pCloud Review 2024

pCloud is one of my favorite cloud storage services and was the 2nd choice in my review of the most secure cloud storage providers. Top notch security and respect for your privacy, this simple yet powerful cloud storage service allows you to manage you files from any device, anywhere around the world.

For those who want to utmost in security for their data, yet are unsure about keeping in someone else’s hands, just know that while keeping your data on your own hardware may seem like the most secure place for it, what if your hardware was to break or get damaged.? Having your data backed up, in another geographic location is true security.

Here are all of the ways that pCloud can do that for you….

Security – Is pCloud Safe?

pClouds encryption is so good, that they had an open challenge for 6 months, that if anyone could crack their Client-Side encryption, they would win $100,000. No one did and pCloud has never had a security breach on record.

With the exception of the free plan, all plans come with Client-Side encryption and Zero-Knowledge encryption. The Free Plan does come with TLS/SSL encryption when uploading files to your pCloud cloud storage.

pCloud Crypto (also known as End-to-End encryption or Client-Side encryption) means that the files you keep in your pClouds folder are encrypted on your computer. When they are synced with pClouds servers, they are encrypted before the even hit the network, so at no time is your data ever in plain text except when you are viewing it.

Zero-Knowledge encryption means that the key (password) to decrypt your data is not uploaded or stored with pCloud, only you have the key. That means that pCloud couldn’t view your data even if they wanted to. So if they were forced by a court of law to disclose your data, they would not be able to. Pretty cool, huh?

pCloud also has Two-Factor Authentication for paid accounts. An absolute must have to keep your files secure.

pCloud uses a 4096-bit RSA for users private keys and a 256-bit AES for file and folder keys.

pCloud servers are located in the US and the EU and they do let you choose where your data is stored. Additionaly, pCloud stores your files on at least 3 different servers, in a highly secure data center to ensure that your data isn’t lost due to hardware failure.

pCloud’s Apps

All of pClouds apps are sleek, have a lot of functionality, and are easy to use. When using the desktop or mobile apps, you have the option setting which files you would like to make available when offline by marking them as “favorites”.

Any device that you have a pCloud app installed on can be synced with any other device allowing you to keep your chosen files current across all devices.

pCloud’s Web App

You cloud storage is available from any device with any modern browser through pClouds website. All of the main functionality of the platform is available without installing any software, so you can access your files even when on someones else’s computer.

pCloud’s Desktop App

pCloud Drive is their desktop application, available for Windows, Mac, and Linux (one of only a few cloud storage services that has a desktop app for Linux!). pCloud Drive gives you a few extra features. Using pCloud Drive you can take advantage of the End-to-End encryption by setting which files to encrypt on your computer. It also give you the ability to set up automatic backups. There is also an option to backup your photos and videos from Facebook and other social media.

pCloud Drive shows up as a virtual drive on your computer in your file manager. So navigating your files and folders works in the same way as the files and folders already on your machine.

pClouds Mobile Apps

pCloud’s mobile app is available for Android and iOS. With the mobile app, you can easily set it to automatically store your photos and videos to your online storage. The app also comes with a media player that lets you stream you music and videos directly from the cloud.

Collaboration

File Sharing

When sharing folders with other pCloud members you can set permissions on these folders to “view”, “edit”, or “manage”.

If you would like to share files with non-members, you can make links to your files. These links can be set to require a password to access the file. You can also set an expiration date for the links (expiration is only for paid accounts).

pCloud also has an option to allow anyone to upload files to your cloud storage without giving them access to view any of your data. You can set your upload link so that anyone can upload files or only certain people can.

There are statistics for your links that show you the amount of views and downloads of the linked content.

File Versioning

pCloud gives you the ability to preview and restore previous version of your files and folders. For Free plans it goes back 15 days, for Premium, Premium Plus, and Lifetime plans, it is 30 days.

Also, files that you have deleted will go to your trash folder and are still be available for you to restore. For free plans, you can restore files deleted 15 days ago, for Premium, Premium Plus, and Lifetime plans, it is 30 days. You can permanently delete any file by deleting it from the trash folder.

Extended File History is available at an addition cost. This pCloud feature lets you recover deleted files or restore previous file versions from the past 365 days. Enabling Extended File History does not use any of the storage space allotted under your plan.

Additional Features

Unlimited File Size

Many cloud storage service providers have restrictions as to the maximum file size you can upload to the cloud. That is not going to work for many people, especially those that store HD videos. pCloud has no file size limits and you can store any file type.

High Speed Upload and Download.

pCloud does not throttle your connection to their servers. Your upload and download speed is as fast as your internet connection. They do however, give you the option to set limits for your upload and download speeds if you choose to do so. These high speeds are available on the free and paid plans.

Block-Level Sync

Block-Level Sync is a cloud technology that breaks your files into smaller block. If you have automatic backup of a certain folder enabled, then when a file in that folder changes, that new version of the file is then uploaded to your online storage. Block-Level Sync make this much quicker by breaking your file into smaller “blocks” then when changes are made to the file, only the “blocks” that have changed are uploaded to the cloud. Not only is this quicker, but it reduces bandwidth.

Choose Which Files to Encrypt

You may think why not just encrypt everything. Well, when a file is encrypted on pClouds server, they have no idea what’s in the file. So they are not able get show you previews, generate thumbnails, stream videos from the cloud, or let you work on files without downloading them first. The option to choose which files are encrypted is a must have.

Plans

pCloud has many plans to choose from including the very popular option of lifetime plans (for a one time fee, you can use their cloud storage for the rest of your life!).

There are 3 tiers of plans with different option in each tier. The 3 tiers are Individual, Family, and Business.

Lifetime Plans

• Premium – 500 GB – $175
• Premium Plus – 2 TB – $350
• Custom – 10 TB – $990
• Family (5 users) – 2 TB – $500
• Family (5 users) – 10 TB – $1390

Annual Plans

• Premium – 500 GB – $49.99
• Premium Plus – 2 TB – $99.99
• Business – Unlimited Storage Space – $575.28 (for the first 3 users, cost increased per additional user)

Free Plan

• 5 GB free storage

Conclusion

pCloud is a fantastic service with flawless security, high speeds, great features, and ease of use. pCloud is in 2nd place in my review of the most secure cloud storage and the free version took 4th place in my review of the best free cloud storage services.

I believe pCloud is a great value for your money and choosing a lifetime plan will save you a lot of money in the long run.