Editor's opinion
Lorienz Galarpe
I am a website designer and developer for over 7 years now, and I worked with several hosting companies in the past for each website project I handle.
First impression
pCloud is an affordable cloud storage provider with great security features, comprehensive backup, speedy performance, and an intuitive interface. Its lack of advanced collaborative capabilities, however, may be a reason for some to look elsewhere.
pCloud, a Swiss-based cloud storage provider, offers top-notch security and comprehensive backup capabilities, both of which provide you with peace of mind. It's regularly ranked among the best cloud storage platforms.
pCloud has a very clean interface that revolves mostly around its web portal, where you can view, edit, and add passwords and other supported information. Let’s take a look at some of pCloud’s features to see how the cloud storage provider matches up against its competition.
On pCloud, any file that you save can be backed up and synced. If you have more than one device connected to the same account, changes you make will be saved across all devices. pCloud Rewind prevents accidental deletions by tracking your file history, and you can easily restore or download previous versions of files.
Trial period
pCloud offers 10GB of free cloud storage. Store, share, and access all your files using one simple and highly secure platform anytime, anywhere.
Billing cycle
pCloud Prices are final. No setup fees or any other hidden charges, and offers 2 billing cycles which are the Annual and Lifetime options.
Pricing for pCloud Pass is especially attractive given that, for one active device, you will end up paying nothing. This gives you access to all of the password manager’s features, which makes it an incredibly powerful tool if you’re just looking to use it on your computer.
Control panel
pCloud doesn’t have any cPanel services at the moment as their primary focus is cloud hosting storage for videos, files,music, and any documents.
Limits
Premium 500 Plan, you will get up to 500 GB of Storage and up to 500 GB Shared link traffic.
Premium Plus 2TB Plan, you will get 2 TB of Storage and 2 TB Shared link traffic.
Custom 10 TB Plan, you will get 10 TB of Storage and 2 TB Shared link traffic.
pCloud Features included with all plans are Collaboration, Security, Access and Synchronization, Media and Usability, File Management, and Backups.
Security
Passwords cover all aspects of our lives and can often reveal some of the most sensitive data, so it’s crucial that where they are stored is as secure as it can be. pCloud Pass promises to encrypt all information when it is transferring from your device to its servers, where it rests “in a highly secure data storage area”, in at least three locations.
To guarantee your files' safety, pCloud uses TLS/SSL encryption, applied when information is transferred from your device to the pCloud servers. At pCloud data security is our top priority and we do our best to apply first class safety measures. With pCloud, your files are stored on at least three server locations in a highly secure data storage area. Optionally, you can subscribe for pCloud Encryption and have your most important files encrypted and password protected. We provide the so-called client-side encryption, which, unlike server-side encryption, means that no one, except you, will have the keys for file decryption.
OS
pCloud doesn’t have or use any operating system as they focused only on Cloud Storage services.
Support
Unless you’re happy with the online FAQs, which don’t go an awful long way to troubleshooting common errors, you’ll have to resort to an email or ticket-based system. While this would typically be a drawback compared to rivals that offer up real-time phone and online chat contact channels, these are arguably less important for a password management system, thus would add to the cost, which would inevitably be passed on to the consumer.
Conclusion
Pros |
Cons |
- 10GB of free storage;
- File-versioning tool;
- Advanced file-sharing capabilities;
- Built-in media player;
- Speedy performance.
|
- No real-time collaboration;
- Free version lacks many tools;
- Limited customer support.
|
pCloud presents five major benefits to its users: customizable security features, comprehensive backup features, speed, ease-of-use, and affordability. Business users get pCloud Crypto—a tool for zero-knowledge encryption—for free. Non-business users can purchase this as an add-on. This security feature isn't offered by popular cloud storage providers like Dropbox and OneDrive.
pCloud’s comprehensive backup features help you backup files from other cloud storage services, which is convenient. Furthermore, pCloud’s integration with social media platforms through Social Backups is particularly useful for those who want to save their social media content. Those with many files and folders will appreciate the provider’s above-average upload and download speeds, which impressed us on our tests.
pCloud’s affordability is also appealing—a free account gets you 10GB of storage. Paid plans also have a greater price-per-terabyte ratio compared to players like Dropbox and OneDrive. It did, however, take us a bit of time to fully understand the provider’s rather complex pricing options.
FAQ:
❔What is pCloud Lifetime?
Lifetime is an official pCloud plan, where they provide you with a lifetime use of your Premium storage at pCloud, at a single, one-time payment.
✴️What is instant synchronization?
The magic of pCloud is the instant file synchronization between all of your computers, phones, and tablets. All you need to do is install the pCloud desktop application – pCloud Drive – and sign in using the same login credentials on all your devices. If you've already installed pCloud, simply adding files to your pCloud Drive folders will immediately sync your data on all of your devices. Now all your uploaded data is accessible by you from any other computer, smartphone, or tablet that also has pCloud installed.
✔️What is pCloud Encryption?
pCloud Encryption is the newest pCloud feature, available for their desktop and mobile apps. It provides client-side encryption, i.e. the encryption process is performed on your device. The encrypted version of your files is uploaded to their servers and the plain text files never leave your computer. Even they, as a service provider, will not know what kind of data you store in your account. Your files can be encrypted and decrypted only with your Crypto Pass.