Nimbus: An Open Source Alternative to Big Tech Cloud Storage

Why This Matters

Cloud storage is dominated by a few big players—Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud—but what if you want full control over your data? Enter Nimbus, an open-source, self-hostable cloud storage solution that’s gaining traction (1.4k GitHub stars and counting). Whether you're privacy-conscious, tired of vendor lock-in, or just love self-hosting, Nimbus offers a compelling alternative.

What It Does

Nimbus is a feature-complete cloud storage platform with file syncing, sharing, and user management—think Dropbox, but with your own infrastructure. Key components:

• Self-hosted: Deploy on your own servers or preferred cloud provider.
• Modern stack: Built with TypeScript, Postgres, Valkey (Redis-compatible), and Docker for easy setup.
• OAuth integration: Supports Google and Microsoft logins (with configurable auth providers).

Why It’s Cool

1. No Vendor Lock-In: Your data, your rules. No arbitrary storage limits or hidden costs.
2. Developer-Friendly: Uses Bun for faster JS tooling and includes detailed docs for local dev (docker-compose for Postgres/Valkey).
3. Active Community: With 100+ forks, it’s clear others are iterating on it too.

How to Try It

1. Clone and install:

   git clone https://github.com/nimbusdotstorage/Nimbus.git
   cd Nimbus && bun i
   

2. Spin up dependencies:

   bun db:up  # Starts Postgres
   bun cache:up  # Starts Valkey
   

3. Configure OAuth: Follow the Google Auth guide (or Microsoft’s) to set up credentials.

For a full deployment, check the DEPLOYMENT.md.

Final Thoughts

Nimbus isn’t just another "Google Drive clone"—it’s a hackable foundation for building your own cloud storage. Ideal for:

• Privacy-focused teams
• Developers who want to tinker with sync algorithms
• Anyone tired of SaaS pricing surprises

If you’re into self-hosting or just want to peek under the hood of cloud storage, give it a star ⭐️ and try the quickstart. The Apache 2.0 license means you’re free to run (or fork) it without guilt.

Repo: github.com/nimbusdotstorage/Nimbus
Live Demo: nimbus.storage (if available)