .io | ||
| .me | ||
| .online | ||
| .app | ||
| .club |
FYI: ".org" domains do not require legal
Need More Technical Support?
Your organization might need a bit more than the basic installation and rebranding of your new software. Perhaps your software needs extra customization, or migration. Or perhaps your team may need some extra hand-holding while getting used to
If so, we can discuss your needs and negotiate more hours of technical support at a sliding scale rate
Rockhopper Software Designs
by Morgan Lesko
2005-2025