Justin Güse
Top 6 best Cloud Storage services – Free, Paid and for Businesses
Why should I store my data in the cloud?
The computing industry has moved gradually away from local storage to remote, server-based storage and computing since the rise of the internet — what has been known as the cloud. Look at music and films: from media, we used to play them, and now they are downloaded from networks. Through storing your own data and media files in the cloud, you will enjoy the same benefits of viewing and uploading from anywhere. The advantages are increases in efficiency and decreased demands for local storage. We have rounded up the best providers for cloud storage and file-sharing or file synchronization to help you determine which one is right for you.
If you do not have a platform in the cloud to store and synchronize your data yet, you should consider it seriously. What you choose depends on the types of files that you save, how much protection you need, how you intend to share with others, and which gadgets you use to modify and view files. This may also usually rely on your level of comfort with computers. Some platforms are highly user-friendly while others provide advanced features for tech geeks who are more seasoned.
The breadth of Web-based computing infrastructure capabilities is enormous. Most of them have been focused on a particular field. Dropbox and SugarSync, for instance, are focused on maintaining a synchronized folder available anywhere. SpiderOak stresses safety. Some cloud storage providers, such as Apple iCloud, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive, are generalists providing not only folder and file synchronization but also multimedia play and system synchronization. These products also act as collaborative apps, which provide the coediting of documents in real-time.
The right choice for private, business or free storage
Obviously, as always, your choice will depend on whether you are a business or private person, or even want to choose a free version. As a business, security and availability will matter more than to a private person. Anyways, we have provided a list for each group below:
1. Best (Free) Private Cloud Storages
Even though we are cautious in using the term “free” – as we all know nothing is free. But in offering some data of yourself whilst using these services, Google Drive and others offer a free quota of data for you to use. How do they use my data? Of course, there will not be a person at Google going through your personal diary, but they will use that data to construct an ad-profile
, which means that if you, for example, type an article about how much you love dogs, you might see ads for dog food soon after. For everyone that is okay with that, it is free data, so why not?
Also, as I will soon explain in another blog post, you can use apps like Cryptomator (link) to encrypt your data in the cloud (relatively) easily, meaning that the providers will not be able to use it.
Anyways, our personal free Cloud Storage list goes as follows:
No. 1 – pCloud – Best (Free) Private Cloud Storages
pCloud might be an entry you have not heard before, which is good because like I said before, no free service is offered completely for free. pCloud values data privacy, which they guarantee through advanced encryption and storing data in Switzerland, meaning that they are outside of the jurisdiction of the NSA or European data regulations, meaning that no government can force them to give them your data. Why should I care if I have nothing to hide? Data can be used for advertisements, industrial espionage, determining your credit score, and much more if it is in the hands of criminal entities. Additionally, pCloud offers a lifetime subscription, which beats every other contestant on the list.
| Pro | Contra | Perfect for: |
|---|---|---|
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| Set-and-forget average users |
No. 2 – Google Drive – Best (Free) Private Cloud Storages
Google Drive is our number one selection for free cloud storage. It is available on many platforms and devices, offers 15 GB of free storage, and is amazingly fast. Furthermore, it offers many third-party applications to collaborate on data, and add almost any functionality you can think of.
Pro | Contra | Perfect for: |
15 GB free storage many add-ons unlimited storage for Google Docs easy sharing, and collaboration | The desktop synchronizer is saving all the files locally and files might be overwritten Mind the privacy concern as Google is the main player in the ad game | The average user being okay with targeted ads |
No. 3 – Dropbox – Best (Free) Private Cloud Storages
I guess everyone heard of Dropbox. The company laid a special focus on file synchronization, making it the service that avoids synchronization issues the best. Also, it has good integration into almost every operating system and is, therefore, the perfect set and forget solution. The problem? It is expensive and the free data is limited to 2GB only.
| Pro | Contra | Perfect for: |
|---|---|---|
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| If you want to spend money, but receive a product with a lot of additional features |
No. 4 – Microsoft OneDrive – Best (Free) Private Cloud Storages
OneDrive is automatically installed if you are using Microsoft Windows, which is likely you are. It is nicely integrated into Office 365, meaning you can easily share, edit and save data inbetween your OneNote Notebook, Outlook E-mail and others. Using additional apps you are able to do almost anything with it. You are already using Office 365 and Windows 10? Then search no further, you will receive 1 TB free storage and will have anything you need. Still remember that Microsoft had some privacy issues in the past, like handing over encrypted data to the NSA.
| Pro | Contra | Perfect for: |
|---|---|---|
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| Windows 10 and Office365 users |
2. Best Business Cloud Storages / Advanced Users
For users that want to have more control over their data, and seek more functionality or businesses we will recommend the following.
As a business, you will need way more control over your data. You will need a log, being a registry where you “write down” what users accessed which files, which will become essential to control the data flow or to craft a report in case of a data breach. Additionally, you will have to limit which department or employee can access what kind of data. It would be bad if your employees would have access to salary data for example.
Many businesses underestimate the importance of cloud security, as we already have shown in our post about cloud computing,
which causes millions in lost revenue.
Additionally, if not for the fact of security, custom solutions are oftentimes way cheaper compared to the private use services stated above. AWS S3 can, for example, be a thousand times cheaper compared to the quota per GB above.
Contact us for further details about the following top three business cloud storage solutions
A custom solution with for example AWS S3 is the best choice if you already imagine a perfect workflow for your company, or you are using specific products that you want to unify. Luckily, everything is customizable and it is easy to build a custom solution that is up to your security guidelines and requirements.
2.1. Self-Hosted NextCloud – Best Business Cloud Storages / Advanced Users
NextCloud is an open-source self-hosted solution for storing data in the cloud. Being open-source, the security risk of malicious code in the product is minimal, and there are already thousands of extensions that are all for free. The broad range of developers furthermore implemented state-of-the-art security measures to truly protect your data. And the best part about open source is that it is fully customizable. We at DataFortress.cloud use it for example as a serverless data storage solution in combination with S3, and can limit it to our IP range because it is self-hosted. Definitely our best choice and basically free aside from server costs.
| Pro | Contra | Perfect for: |
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2.2. Custom solution like AWS S3 – Best Business Cloud Storages / Advanced Users
A custom solution with for example AWS S3 is the best choice if you already imagine a perfect workflow for your company, or you are using specific products that you want to unify. Luckily, everything is customizable and it is easy to build a custom solution that is up to your security guidelines and requirements.
| Pro | Contra | Perfect for: |
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2.3. Managed Solutions like Microsoft OneDrive – Best Business Cloud Storages / Advanced Users
OneDrive can still be a nice choice for small- to medium-sized businesses, especially if you are using Microsoft Teams or Outlook. It is a fully managed solution, meaning that once set-up you will not need to worry about much. Problems arise from it being closed-source, meaning you will not be able to customize things, or it will be more difficult to fully understand the product to guarantee security guidelines and privacy. Additionally, data can be stored in the US, and might, therefore, be not as private as you might assume. Still, it avoids setup costs and might be a feasible option for smaller businesses.
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What Cloud Storage solutions do you use? Do you have any open questions or suggestions? Write us in the comments or shoot us a message via the contact page.
We are offering a free 15-minute consultation
as well!