Six Free The Best Cloud Storage Service

We've rounded up six of the best free cloud storage services vying for your data, Here we review several of the best cloud storage providers to help you choose which one best fits your personal and/or business needs.

1. Box

Box offers a number of plans, but the basic, single-user free plan comes with 10GB of storage, with a 250MB file upload size limit. The company’s other plans are targeted at teams and businesses and include more stringent security measures. A “starter” package for $5 per month comes with 100GB of storage and a 2GB file size limit for up to 10 users. A Business account for $15 per month includes unlimited storage with a 5GB file size limit. Custom-priced enterprise plans are also available.

2. Dropbox 

Dropbox is the best cloud storage for personal use. It is best suited for those who only need to sync and share smaller files. With a sleek and simple user interface and drag-and-drop features, Dropbox is easy for novices and has all the tools more advanced users need: file-syncing with any device, photo backup from your mobile phone, file sharing and more. Drop Box gives you 2 GB of free space, but for more space, it can get expensive compared to other top services.

3. Google Drive

Google Drive is one of the most well-known and popular cloud storage apps available. Users get 15GB free out of the gate with unlimited photo and video backup via Google Photos if they so choose. There is also an assortment of office apps available for documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. You can upgrade to 100GB ($1.99/month) or 1TB ($9.99) for fairly cheap and there are options for businesses as well. Most Android devices have this pre-installed so it’s worth a shake to see if you like it.


4. Mega

Mega is a New Zealand-based company that was set up by the German-born entrepreneur Kim Dotcom in 2013, who now has no involvement with it. Mega puts its security credentials front and centre. Unlike some of its rivals, this service provides encryption in every part of the process. So anything you send to the cloud is encrypted locally, on-route, and on the destination server.

Mega itself doesn’t have any way of accessing your information, as you hold the encryption key. The upshot of all this is that anything you store on Mega is only able to be opened by you. To achieve this there are local clients for Windows, OS X, and Linux, plus there are also secure browser plugins for Chrome and Firefox. Apps are available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and even Blackberry.

The standard free package affords a whopping 50GB of space. If this isn't enough you can have 500GB (99 Euros per year), 2TB (199 Euros per year), or 4TB (299 Euros per year) and increased bandwidth with each package so you can share files back and forth with friends.

Sharing is easy with other members of Mega, behaving in much the same way as Google Drive and Onedrive, by allowing you to send an invitation to a friend and set the level of actions they can complete (view, edit, etc.) You can also send links to non-Mega users, but this involves also privately sending them an encryption key so they can access the files.

A few secure communications features are coming in 2016: video chat, voice calling, email and IM. These are encrypted end-to-end, making them more private than Skype or Google Hangouts.

Verdict: With its generous free account, fast service, cross platform appeal, and highly secure nature, Mega is a very good choice for most people looking for an online storage solution.

5. Apple iCloud Drive

Apple iCloud Drive comes with 5GB of free storage. Users looking to bump up their storage can do so for 99 cents month for 20GB, $4 per month for 200GB and $20 per month for 1TB. ICloud is meant for Apple users, but there is an iCloud app for the Windows. Android users would have to use a third-party app to access their iCloud storage.


6. Microsoft OneDrive

Microsoft OneDrive is a popular option because it integrates directly with a variety of Windows products. For starters, can get 5GB of free cloud storage and you can upgrade to 100GB for $1.99 or 200GB for $3.99. OneDrive storage is also included in every Office 365 subscription, be it for personal use or for businesses. In most cases, each Office 365 subscriber will get 1TB of storage and access to Microsoft Office. The app follows most of the Android design guidelines and has a decent rating on the Google Play Store. There is also full integration with Microsoft OneNote.