Finding the best cloud storage providers is difficult because you need to consider the safety and security of your data.
But it can be pretty easy to make the right decision if you mark out your requirements considering storage, price, file size limit, storage limit, etc.
We will show you the top cloud storage services by explaining the prime features, prices, and cons.
But it can be pretty easy to make the right decision if you mark out your requirements considering storage security, price, file size limit, storage limit, etc.
Many cloud storage services in the market offer free and paid cloud storage plans.
Choosing one of them wisely might suit you now and serve you well in the future.
Which is the Safest and Best Cloud Storage?
In a nutshell, Cloud storage is a virtual resource you can access online either for free or for a fee to store data. Your files are usually located in a data center, server, hard drive, or solid drive.
Most of these services offer free plans at first up to an amount of storage (usually some GB). After that, however, businesses and individuals can pay only for the best cloud storage if they require more.
Sharing and collaboration are easier with cloud storage, and businesses have shifted to these from local storage. Reviews.com says 53% of people on the internet use cloud storage for file sharing.
There are two primary forms: ‘Self-hosted,’ using on-premises (on-prem) infrastructure, and ‘Storage as a Service’ (StaaS), using externally managed third-party infrastructure.
Besides, ‘Hybrid Cloud Storage,’ another form, combines cloud and local storage.
StaaS products are more affordable, collaborative, and termed as storage and syncing platforms. They use cloud sync to encompass link sharing and file versioning.
If you need cloud hosting instead of the storage, you can check our top 10 best cloud hosting providers.
Here, we have researched and handpicked the top 10 best cloud storage providers considering features, prices, and cons.
Top 10 Best Cloud Storage Services 2024
1. iDrive
iDrive is likely to be the best cloud storage service for premium users, offering an excellent price and high security for your data.
The best advantage IDrive has for you is that you can have everything from servers to mobile devices covered through its network drives.
Besides, it allows you to share files via email, Facebook and Twitter, and restore up to 30 earlier versions of back-ups.
Moreover, as an extra facility for backup, it provides you with a physical hard drive so that you don’t have to worry even if you lose all of your data.
There is nothing to get panicked about if you erase your valuable data accidentally on your hard drive because it does not get deleted from cloud files.
Best for: Freelancers, solo workers, teams, & businesses of any size.
Price: Free 5 GB, but $79.5 per year for 5TB.
Cons: No two-factor authentication and no small capacities available.
Check iDrive Pricing and Plans
2. pCloud
pCloud is one of those best cloud storage providers that can become your permanent virtual cloud drive. Offer a lifetime subscription with a one-time buy.
Its user-friendly interface shows each file’s information and makes it easy for you to store all files and folders.
pCloud offers 30-day trash history and unlimited remote upload traffic, giving you the file URL you need.
Feel free to sync any large file with any desktop and mobile platforms, as there is no limit to the file size. Users can log in via the website as well.
pCloud also lets its users choose between the US or EU to select their data stored. Furthermore, with the pCloud Crypto to lock (and unlock) feature, individual files are secured with passwords.
Moreover, you can share your space with up to four other family members using the family option, while pCloud Business offers 1TB per user with the pCloud Crypto feature.
Best for: Personal, family, and small businesses to store large files.
Price: 500GB for the Premium package and 2TB for the Premium Plus package, which cost $4.99 or $9.99 a month, or $47.88 or $95.88 a year.
Cons: No real-time collaboration, Free version lacks many tools, Limited customer support
Check pCloud Pricing and Plans
3. Google Drive
Google Drive comes at your doorstep with Google Workspace and Android OS if you run one installed device for every tech-savvy and geeks with personal and professional projects.
It’s widely popular due to its seamless integration and versatility. It offers you to create and store documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more with the suite.
If you own an android device, you can automatically sync high-quality captured and local photos to store them all in the Drive via Google Photos.
The web interface may appear poorly executed and not user-friendly to some. However, windows and Mac users can easily access file storage through drag-and-drop.
Moreover, you can easily share files and folders without an email attachment.
Best for: Individuals and teams
Price: First 15GB is free, and you can buy more via Google One, starting at $1.99 a month or $19.99 a year for 100GB.
Cons: The web interface may look a little complicated, with No end-to-end encryption, No password protection on files, and No file expiration.
Check Google Drive Pricing and Plans
4. Icedrive
Unlike most traditional cloud storage providers, Icedrive offers its online storage a standard drive on your (Windows) system.
You’ll find it no different than your computer, making this storage easier and more intuitive to use.
With the Windows-like features, you get your features to pack the same for Mac or Linux, with an efficient and comprehensive interface.
Besides, super-safe two fish encryption on its servers leaves your machine encrypted client-side to ensure better safety.
Moreover, don’t worry if you accidentally delete your files. Icedrive saves past versions of your files, allowing you always to restore them.
Best for: Small to large business
Price: $1.67 /month for 150 GB
Cons: Lacks collaboration options, No upload links, and No chat support
Check Icedrive Pricing and Plans
5. Dropbox
Dropbox could be an incredible choice for personal cloud storage with its affordability, impressive user interface, and well integration with many third-party platforms.
It is a big name in the file sharing industry, with features to share large files with others, even if they don’t use Dropbox.
However, a drawback it has is it only stores what you transfer to the Dropbox folder on your device, meaning you can’t back up external or network drives.
Though there is no end-to-end encryption, all files are encrypted at rest and in transit. In addition, accounts can be secured with two-factor authentication.
Even its ‘Admin Controls’ will make your team management tasks more straightforward.
Best for: Freelancers, solo workers, teams, & businesses of any size
Price: Free plan with 2GB of storage. Besides, paid plans for Individuals start at $8.25/ month and for teams start at $12.50/user/month
Cons: No backup features, expensive, and only a file storage service
Check Dropbox Pricing and Plans
6. Microsoft OneDrive
Microsoft OneDrive is the ultimate cloud storage platform if you are Windows 10 and Microsoft 365 user. It is also available for users of macOS, Android, and iOS.
Once synced to this service, Xbox One console gamers can safely store precious game save files in the cloud.
It’s straight integrated into the file explorer and provides instant access for users who want to jumpstart their online backup.
It also allows you to share files and folders with users who don’t have OneDrive.
Besides, the ‘Photos’ app can sync images across all your devices and lets you selectively sync files stored on your hard drive.
Moreover, the mobile app includes appealing features as multi-page scanning, allowing you to save them as a single document and access them anywhere from any device.
It also lets you edit files directly on the cloud without downloading them every time. In addition, OneDrive is well-suited with various other services from Outlook to AutoCAD, both internal and third-party operations.
It has the Personal Vault feature for locking away essential files safely via 2FA and Bitlocker encryption when it comes to security.
Best for: Windows users, gamers, and photographers
Price: 5GB free; the paid plan starts at $1.99 per month.
Cons: Not as deeply integrated as other services, No zero-knowledge encryption, and Quite pricey
Check OneDrive Pricing and Plans
7. Nextcloud
Nextcloud itself is not an online cloud storage provider, to speak technically.
Instead, it’s a self-hosted syncing and collaboration platform, providing free software to be installed on your own server and manage cloud storage services yourself.
With Nextcloud, you will keep your data on your servers and have complete control and faster service.
However, this cloud storage might seem difficult for beginners or pointless for serverless users. But don’t worry, as it offers pre-configured hardware running Nextcloud.
You can download and install it at no cost as free, open-source software. But when you step forward to set up, run and administer your own servers, it will cost you money.
It will be an advantage if you already have the infrastructure in place. Then, Nextcloud may save you more money than a commercial cloud storage solution does.
Best for: Advanced users, commerce, and small businesses
Price: There are three pricing plans, namely Basic, Standard, and Premium, costing $42.60 or $33.72 per user, $76.90 or $57.38, and $112.99 or $88.14, respectively.
Cons: 24/7 support only comes with high-tier plans, and the setup process is time-consuming.
Check Nextcloud Pricing and Plans
8. Box
Box has been busy syncing storing files way before it was cool as like Apple and Microsoft have platforms nowadays.
It is one of the oldest service providers in this industry.
It has come with loads of features and options being available just about everywhere you’re going to need it.
If you take a quick look at pricing, it’ll be pretty clear that Box prioritizes businesses as a key provider.
However, it offers individual plans as well, with the pricing structure very easy for the former.
As in Dropbox, Box is integrated with File Explorer on Windows or Finder on macOS.
Box’s desktop application covers Windows and Mac, while mobile users can go for the official Android client.
In addition, the Box folder stays alongside other key folders on your system, giving you a choice to have all of your files downloaded for offline access.
Box takes security very seriously indeed with AES 256-bit encryption as standard. Moreover, an add-on makes the full end-to-end encryption available.
Best for: Small teams and Enterprises
Price: Enjoy up to 10GB of storage for free, with a maximum file size of 250MB. Personal Pro plan costs $10 per month, with up to 100GB of storage and total file size of 5GB.
Cons: Some aspects of user experience are confusing, and Individual plans are pretty restricted.
9. Sync.com
In the competitive market of cloud storage, big names like Google and Apple dominate.
But Sync.com provides an almost complete experience for cloud storing at a hard-to-match price.
It provides features like 365-day history, advanced share control, restricting downloads, password-protected sharing, and more for your data protection.
The productivity features such as file requests, document previews, auto camera upload, offline access, etc., make it quite different and handy.
Unlimited share transfer limits, sharing & collaboration, real-time backup & sync, and access from anywhere – these core features are also available at a click away.
To enhance the security of the users, it provides privacy protection through end-to-end encryption, no-third-party tracking, HIPAA compliance, GDPR compliance, and PIPEDA compliance.
Best for: Small to medium-size businesses
Price: Standard: $5/user/month, Plus: $8/user/month, Advanced: $15/user/month. Individual’s plan starts at $8/month.
Cons: User interface needs work, Slower sync speeds
Check Sync.com Pricing and Plans
10. iCloud
Apple’s own cloud storage provides its users with a compact service, breathing on the shoulder of Microsoft platforms.
iCloud is the best cloud storage service specially for Apple users.
Its standout feature is it gets widely accessible and integrated across Apple’s platforms. For example, store anything through Mac Finder, and you find it in iCloud Drive.
iWork documents synced across all your devices are saved to iCloud as well. Besides, it allows you to collaborate with Pages, Numbers, Keynote, etc.
If you’re running Windows PC with an iPhone in your pocket, sync files with iCloud Drive via the official client and websites on PC and get to access iWork apps on the mobile handset.
That’s not the end of it. Pick up every conversation from where you left, and this feature will continue working even if you change your phone.
iCloud’s 5GB for free may be better than other providers but significantly less than the 15GB available with Google Drive.
Best for: Apple device owners, small businesses, and personal clouding
Price: 5GB is free to use. Other packs are: 50GB for $0.99 per month, 200GB for $2.99 per month, and 2TB for $9.99 per month.
Cons: No real-time collaboration, No file passwords or expiration dates, Minimal end-to-end encryption, Suitable only for Apple hardware owners
Check iCloud Pricing and Plans
Conclusion
The best cloud storage services provide leading security and encryption despite not being as secure as local storage, ideally.
In the constantly changing market, many services offer free plans for users seeking a primary storage facility.
Free cloud storage opens up collaboration on small projects, ideal for freelancers, for example.
However, free plans are ideal for some, but their limitations can be an issue.
To choose a provider for business, know that there are some key differences.
Business cloud storage should be stable, highly secure, and can guard sensitive and essential company data.
As a result, you want to look for services offering end-to-end encryption and zero-knowledge architecture when choosing one for your business.
