What's the Best Cloud Storage Service in 2024? Features, Pricing and Privacy

we're diving into five amazing Alternatives that offer a mix of awesome features tight security and great value from the impressive media player of pcloud to the unparalleled privacy of sync.com we're breaking down what makes each service unique let's get started hey everyone welcome back to our Channel today we're on a quest to find the best cloud storage options out there going Beyond The Familiar names like Google Drive and Dropbox so smash that like button and join me in discovering the best cloud storage Solutions on the market you've probably heard about Google Drive one drive and Dropbox right they're like the uh popular kids of the cloud World each of them has this massive marketing budget and a really strong brand image but here's the catch not exactly the best out there I mean let's be real about Google Drive one drive and Dropbox they've got some pretty iffy data policies it's it's a major concern if you're someone who really cares about keeping your private stuff private oh and if you're curious about these big three Cloud providers and want the load down on them just check out the link to a video of ours I got in the description box below it's pretty eye opening all right in this video we're going to switch things up a bit forget about Google Drive one drive and Dropbox for a moment and instead I'm going to tell you about the five other cloud storage services that really stand out in the areas that matter the most privacy storage space speed features and of course the price so these five are pcloud ice Drive sync.com Mega and IID drivve and hey make sure you stick around to the end because I'll be revealing which one of these is the absolute best overall now let's dive into storage space all these services offer a range of options so I'll focus on the minimum and maximum options you can get with their paid plans we're not going to talk about their free plans here but if that's what you're looking for there's another video I've link below for you first up let's talk about PE Cloud the basic yearly plan starts at 500 gabt and it goes up to 2 terabytes but there's a Twist if you go for the lifetime subscription you can get as much as 10 TB honestly I find PE Cloud's lifetime subscription a pretty interesting option it's a bit of an upfront investment but it could save you money in the long run if you're planning to use cloud storage for many years next is ice Drive the rentry level plan offers one terab and it goes all the way up to 10 terab on their top plan then there's sync.com they offer a pretty sweet deal on base plan getting you two terabytes right off the bat maximum a solid 6 tabes plus if you're a business they've got plans with unlimited storage Mega starting plan might not seem that impressive with just 400 GB wait until you hear about their largest plan a whopping 16 terab personally I think Mega's jump from entry level to the highest plant is a bit extreme it's great for those who need a lot of space but it doesn't offer much flexibility for users in between last but not least we have iDrive the most affordable aable plan offers 100 GB and the premium option gives you up to 5 tby so now let's get into Speed and Performance which is basically how fast you can upload and download your files and how consistent each service is at this to make sure we're giving you reliable info our team did some speed tests using a 5 GB folder we did this over 100 megabit per second connection for both uploads and downloads and we ran each test twice to see if the results were consistent let's start with pcloud uploading L fold took less than 9 minutes and downloading it was just over 7 minutes on our second go it was even faster which is seriously impressive then there's ice drive it was super consistent taking just a bit over 7 minutes for both uploading and downloading and the results were almost the same the second time around it's definitely one of the top performers for Speed and consistency now sync.com was a bit slower kind of like the taoris in a race the first upload took almost 10 minutes and the second time it stretched to over 18 minutes downloads were consistent but they did take over 15 minutes each time Mega on the other hand got things moving faster again we're talking 7 to 8 minutes for both uploading and downloading our folder lastly let's talk about iDrive uploads were pretty quick under 8 minutes and downloads took just a bit over 7 Minutes in the Speed and Performance League ice Drive takes the top spot but honestly most of these services are so close and speed you're barely notice any difference okay I'm not going to die into every single feature of these services but I do want to highlight a few key features we always look out for here at Cloud wordss let's talk about Block Level sync first it's a neat little feature basically if you tweak a file that's already up in the cloud the service just updates the part you changed instead of reuploading the whole thing it's a real time saer out of all the services we mentioned only peac cloud and iDrive offer this sadly sync.com Mega and IC Drive don't have this feature yet personally I find it a little disappointing that more Services don't offer Block Level sync it's such a useful feature for file editing especially for those who work with large files next up is selective sync another handy thing this is all about Choice like when you install a cloud storage app on your computer some Services let you pick exactly which folders you want to sync instead of just automatically syncing everything pcloud iDrive Mega and sync.com are all on board with this but ice drive not so much it's surprising that ice Drive hasn't included selective sync yet I mean in a world where customization is key giving users the choice to sync only what they need seems essential and then there's bandwidth management this one's about controlling your upload and download speeds so that your internet doesn't crawle a stop when you're syncing files pcloud sync.com and iDrive gave you this control but ice drive and mega they don't offer this feature yet every top cloud storage service has its own special thing that makes it stand out let me give you a rundown of what we think is the coolest feature feature of each provider first off pcloud it's got this awesome built-in media player whether you're using it on the web or on your mobile it's a breeze to watch videos and listen to music you can even make playlists and check your files offline pretty neat right then there's ice Drive its biggest charm the user interface design I mean it's just gorgeous bright minimalistic it makes browsing your files feel like a breeze sync.com shines with its dedication to user privacy I'll get into the nitty-gritty in the Privacy section up the video but just know that sync.com lets you hold the range of your encryption keys and doesn't charge you extra for it n is one of the few that offers native communication tools through its web or mobile app you can send files and messages through a secure chat tool you can even invite people inside and outside of your network to the chat and everything's encrypted iDrive has a unique twist besides Cloud backup it can also back up to a local disc so if your computer crashes idag can send you a physical copy of your files system settings and all it might be overkill for some but for professionals it's a big deal now let's talk about security and privacy which for me and the cloud wordss team is the most crucial part it's super important that your files stay out of the wrong hands and that you know exactly who can access them when it comes to cloud storage sync.com pcloud Mega and iDrive use AES 256bit encryption which is topnotch basically it's like a fortress for your files you know we hear at Cloud wordss always wonder why some Services don't use aes256 encryption as a standard it's like the gold standard for security and in a world where digital privacy is constantly under threat you'd really think it'd be a no-brainer right ice Drive uses something called two fish encryption it's less known but supposedly tough for hackers to crack we haven't had any big security breaches with ice drive so that's a good sign all these services offer two- Factor authentication for logging in and you can choose to turn off this feature if you want and when you're sharing files you've got the power to set user permissions and password protect your stuff on all these platforms next up let's talk about privacy which is super important right the first thing we always check out with cloud storage providers is Zer knowledge encryption so what's zero knowledge encryption it basically means that you the user get total control over who sees your files but what if the service doesn't offer this well it still might be secure but it means that the company employees could potentially access your data remember how we talked about Google Drive one drive and dropbo at the start they could scan your files and delete your account without warning if they don't like what they see the good news is all the services we're discussing in this video offer zero knowledge encryption which is why we think they're the among the best another big privacy thing we look at is where the servers of each service are located this matters because different places have different privacy laws and some are definitely better than others take pcloud and I drive for instance their servers are in the US which is a part of a group of countries that can access your data if they want to pcloud gives you the option to move your data to Luxembourg which has better privacy laws for its users just knowe it will cost you 20 bucks then you got Mega and Ice drive with servers in the EU that means you're protected by gdpr which is great for controlling how your data is used and how long it's kept sync.com servers are in Canada isn't a Top Dog in privacy but it's still better than the US in Canada your data is safeguarded by the personal information protection and electronic documents act and now the big question how much do these cloud storage Services cost well they range from pretty good deals to excellent value offers you can go for the month-to-month payment or choose an annual subscription oh and pcloud has this lifetime plan ice Drive offers a 5-year plan let's keep it simple and just talk about the annual plans instead of listing every single option I'll focus on the cheapest and most expensive plans for each service starting with pcloud the basic plan is $449.99 the premium plus plan sets you back $99.99 a year ice Drive entry level plan the pro one is 59 a year the top prox plan comes in at $299 a year now let's talk about sync.com which honestly seems like the best deal all around their startup plan is $96 a year and for what you get it's a steal the top tier plan 240 a year Mega's Pro Plan is a bit more at 10891 a year and the pro pre plan is 32675 annually iDrive has this mini plan for just $2.95 and their personal plan starts at 6865 for the year but then it jumps to 9950 after that each of these Services has its own take on pricing with options like family plans and business plans too if you're Keen to dig into the details on pricing and Services overall I've got links to our full reviews in the description box below so after considering all these categories which cloud storage service really stands out as the best overall let's break it down starting from the bottom in fifth place we've got iDrive it's a solid service but it might be a bit much for the average user the interface isn't the best and there's no unlimited storage option which is a bit of a bummer 's complexity could be a double-edged sword it offers robust features but not complexity might not be everybody's cup of tea especially if you're just looking for some simple cloud storage it's a reminder that more features don't always mean better usability and here at cloud words we tend to favor simpler solutions that give you a peace of mind number four is Mega we're enter their storage options and a strong privacy stance but it's not higher up on the list because their paid plans can get a little pricey and the app can be a little clunky to use me's approach is interesting they put heavy emphasis on privacy which is great but the user experience might need some polishing it's a delicate balance between security and user friendliness one that all services Thrive to achieve coming in at number three is ice drive this one's a winner for its Simplicity and super Sleek user interface but it's missing a few things like Block Level sync selective sync and bandwidth management so it's not quite at the top second place goes to pcloud it's got pretty much everything you'd want user friendly quick and some cool extras like the built-in media player the only drawback it's zero knowledge in encryption comes at an extra cost on top of your annual plan pcloud almost hits the sweet spot but the additional cost for zeron knowledge encryption raises an interesting question about the value proposition it's a feature that's becoming a standard expectation so should it really come at an extra cost I'll leave that for you to decide in the top spot that goes to saint.com when it comes to security and privacy it's unbeatable and you don't have to pay extra for zero knowledge encryption and it's not the fastest out there but other than that it's hard to find any fault plus it offers Great Value overall making it the best place to invest your money sync.com seems to strike the right balance between functionality security and cost I hope you found this rundown helpful if you like the video give it a thumbs up and don't forget to drop a comment make sure to subscribe and hit the Bell icon so you don't miss our next video catch you later this is Max at cloudwords

Channel: Cloudwards

Views: 11,120

Keywords: cloud storage, pcloud review, online backup, best free services, dropbox alternative, how to use boxcryptor, cloud storage providers, sync.com, idrive, mega, google drive, onedrive, dropbox, icedrive

Id: 1Tgt1mFjatA

Length: 13min 23sec (803 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 15 2024