Cloud storage, although very common today, is still quite expensive. Here are 7 options that are more affordable than the big names on the market.
Cloud storage is still quite expensive, with $10/month for 2TB of storage becoming the average for services like iCloud, Google One, and OneDrive. And our needs in this area are only growing. Whether it’s backing up data, sharing long Zoom sessions, RAW video files, and more, 10GB is easily available, and sometimes even with a single file.
If you’re looking for an inexpensive (or even free) service to share large files over the Internet, here are some of the best options, depending on your needs.
Microsoft 365 Family: 6 TB of storage divided by 6
Microsoft’s policy of hosting everything in one service is working very well for the company right now. That’s why Microsoft 365 is so popular with businesses. One subscription gives you access to the entire suite of Office and Microsoft Teams for multiple users.
The $99/year Microsoft 365 Family plan offers 6TB of storage split across 6 accounts, and you can often find promotional deals for $90.
So you can have 6TB of storage but need to use six different accounts. That might not be worth the candle.
iDrive: 5/10 TB of personal storage for the price of 1 TB
iDrive is a popular choice among backup solutions. But the platform also has a large cloud storage offering at a reasonable price.
iDrive is more than just cloud storage. It is primarily a backup service that offers file sharing and collaboration features. Similar to Dropbox, but more focused on backup than file sync. While iDrive offers end-to-end encryption, it must be enabled by the user. And if you lose your encryption key, you will lose access to all your files.
You can still use iDrive to upload files from your computer and share them with others. The 5TB offer is $59 for the first year. There is also a 10TB offer for $75 for the first year.
TeleDrive: free and unlimited cloud storage via Telegram
Telegram, a popular private messaging service, has an unlimited cloud storage feature. And it offers an API for applications to take advantage of. What Teledrive did. A simple toolbar that lets you send and share files online unlimitedly.
However, the free offer is limited to 1.5 GB per day and a maximum of 2 GB for sending and receiving, but you can remove these limits by paying $10 per year.
The only problem with this solution is that it depends on the Telegram API. If Telegram decides to make it disappear, TeleDrive will also disappear.
pCloud: lifetime cloud storage
pCloud is another secure cloud storage provider that comes with two main benefits. First, it offers 10 GB of free storage – a lot more than its competitors. Second, it offers lifetime storage. This is a good option for those who don’t want to pay every month.
At the time of this writing, the 500GB offer is $175 and the 2TB is $350. pCloud also has annual plans, but we can’t recommend that for $99/month for 2TB (you can get Google One or iCloud+ for that price).
Icedrive: Plenty of storage space, privacy first
Icedrive is a cloud-based backup service that prioritizes privacy and security. End-to-end encryption. You generate the key on your device and it never goes to the Icedrive servers. This means that no one, not even Icedrive, will be able to access your data.
The price is also reasonable. You get 10GB of free storage, and the 5TB plan costs $15 per month. It’s not as accessible as iDrive, but if privacy is very important to you, it’s worth a try.
Mega: 20GB free, 8TB very affordable
Mega is a cloud storage and data sharing solution that has always been controversial (because it is very easy to use to share illegal content). But Mega has matured in recent years. We can’t recommend this platform as a primary backup solution, but it’s a great option for free (or inexpensive) large file sharing.
Mega is the only cloud storage on this list that offers 20 GB for free. And if you want to pay, you can use 8TB for about $22 a month, or 16TB for $34. Lots of storage space for little money.
WeTransfer: free but for temporary data
WeTransfer is a very popular data exchange service, but it’s not really cloud storage. It’s very simple: you can send files up to 2 GB and generate a link that will remain active for 7 days. You can create as many links as you want. If you want to share large files and delete them within a week is no problem, WeTransfer is a safe option.
With the $12/month plan, you can send files up to 200GB in size and have 1TB of personal storage. This WeTransfer Pro offer is not entirely available, just use the free offer when you need it.