IDrive is for everyone who wants an all-in-one cloud backup and storage package. Its main job is backing up small businesses, but it also works well for personal cloud storage and file sharing.

Unlike many other cloud backup services, iDrive doesn’t lock you down to a single computer. You can use one account to back up your Windows and macOS desktops, Android smartphone, iPhones, tablets, and your network drives. There’s also a Linux backup option for Linux servers, but you can still use it with a bit of elbow grease on your desktop Linux.

For now, iDrive has a killer deal. It’s the most storage for the least amount of money you’ll find today. I use it to back up my massive media library of classic movies. 

IDrive offers 10GB for free, but if you want to make the most of its backup power, the real deal is in its Personal iDrive offerings. These start at 5TB for $70 per year, or an even better deal — 10TB for $105 annually. There are also business packages with unlimited users, but the price goes up for less storage. 

IDrive caters to customers who want the most affordable storage possible, with 100GB available for only $2.95 per year. Business and team plans are also available, starting from $70 per year for five seats and 5TB of storage.

If you’re looking for a personal or small business backup, iDrive is an excellent choice. It’s easy to use and inexpensive. It’s also good for cloud storage, and I’m very happy with it.

iDrive features: Free storage: iDrive starts its offers with 10GB for free | Variety of storage plans including personal and enterprise | Multiple user support | iDrive for Office | Snapshots and versioning | SQL, NAS

OneDrive is baked into Windows, and they’re delicious together. As far as a Windows user is concerned, OneDrive is just another directory in the File Explorer. Anyone can use it on the web, a desktop app for Mac and earlier versions of Windows, as well as OneDrive apps for Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and Xbox. Yes, Xbox. 

Linux? No, not at present, although clients are available. The InSync client, which I’ve long recommended for Google Drive, also works with OneDrive. This program costs $40 for an individual lifetime subscription and $160 for a team license.

Microsoft OneDrive’s real selling point — besides working hand-in-glove with Windows — is that it integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Office programs. With Microsoft 365, you can also collaborate in real time with your partners on documents and spreadsheets.

OneDrive comes with 5GB of free storage. Microsoft 365 users get an extra terabyte per user starting with the $6 monthly subscription. Microsoft 365 Family users get a terabyte per user up to 6TB for $130 a year.

Microsoft 365 Business Standard users get access to the full online versions of Outlook, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint, plus 1TB of storage at $12.50 per user per month with an annual subscription. If you need additional storage, check out the Office 365 Extra File Storage plan, which can quickly become very expensive. 

That said, if you’re already a Microsoft 365 user, this is a no-brainer. OneDrive is perfect for anyone who uses Windows and Microsoft Office daily.

OneDrive features: Free storage: OneDrive starts its offers with 5GB for free | Variety of storage plans | Multiple user support | Multi-platform | Productivity apps | Teams collaboration | Business offerings | CoPilot add-on

Like most cloud storage services, Box has clients for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. It doesn’t support Linux natively, but third-party programs are available for Linux support.

The Business Starter Plan, which costs $5 per month, lets you upload files of up to 2GB and provides 100GB of space. Personal users start with a 10GB free plan, but you can get 100GB of storage for $120 a year, or $10 per month, when you upgrade to the Personal Pro plan. 

One helpful feature for working users is the ability to keep multiple file versions. The Personal Pro edition allows you to keep 10 versions, while the Business Starter plan gives you 25. 

While Box is a fine cloud storage service, it really shines as a groupware or workflow application. The service enables you to share files with colleagues, assign tasks, leave comments on someone’s work, and get file change notifications. It’s integrated with Microsoft Office and Teams, Salesforce, Google Workspace, Slack, and more.

Box offers a free cloud storage account and 10GB of storage, although file uploads are limited to 250MB. Box business plans start at $15 a month for three users and unlimited storage. 

Box features: Free storage: Box starts its offers with 10GB for free | Variety of storage plans including unlimited | Secure sharing | SOC 1/SOC 2/SOC 3 compliance | 1500+ integrations

Dropbox came first, so it’s no wonder that so many of us have accounts. Sure, Dropbox Basic only has 2GB of free storage, but you can use it on any platform. 

You can access your files from Dropbox’s website, desktop applications for Mac, Windows, and Linux, the native file systems, and the iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire mobile apps. It’s a snap to set up, and you don’t need to worry about syncing files, as Dropbox is one of the most user-friendly options on our list.

If you need more storage, Dropbox’s personal plans increase to 2TB for $10 per month. An individual Dropbox Professional plan costs $16.58 monthly for 3TB of storage. Business Team plans start with 5TB of storage at $15 a user per month for a minimum of three users.  

As always, Dropbox shines for its sheer simplicity and the fact that it can be used on almost any platform. If you value simplicity, speed, and ease, Dropbox should be your first choice. 

Dropbox features: Free storage: Dropbox starts its offers with 2GB for free | Variety of storage plans including individual & business | Multi-platform | PDF editing | Team management | Password protection

Google Drive used to be just storage before Google combined its online office suite, Google Docs, into Google One. If you’re a little confused because Google Workplace is also available, you’re in good company. 

To clarify, Google Workspace Individual is meant for small business owners. At the same time, Google One is a consumer subscription plan that gives you more storage across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. 

A Google account alone gives you 15GB of free storage and an excellent office suite. It’s good enough that many businesses and Chromebook owners now use it as their complete cloud-based office. If you buy a Chromebook and are a new Google One customer, you’ll get 100GB of free cloud storage for a year. With both kinds of free storage, it’s shared across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos.

Google Drive comes with clients for most operating systems, except Linux. Google promised long ago that there would be a Linux client, but it’s yet to arrive. There is, however, an excellent third-party Linux commercial client, Insync. 

Need more storage? No problem. Under the name Google One, Google Drive storage offers 100GB for $2 per month or $20 annually, or 200GB for $3 per month or $30 per year. For 2TB, you pay $10 per month or $100 annually. Using any of these plans, you can share your storage with up to five other people. 

You could also opt for Google’s AI Premium plan, which includes 2TB storage and access to the AI model Gemini Advanced.

You can also use the Google One app on Android and iOS devices to automatically back up your smartphones. This includes your device data, multimedia messages, as well as photos and videos in their original quality.

One of Google Drive’s best features is its integration with Google Search. So, for example, if you’ve lost track of a file but remember a couple of words in it, it’s easy to find. I use this feature almost every day. 

Google Drive features: Free storage: Google Drive starts its offers with 15GB for free | Variety of storage plans including individual & business | Secure sharing | Multi-platform | AI tools including Gemini Advanced

Nextcloud Files is an open-source program that enables you to set up your own cloud storage service using your existing servers and hard drives. This do-it-yourself cloud is for everyone who values security and privacy. 

You can use Nextcloud to set up cloud storage on an office server or your own external server. When it comes to storage, it’s merely a question of how much you want. I have a 4TB Nextcloud drive in my office and another terabyte on my co-hosted server rack. 

Still, while NextCloud is easy for a Linux power user to set up, it would prove challenging for people who don’t know the operating system well. 

Nextcloud is also evolving. It started as a standalone Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) file storage cloud. It’s been adding more services, making it more of an all-in-one office suite like those offered by Google and Microsoft. 

These days, Nextcloud has four parts: Nextcloud Files, the original cloud file server; Nextcloud Talk, an audio/video conferencing and text chat program; Nextcloud Groupware, which integrates Calendar, Contacts, Mail, and other productivity features; and Nextcloud Office, a LibreOffice-based online office suite. Businesses can integrate all of them together with Nextcloud Hub.

Nextcloud comes with a free and a business edition. With the free version, you set it up using your own computers. You get as much storage as you have available on your machines. 

If you don’t want to run it yourself, the business version, Nextcloud Enterprise, is supported and starts at 100 users. This service is available from €67.89 ($77.52) per user per year.

This cloud storage solution is for anyone who wants the maximum amount of control over their cloud and is willing to do some extra work to get it just right. I highly recommend it.

Nextcloud Files features: Free storage: DIY unlimited | Open source | File syncing and sharing | File access controls | File conversion | E2EE file drops | Business plans available 

I’m always cautious about “lifetime” subscriptions to anything, especially computer services. After years in business, I’m inclined to give the Switzerland-based pCloud the benefit of the doubt. I also like that pCloud comes with clients for Linux, macOS, Windows, Android, and iOS. 

PCloud offers 4GB of free storage for starters. You can also add more storage, at 1GB per stage, for installing apps and getting others to subscribe to pCloud. You can max this out at 10GB of free storage. 

If you’re really serious about your storage, you can get 500GB of storage forever for a one-time payment of $199, or 2TB for $399. That’s a sweet deal. Need more? 10TB is priced at $1,190.

Another nice feature is that pCloud comes with client-side-only file encryption. With pCloud Crypto, you encrypt your files using 256-bit AES, and no one except you can read them. When they say “no one,” they mean “no one.” If you lose your password, you lose your data. These files are stored in the Crypto folder. This feature costs $50 per year, or $150 for a lifetime plan. It’s included for free in business plans. You can also opt to store your data in the more privacy-conscious European Union servers. 

If you have some files you want to share with others — but do not share your password with them — you can store unencrypted folders in the same account as your secured files and folders. 

If privacy and paying once for cloud storage for a very long time appeals to you, check out pCloud. 

pCloud features: Free storage: pCloud starts its offers with up to 10GB for free | Variety of storage plans including lifetime options | Shared link traffic | Client-side encryption | Business plans | Password manager

I didn’t like iCloud for years, even when I used it on my Macs. The service has finally fixed enough bugs that I can say Mac, iPhone, or iPad users can trust it with their data. 

In the old days, iCloud was supposed to offer seamless integration and ease of use for any iGadget. In practice, it was a cranky mess. Today, it’s much better.

Owning an Apple product gives you 5GB of free iCloud storage. One good feature is that anything you buy from the iTunes Store doesn’t count against your storage limit. You can use iCloud to automatically back up all your Apple devices’ data onto its servers. 

Of course, 5GB won’t cut it for serious backups. Instead, you’ll need to upgrade to one of three iCloud+ plans — $1 per month for 50GB, $3 per month for 200GB, or $10 per month for 2TB. ICloud+ plans also include security features such as Cloud Private Relay, Hide My Email, and HomeKit Secure Video.  

While it’s not a big selling point, iCloud is also integrated with iWork, Apple’s productivity suite. It’s no Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, but it’s okay for something simple like schoolwork. I’m still not crazy about iCloud — I doubt I ever will be — but if you’re already an Apple user all the time, it’s worth using.

Apple iCloud features: Free storage: Apple iCloud starts its offers with up to 5GB for free | Variety of plans | Private Relay | Email masking | Secure video storage