Best Free Cloud Storage

Your files are encrypted before they leave your device with a key only you hold, so the provider cannot read them even if compelled to. pCloud (with the paid Crypto add-on), Sync.com, Proton Drive and Internxt offer it. Google Drive, Dropbox and iCloud encrypt in transit and at rest but hold the keys, which is what lets them index, preview and share files. The trade is real: with zero-knowledge, a lost password usually means lost files.

pCloud's 2 TB lifetime plan costs about the same as four years of a subscription, so it pays back if the company lasts longer than that. pCloud has been trading since 2013, which is reassuring but not a guarantee. Treat a lifetime plan as a bet on the company, and never as your only copy of anything.

A phone-photo household usually fits in 200 GB for several years; 2 TB covers most families with video. Check your current usage before buying: Google One and iCloud both show it, and most people buy more than they use. Cloud storage is also not a backup — a synced deletion propagates. Keep a separate backup of anything irreplaceable.

The same 10 GB set of documents, photos and video is uploaded and downloaded three times on the same 100 Mbps line and the median taken. We edit one file on two machines at once to see how conflicts are handled, restore a deleted file and an old version, test link sharing with expiry and passwords, and read the privacy policy for what the provider can see and which jurisdiction governs it.