Deciding on a cloud storage solution is a difficult task since the existing options are diverse. On a market dominated by American giants such as Google Drive and Dropbox, a new competitor is taking its place – the Swiss-based cloud storage provider pCloud.

The company offers up to 10 GB free storage and an industry-first Lifetime plan. Now, let’s review the features of the product, as well as its pros and cons.

pCloud: A Reliable Storage Solution in the Consumer Cloud

pCloud is a cloud storage provider that allows users to back up, sync and share documents, photos, music and videos. Founded in 2013 in Switzerland, the service is now trusted by more than 9,000,000 users mostly from North America, Europe and Asia.

In terms of storage, the 10 GB of the free version is above the average. Users can reach this quota through a few referrals.

The paid offer, the Premium Plus with 2 TB for 8€ per month offers twice as much storage as most competitors for the same price. pCloud stands out above other storage providers with their industry-first Lifetime offer (defined at 99 years maximum). A welcome and rare formula which went from 125 E in November 2017 to 175 E in 2019 for 500 GB.

pCloud – A multiplatform Cloud Storage service

pCloud is available for Windows, macOS and Linux computers as well as Android, iOS and Windows Phone applications for transporting and synchronising data anywhere.

As with Linux and macOS, the service installs a virtual hard drive called pCloud Drive to drag files and synchronise local folders. Just like Dropbox, it offers an icon in the taskbar to view real-time data synchronisation. 

pCloud Drive creates a secure virtual drive on your computer. The only difference from your physical drive is that pCloud does not take space on your local device. Files uploaded in the drive will be kept safe in the cloud.

Users can use the Drive to edit their files directly.

The Android version is similar. Easy to synchronise your files anywhere, at any time. The application uploads pictures taken with the camera to your online storage. The Automatic Upload feature makes a complete backup of the photos and the videos and this option is free of charge. Dropbox has a similar feature which is Camera Uploads, but you must pay for it additionally.

Also, after the backup is done there is one more option- Free device space. When you select it, the app scans your phone’s gallery and deletes the photos/videos which are already uploaded to the cloud. This way your mobile device never runs out of space again.

pCloud also has dedicated extension for Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Opera as well as a module for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom integration for those who are eager to take pictures.

To make the transition from one cloud to another or to simply protect your photos, the pCloud web interface offers the possibility of saving all the data from a Dropbox account, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive or from Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Why Use pCloud as your Go to Cloud Storage Service?

Here are some reasons why we recommend using pCloud as your default cloud storage service.

No limit of size or speed

In the free version and in the Premium, pCloud differs from the competition thanks to the unlimited download and upload speeds. The same goes for unrestricted file size, which allows you to back up large files like video or disk images with no problem.

On the multimedia side, HD video playback and audio is available within the web interface and mobile apps: a good point to read your files on any computer.

Easy Sharing and Collaboration

With regard to collaborative tools, pCloud allows the creation of download links, which is useful for sharing files, folders and documents with friends by two clicks with the mouse.

You can also invite users to the shared folders. The latest feature of pCloud is Branded links. This is a customised download link, which now looks in a more professional way, since users can add their brand logo, contact information and description.

The service retains its advanced collaborative features in its Business edition with user-defined permissions control and more advanced document versioning. Learn more about sharing and collaboration available on pCloud

Restore and track your files



The service also offers versioning management, meaning that the user is able to view changes made to files and restore previous edits at any time. The different versions are kept for 15 days for free accounts and 30 days for Premium accounts.

pCloud does not stop here and also offers the Rewind function to go back in time to a specific date and time to restore and download versions of documents and files deleted by mistake. This tool allows you to return in the last 15 days for free users and 30 days for Premium users. These periods are the same to restore files from the Recycle Bin.

Top notch security.

Trusting your data- sensitive or private, requires confidence from the cloud service. Now, let’s take a closer look at the security and data protection deployed by pCloud.

Robust encryption

The service uses AES 256-bit file and folder encryption, an advanced, reliable algorithm that remains a standard used by many governments and organizations. This is an algorithm also used in many cloud solutions like Dropbox, Google One or iCloud.

Consumers also benefit from private key encryption in 4096-bit RSA. These allow user authentication and decryption of secure data. As a reminder, the RSA 4096-bit standard is beyond the recommendations of the ANSSI (National Agency for the Security of Information Systems) in terms of data protection.

An extra layer of security at additional charge

To go further, pCloud offers the pCloud Crypto tool available in a 14-day free trial, by subscription (5 € monthly or 48 € annual) or a lifetime-purchase- 125 €. This feature is built into mobile and desktop applications which makes your data even safer. The latter adds an additional layer of security to the data through client-side encryption, the keys are only available to the user and are not uploaded or stored on servers. Even pCloud as a service provider is not able to view your files.



2 factor authentication.



Two-factor authentication gives your account extra security by asking you to provide an additional code when logging in to pCloud. That way, even if someone finds your password, they still won’t be able to access your pCloud account. 

One thing we found missing in pCloud is the integration with multiple third party software.

I was pleased with pCloud’s user-friendly interface, intuitive mobile and desktop applications, fast download/upload speeds and enhanced security with Crypto.

For the needs of individuals, this cloud service fulfils almost all its objectives:
 – the free offer can go up to 10 GB, 
 – powerful encryption
- a simple multi platform app to find and synchronise all your files.

Professionals and businesses will be able to turn to multi-user licenses adapted through pCloud Business.

Regarding pricing, the service differs from the competition with its lifetime plan which is the only one available in the market for the time being- 500 GB for 175 € or 2 TB for 350 €. The price of subscriptions is average compared to those offered by the leaders in cloud storage, even note that the offer of 2TB-8 € per month is clearly less expensive than the competition.

With its many qualities and a few defects (including limited customer service only via email), pCloud seems to be one of the best storage solutions in 2019 in its free version, and through its subscriptions and the lifetime plan. In short a very strong competitor to Dropbox and Google Drive that combines reliability, speed, security and simplicity across all platforms.