Cloud Storage has evolved from a niche perk to an essential contingency, particularly with companies making the move to more hybrid/remote workflows. Some cloud storage providers are more popular than others, due to the fact they are integrated into popular ecosystems (think Android, ChromeOS, iOS/MacOS, Windows.) But does the market share of these services reflect the fact that they are truly the best on the market, or is it bulit-in convenience? Here we explore the most popular (and powerful) Cloud Storage service providers and their feature set – to see which offers the best bang per buck. in Alphabetical Order):
Google Drive
One of the more popular products on this list, Drive is possibly the most used – being integrated in Google’s ecosystem. It comes with 15GB of free storage, linked to your Gmail account. This space is shared between your emails in Gmail,pics and vids in Google Photos, along with whatever you saved in Drive. Though its widespread use is mostly due to it being an extension of the Internal storage on Android and Chromebook devices, many companies and individuals have raised concerns around privacy. The storage capacity can be upgraded through paid subscription tiers, ranging from 100GB for $1.99/month to $49.99 for 10TB/month.
Features:
- File storage, sharing, and access from any device
- File streaming directly from the cloud to Mac or PC
- Offline access to files
- Shared team drives
- Google search technology for files
- Cloud-native collaboration apps (Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides)
- Collaborate on Microsoft Office files without converting file formats
- Supports over 100 file types
- Integrates with dozens of tools and apps like Adobe, DocuSign, Salesforce, Slack, and more
- Desktop app and mobile app
- Access from Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android devices
- 128-bit SSL encryption
Get Google Drive
Dropbox
Dropbox is the oldest product on this list, and the one that inspired companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft to get into the Cloud Storage game. It’s collaborative and file sharing features make it a popular, near-standard in the workplace and it edges out cloud services lied to big Tech ecosystems with top-tier encryption.
Dropbox uses stronger encryption to keep stored files safe with Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256-bit encryption — the same encryption standard used to protect top-secret data. (Google Drive only uses 128-bit encryption for example)
Dropbox has three subscription tiers: Standard, Advanced, and Professional – which prices range from $12.50/month to $20/month for the Advanced.
Features:
- Cloud file storage and backup
- File sharing and large file transfer
- File recovery and version history
- Document collaboration and editing through Dropbox Paper
- Syncing across devices
- Password sync and storage
- Desktop app and mobile app
- HelloSign eSignatures
- Integrates with tools like Zoom, Canva, Slack, and more
- Access from Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android devices
- 256-bit AES and SSL/TLS encryption
- Priority email support
Get Dropbox
iCloud
Apple’s cloud service isn’t as available on third-party platforms as much as the others – pretty much Apple devices and the Web. It allows users to store data such as documents, photos and music on remote servers for download to iOS, macOS or Windows devices. It also enables to share and send data to other users. It is also helpful to manage Apple devices if it is lost or stolen. It was launched in 2011. While it offers some of the lowest fees in this list, the price to value ratio is lower than the others – due to being more or less unavailable outside of Apple’s walled garden of products
Features:
- -Seamless Integration with Apple devices
- 5 GB free storage space
- Low cost fees for additional storage
- Up to 600GB monthly bandwidth/traffic limit
Get iCloud
OneDrive
OneDrive is Microsoft’s cloud storage service, and its tight integration with Windows assures it has a massive user base. It gives the convenience to users for storing files, personal data and for sharing files. It offers 5 GB free storage space. It was launched by Microsoft in 2007. It is mostly used by professional workers to store the data related to work which might need more security.
Features:
- -Seamless Integration with Windows devices
- 5 GB free storage space
- Remote Uploading
- File Versioning
- Upload files up to 100GB in size
Get OneDrive
pCloud
The most secure cloud storage provider on the list, pCloud is a relative newcomer that has apps for every major platform, including Linux. It offers up to 10GB of free storage, and is also the only provider on this list that offers a lifetime subscription for a one-time purchase.
Features:
- Up to 10 GB of free storage
- Ability to sync from popular online services
- Unlimited transfer speeds -Custom Branding Links
- Embedded Music player (Sorting by artist, album; Shuffle; playback);
- -Share link customization (expiration, password protection, upload/ download privileges);
- Rewind to older file versions;
- Easy to use
- Unlimited file sizes
- Client-side, zero-knowledge encryption
- Innovative lifetime plans
- US & EU Servers
- Desktop folder backup included
Get pCloud
Conclusion
While all of the products on this list are reliable and robust, Dropbox and pCloud offers the more agile and cross-platform services – while Apple, Google, and Microsoft’s cloud storage are mainly extensions of the Internal storage on their own branded devices. Google Drive and Onedrive is a bit more open and available on other platforms than iCloud, but those are still edged out by Dropbox. pCloud takes the crown, edging out Dropbox by a slight margin with features like Branded Link Sharing, 30day file revisions, Client-side zero encryption, and the ability to buy a lifetime membership, which makes it the only Cloud service provider to allow you to buy Cloud storage outright.
