pCloud vs Proton Drive
The highest score on this site against the privacy suite everyone has heard of. The yearly gap is $69.89.
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pCloud
Pay once, store forever. The lifetime plan that started it all.
Proton Drive
Swiss zero-knowledge storage from the Proton Mail people.
| Feature | pCloud | Proton Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Our score | 4.6 / 5 | 4.4 / 5 |
| Price | From $4.17/mo | From $9.99/mo |
| Free plan | No | |
| Best for | Long-term storage, pay once | Privacy-first users |
| Category | Cloud storage & sync | Encrypted & private |
| Provider | pCloud AG | Proton AG |
| Visit pCloud | Visit Proton Drive |
Our verdict
pCloud wins on price and on our score, Proton Drive wins if you want the whole privacy suite. pCloud Premium gives 500 GB at $4.17 a month, $49.99 a year, and holds the highest rating here at 4.6. Proton Unlimited is $9.99 a month, $119.88 a year, at 4.4.
That is $69.89 a year more for Proton, and for storage alone it is hard to defend. What justifies it is everything else in the plan: mail, VPN, calendar and password manager on one subscription.
pCloud also sells lifetime plans, which is unusual and genuinely useful for long term archiving: you pay once and stop thinking about renewals. Its zero knowledge encryption, however, is a paid add on rather than the default, which is the opposite of how Proton works.
The honest downside of pCloud is exactly that: encryption costs extra, so the headline price and the private price are not the same number. The honest downside of Proton Drive is that the storage part is the newest piece of the suite and still lags on features experienced users expect.
Long term storage at the lowest price: pCloud. You want private mail and a VPN anyway: Proton Unlimited, and count what you cancel elsewhere.
“The lifetime-deal king and a genuinely good cloud drive: fast sync, built-in media players, and Swiss-based infrastructure. The famous pay-once plans transform the economics if you keep them for years. Zero-knowledge encryption costs extra, which we wish were standard.”Editorial team, on pCloud
“The privacy ecosystem play: zero-knowledge encryption by default, Swiss jurisdiction, and it comes bundled with the best private email and a top-tier VPN. Still younger and leaner on features than the veterans, but maturing fast.”Editorial team, on Proton Drive
Frequently asked questions
Is pCloud encryption included in the price?
No, and this is the detail that catches people out. pCloud Premium at $49.99 a year stores your files but zero knowledge encryption is sold as a separate add on. At Proton Drive that encryption is the default and cannot be switched off, which is a large part of what the higher price buys.
How much cheaper is pCloud?
$49.99 a year for 500 GB against $119.88 for Proton Unlimited, a difference of $69.89. Proton gives you more storage plus mail, VPN, calendar and a password manager. Compared purely as storage, pCloud is the better deal by a wide margin.
Does pCloud still sell lifetime plans?
Yes, and it is one of the few providers that does. You pay once instead of every year, which suits an archive you expect to keep for a decade. The risk is the obvious one: a lifetime plan is only as long lived as the company, so it is a bet on pCloud still being here.