Comparisons
openDesk alternative
openDesk is the German public sector's sovereign workspace: open-source components — Open-Xchange, Nextcloud, Collabora, XWiki, Element, Jitsi — assembled into one suite. It is software, and somebody has to run it.
There is no list price to compare
Neither side has a list price: openDesk is software, and so is Beskos. What each costs depends on who hosts it, on how many servers and with which support contract. Inventing a number for either would be dishonest, so the comparison here is one of scope and operation.
What each one covers
| openDesk | Beskos | |
|---|---|---|
| Mail on your own domain | Included | Included |
| Calendar and invites | Included | Included |
| Contacts with custom fields | Limited | Included |
| Team files | Included | Included |
| Chat with channels and threads | Included | Included |
| Video meetings with recording | Included | Included |
| Edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint | Included | Included |
| Wiki / knowledge base | Included | Included |
| Kanban boards | Included | Included |
| AI assistant included | Not available | Included |
| Desktop folder sync | Included | Included |
| Own domain with DKIM and DMARC | Included | Included |
| Source you can read | Included | Included |
| Run it on your own server | Included | Included |
| Data in the European Union | Included | Included |
| Provider subject to EU law | Included | Included |
| Managed service, nothing to host | Limited | Not available |
| All in the same app | Limited | Included |
Where openDesk is better
- Its components carry classic open-source licences, with no commercial restriction. Beskos is source-available under the Business Source Licence, which reserves the right to offer it as a service — a real difference, and in openDesk's favour.
- It can be bought already operated, from providers who run it for you. Our own hosted service is announced and not open.
- Developed under the German federal administration, which is a reference no start-up can match.
- Backed by an institution rather than a company, with the durability that implies.
Where Beskos wins
- One product rather than six open-source projects federated behind a portal, with the consistency that follows: one account, one permission model, one search.
- An AI assistant included and grounded in your own data, which openDesk does not provide.
- One compose file to install rather than an integration between components to maintain.
In short
Openness is not the difference here: both are open source and both run on your own servers. openDesk assembles six established projects behind one portal, with an institution behind it; Beskos is one product built as a whole, with an assistant, and is far younger. If the deciding factor is an institutional reference, openDesk has it. If it is coherence across the apps, that is what Beskos is for.
Read it before you believe any of this
Every row above is a claim about software you can download. The code is public, so the table can be checked rather than trusted.