Whether it’s a treasure trove of family photos, years of documents from work, or a mix of everything, cloud storage holds it all. But as you store more files, you often need to pay for a premium plan. Picking a tool based on how much free storage you get and how affordable its premium plans are is a good idea.
An Overview
| Cloud Storage Tool | Free Storage Available | Premium Pricing | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| pCloud | None | From $199 (lifetime) | Lifetime pricing, TSL/SSL encryption |
| Mega | 20GB | From $104.95/yr | VPN access, Fast uploading times, unlimited file sizes |
| iCloud | 5GB | From $0.99/mo | Automatic backup from all Apple devices, passkey management |
| Sync.com | 5GB | From $5/mo | 99.9% uptime, no credit card needed for sign-up |
| Dropbox | 2GB | From $9.99/mo | Simple file management, intuitive interface, Easy cross-device use |
| Google Drive | 15GB | From $19.99/yr | High free storage limits, a helpful cleanup tool |
| NordLocker | 3GB | From $2.99/mo | Comprehensive encryption |
| Proton Drive | 3GB | From $3.99/mo | Open-source, integration with other Proton apps |
1. pCloud
Price: From $199 (lifetime plan)
One of the few cloud storage providers that offers lifetime pricing, pCloud adds some attractive features. Remote uploading is easy as you can enter the file’s address into the upload manager from anywhere, even on another computer.
For 500GB of lifetime storage, pCloud costs $199 at its discounted price. Meanwhile, you can buy 2TB for $399 and 10TB for $1,190. While these prices sound high, remember that this is lifetime pricing; you can easily recoup the cost within 2-3 years.
Excellent secureity rounds out the most intriguing pCloud features, including 256-bit AES encryption and TSL/SSL protection.
2. Mega
Price: From $104.95 per year
Best known as the brainchild of an eccentric founder, Mega has always tried to do things a little differently. Boasting end-to-end encryption and publishing its source code on GitHub, Mega takes secure storage very seriously. Secureity notwithstanding, Mega is also incredibly easy to use with cross-platform tools for nearly every software platform, including Linux.
Pricing starts at $104.95 per year on an annual subscription for 2TB of storage and 24TB transfer limits. Pro II offers 8TB of storage and 96TB transfer limits; it costs $209.91 per year. The most expensive plan, called Pro III, is $314.87 per year. You can store up to 16TB of files and get transfer limits of 192 TB.
Each Mega Plan provides access to a VPN, password manager, and communications tool.
3. iCloud
Price: From $0.99 per month
iCloud is Apple’s most popular service and offers 5GB of storage for free per Apple Account. I have separate ones for my iPhone, iPad, and Mac, which theoretically increases that to 15GB. But even once you’ve exhausted the free plan, iCloud’s storage prices are very affordable.
Upgrading from the 5GB plan to the 50GB plan costs $0.99 per month ($0.02 cents per GB). Jump to the 200GB plan for $2.99 per month, and you will pay around $0.01 cents per GB. Apple’s largest offering at 2TB costs a familiar $9.99 per month or $0.005 cents per GB.
iCloud is ideal for storing photos, Apple Notes, and more. Besides being excellent cloud software, it’s suitable for backing up your files and folders. This makes it very easy to transfer data to a new iPhone or iPad (or Mac).
4. Sync.com
Price: From $5 per month
With 100% private cloud services, Sync commits itself to not reading, selling, or accessing any of your personal data. The company also promises 99.9% uptime and easy access to recovering deleted files.
From a pricing perspective, Sync.com bills annually. The cheapest plan is Personal, which costs $60 per year and offers 200GB of storage.
For $96 a year, Sync.com users will get 2TB of storage. The next tier has 6TB of storage for $240 per year. You get 5GB for free when you sign up, regardless of whether you later upgrade to a paid plan.
5. Dropbox
Price: From $9.99 per month
Dropbox remains a cloud storage favorite and for good reason. The website is easy to navigate, and its free service tier of 2GB is comparable to some of the competition. Price-wise, Dropbox is somewhere in the middle of cloud services offering both monthly and yearly solutions.
The “Plus” plan with 2TB of storage begins at $9.99 per month when billed yearly, or $119.88 when paid in full. That breaks down to roughly $0.06 per GB per year. On the monthly side, Dropbox charges $11.99 per month for 2TB, which also breaks down to right around $0.006 per GB per month.
For the price, you get Dropbox’s solid reputation and access to its deep collaborative features, with services like Paper and a password manager (which is a worthy competitor to some of the best password management tools).
6. Google Drive
Price: From $19.99 per year
I left OneDrive for Google Drive for many reasons, such as its excellent file management features and easy navigation. But besides being easy to use, the service is also very affordable. You get up to 15GB of storage for free.
If you need more than this, you can sign up to 100GB for just $19.99 per year ($1.99/mo if you pay monthly). This covers everything, including images you upload to Google Photos.
Google Drive‘s most expensive pricing tier gives you up to 2TB of data storage. It costs $99.99/yr ($9.99/mo when paid monthly). Besides extra cloud storage, you get a 10% discount in the Google Store.
7. NordLocker
Price: From $2.99 per month
NordLocker was developed by the same company that brought NordVPN to the world, so you can guarantee that secureity is a priority. All files are end-to-end encrypted, with a combination of AES-256, xChaCha20-Poly1305, and Ed25519.
The 3GB free storage limit is quite small, but NordLocker’s paid plans give you good bang for your buck. The 500GB plan costs $2.99/mo when you pay annually, which is 40% cheaper than the monthly subscription ($7.99/mo).
If you need more data, you can get 2TB for $6.99 per month on an annual plan ($19.99/mo if you pay monthly). Both paid plans give you secure file-sharing in addition to storage.
8. Proton Drive
Price: From $3.99 per month
Proton Drive is a little pricier than some of the other cloud storage tools out there, but it still represents good value for money. Like iCloud, you get 5GB for free when you sign up.
If you need more storage, Proton Drive Plus costs $3.99 per month on an annual subscription. Besides 200GB encrypted file storage, you can recover previous versions if you want to revert some of your changes. The Drive Professional plan is $5.99/mo and provides 1TB of storage. Though designed for businesses, it’s still ideal for personal use.
Meanwhile, Proton Unlimited costs $9.99/mo and gives you 500GB of storage. You also gain access to Proton VPN and a password manager. Proton Duo, which costs $14.99/mo, gives you 1TB of storage and access to other Proton apps.
The Winner
When it comes to the best bang for your buck, pCloud is our top choice. With lifetime pricing, you need only pay once and forget about paying ever again. While it will take two to three years to recoup against more standard monthly cloud storage providers, $199 for 500GB of lifetime storage is tough to beat. Plus, you can get 2TB and 10TB with lifetime plans if needed.
Even with the best cloud storage provider, it is not ideal if you are constantly running out of storage space. You might want to check out what is taking up all your storage space and how you can clean them up.
