Leading Cloud Data Platforms Ranked: Your Guide to the Superior Options

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• We’ve reviewed our recommendations and these are still the best cloud storage software you can buy.

Cloud storage services are great in that they let you keep your files in one place, and you can access them no matter what device you’re on—provided you have access to the internet. Make sure to pick the service with the features you want.

UPDATE: 05/14/2024

We’ve reviewed our recommendations and these are still the best cloud storage software you can buy.

IDrive

Best Cloud Storage Service Overall
See at IDrive

Icedrive

Best Cloud Storage Service for Security
See at icedrive

sync

Best Cloud Storage Service for Large Files
See at sync

mega

Best Free Cloud Storage Service
See at Mega

What to Look For With Cloud Storage in 2024

In just over ten years, cloud storage has gone from something only used by businesses and the tech-savvy to something that millions of us rely on every day. As such, the number of available cloud storage services has increased exponentially while prices have gotten more affordable. Even so, finding the best value-for-money service is important. It’s not necessarily about the more storage you need, as most services will offer more than enough for the average user, but also about what other features you’re looking for.

Most providers have a free storage plan to get you started, but it is still worth considering how much the premium plans will cost if you ever need to upgrade. After all, it’s a pain to move files around between multiple services. The average market price for two terabytes of cloud storage is around ten dollars a month, more than enough storage for almost everyone.

Almost all cloud storage services offer end-to-end encryption . This means that your files are encrypted during transfer and stored in the cloud. Anyone intercepting them will only see scrambled data unless they have the encryption key. Only you and the storage provider usually have the key with standard end-to-end storage. Zero-knowledge encryption takes this further by taking the encryption key away from the provider so that only you can read your files. If you want the best possible data security, zero-knowledge storage is the way to go.

Microsoft, Apple, and Google all have their cloud storage services, both free and premium. Only Google Drive has made it onto our list because it is less OS-dependent than the others. However, choosing OneDrive for your cloud storage is viable if you use Windows and work in Microsoft Office. Equally, upgrading to a premium plan with iCloud is a great option if you use exclusively Apple devices. If you’re hopping between OSes, Google Drive is a better option overall.

Dropbox , another huge name in cloud storage, is also missing from our list of the best. Not only is Dropbox geared more toward businesses, a recent data breach of Dropbox Sign makes this service difficult to recommend for the typical user.

All of our picks are solid cloud storage services that offer something unique to make it worth the recommendation.

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Best Cloud Storage Service Overall: IDrive

IDrive

IDrive is unique because it offers a mix of cloud storage and online backup services, which are usually sold separately. It manages to do this at a lower price than many stand-alone cloud storage services without compromising too much on features.

The free plan offers 10GB of basic cloud storage space for those who want to try out the service. Beyond that, the premium plans are some of the cheapest for their capacity. The lowest priced tier is the IDrive Mini tier, which is only $2.95 annually. However, this tier only has 100GB to start, and while you can add on an additional charge, if you need more you need to upgrade to the IDrive Personal plan.

IDrive Personal gives you a huge 5TB for $69.65 for the first year and $99.50 each following year. I use the IDrive Personal plan, and I can download the app on all of my devices and have everything backed up without worrying about it.

It also makes transferring files between devices easy. When you install the desktop app, it creates a single folder called Sync. Everything you place in this folder is backed up to the cloud storage and is accessible from your other devices, making it easy to access important files from anywhere.

One of the most interesting features of IDrive is how it handles versioning. Most cloud storage will retain versions of your files for a set period so that you can recover or revert changes to files. IDrive does things differently, keeping up to 30 previous versions of edited files for an unlimited time. Those 30 previous file versions also don’t count towards your storage quota, so you don’t need to worry about filling up your space with multiple versions of the same file.

Your stored files and backed-up data are protected by end-to-end, 256-bit AES encryption . The service isn’t zero-knowledge by default, but you can create a private key during setup. Doing this makes it zero-knowledge, but you sacrifice the option to share files easily. If you don’t think you will need to share files, this won’t be a problem.

Aside from the general file storage features, IDrive also gives you the tools to create and save a backup or a clone of your computer’s hard disk. If your drive fails, a clone lets you quickly restore everything, including the operating system, onto a new drive.

It could be argued that IDrive is more about backups than file storage, but the split between the two services is pretty even. It does lack the sharing and collaboration tools that most pure cloud storage services give you, but for data backup and storage, IDrive is brilliant.

Best Cloud Storage Service Overall

IDrive

A unique mix of cloud storage and data backup, with some of the best value premium plans available right now.

See at IDrive

Best Cloud Storage Service for Collaboration: Google Drive/One

Google

Google One and Google Drive make it onto this list over other well-known cloud storage providers for several reasons, starting with how many people already have a Google account. If nothing else, this is the easiest cloud storage on this list—you’re probably already using it! The 15GB of free storage and excellent collaboration tools, especially for Google Workspace users.

If 15GB of free storage isn’t enough, there are several premium plans available. The plans start with Basic, which gives you 100GB for just $1.99 a month, and go up to Premium, which is $9.99 monthly for 2TB of data. Finally, a new Al Premium tier gets you access to Google’s Gemini AI platform. As of May 2024, you can try this tier out for free for two months, then pay $14.99 a month after. 100GB will be enough for most users—I’ve used Google Drive professionally for years (so there are a lot of documents) and back up all of my photos with Google Photos, and I’m nowhere near the 100GB limit.

If the people you collaborate with use Google Workspace tools such as Docs and Sheets, Google Drive becomes even more useful. You can easily share a document with someone, grant them editing permissions, and even work on the same document at the same time as someone else.

As you might expect, it also works well with all other Google products. If you have an Android phone, Drive is completely integrated and can easily store backups of your phone system and data. There are also apps available for Windows , iOS , iPadOS , and Mac , all of which are well-designed and easy to use.

Where Google Drive fails slightly is in security and privacy. Although it features end-to-end encryption, there isn’t zero-knowledge encryption. That means, at least from a technical standpoint, Google can access your data whenever it wants. And as Google doesn’t have the best reputation for respecting its users’ privacy , you’ll want to remember this when using Drive—it may not be best to store your most sensitive documents.

Best Cloud Storage Service for Collaboration

Google Drive/One

A great cloud storage solution for anyone who needs collaboration and sharing tools, but who doesn’t need zero-knowledge encryption.

Best Cloud Storage Service for Security: Icedrive

Icedrive

Icedrive is this list’s newest cloud storage service, having only been around since 2019. It is easy to overlook the new players in a market dominated by very big and well-established names, but that would be a mistake, as this innovative UK-based company has a brilliant cloud storage offering.

To start, Icedrive offers a free plan for personal use. This free plan gives you a respectable 10GB of cloud storage with a 3GB daily bandwidth limit. You don’t get the same client-side encryption as the premium plans have, but this free service is good for less sensitive data. The three plans—Lite, Pro I and Pro III—are $2.99, $4.99, and $8.99 a month, respectively, and offer 100GB, 1TB, and 3TB.

One of the best features of Icedrive is how it gives you access to your stored files. In addition to the easy-to-use apps for Android and iOS and the web application, it also offers some rather clever Windows desktop software.

This software lets you access your cloud-stored files as if they were in a drive mounted on your computer. Your cloud storage looks and behaves like all the other storage. Moving files to and from this virtual drive is as quick and smooth as moving files from one folder to another on your PC.

Another unique selling point of Icedrive is how it encrypts your files. Rather than using the standard and widely used AES encryption algorithm, it uses Twofish . Many security experts consider Twofish to be as secure as or more secure than AES encryption, and because it is not as widely used, it is less likely to be targeted by hackers.

In addition, the encryption is zero-knowledge and end-to-end, so the generated encryption keys are only available to you—not even Icedrive can access them.

Where Icedrive’s cloud storage is slightly lacking is in its sharing and collaboration features. There are a few, such as password-protecting, sharing links, and setting an expiration date. You can also create upload-only links to folders if you don’t want someone to have full control over the contents. But one glaring omission is the lack of permissions for other users. That means you can’t allow collaborators to edit files or folders in your storage.

However, if sharing and collaboration aren’t important to you, and you want secure and hassle-free cloud storage, Icedrive is a perfect choice.

Best Cloud Storage Service for Security

Icedrive

A great value cloud storage service that offers impressive security and an extremely easy-to-use desktop sync app.

See at icedrive

Best Cloud Storage Service for Large Files: Sync.com

Sync.com

Sync may not be as well known as some of the other names in cloud storage, but the service has become increasingly popular over the last few years. This is due to its extremely attractive mix of great value, strong security, and impressive features. As a pure cloud storage service, Sync is top-tier.

As with every cloud storage service on this list, Sync offers a free plan for anyone who needs basic storage or wants to try out the service. For free, you get 5GB of storage space and limited sharing options, such as creating a few password-protected links. The premium solo plans start at $8/month for 2TB of storage and go up to $20/month for 6TB.

Sync has data security covered thanks to its use of zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption. The strong security features continue over into the sharing options. You can create unlimited password-protected links, set download limits on shared files, and set expiration dates for shared links.

Along with the secure sharing features already mentioned, you can create centralized folders and set access permissions for the user or folder. If a device with access to the storage is lost or stolen, you can remotely lock out connected devices. It also lets you remotely delete files that you have shared.

Sync does file syncing very well, with easy-to-use apps for iOS and Android and a well-designed web interface. Most cloud storage works by storing files on your computer and in the cloud. Sync is no different, but if physical storage space on your computer is a concern, you can choose folders that only sync to certain devices. And unlike several other cloud storage services, there are no limits on file size and data transfer, making it a great choice if you regularly need to store large files.

Our testing involved uploading the same 1GB folder to all cloud storage services on this list. While Icedrive wasn’t the fastest at transferring data, it certainly wasn’t prohibitively slow. If you want a secure, useable, and good-value cloud storage service that doesn’t try to be anything else, Sync ticks all the boxes.

Best Cloud Storage Service for Large Files

Sync.com

A great all-around cloud storage service which combines great value for money with an impressive list of sharing, collaboration, and syncing features.

See at sync

Best Free Cloud Storage Service: MEGA

MEGA

MEGA makes the list for several reasons, but the main selling point is that it offers the largest free storage space of any current cloud storage service. MEGA’s free plan offers 20GB of storage before upgrading, double the amount many services will give you.

MEGA also allows you to add more free storage space by completing certain actions, such as installing the mobile app for iOS or Android or inviting friends to sign up. This bonus storage is only valid for a year, but if you manage to keep your storage maxed out for a year, a premium plan was in the cards anyway.

On that note, there are several premium plans to choose from. For individuals, Pro I started at $107.87 a year and gives you 2TB of storage, as well as 24GB of transfer data. These plan so up to 16TB normally, but if you need even more data, you can sign up for Pro Flexi to add even more data.

MEGA is another cloud storage service that uses end-to-end, zero-knowledge encryption. As long as you are careful with your account password, this is about as secure as consumer cloud storage can get. For added security, you can also enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) and save a recovery key that can be used to regain access if you forget your account password.

One unique feature of MEGA is the secure chat client it provides. You can create a chat link in the desktop, mobile, or web app. Only someone with that link can join, and all the chat content is secure and encrypted, so it is completely private.

There is also a good selection of sharing options. Shared links are encrypted; encryption keys can be sent separately for added security. You can also set passwords and expiration dates on links or revoke access by changing the permissions after the link is sent.

MEGA does have a slightly troubled past, having been created by Kim Dotcom . However, he left the company in 2015 and has no dealings with it. There are also some privacy concerns with the privacy policy stating that third parties can use your data. This is not different from the sort of data companies like Google or Microsoft collect and use, but it is worth keeping in mind.

MEGA offers a very secure, fast, and good value service, and if you are looking for a large chunk of free cloud storage, it can’t be beat.

Best Free Cloud Storage Service

mega

Impressive security, zero-knowledge encryption combined with a huge free storage plan and great collaboration and sharing options.

See at Mega

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