pCloud Review 2023 - After 6 Years Of Usage (2024)

4.6/5 ★★★★★

PRICING & PLANS ★★★★★★★★★★	10.0/10
EASE OF USE ★★★★★★★★★✩	9.0/10
FILE SYNCING ★★★★★★★★★★	10.0/10
FILE SHARING ★★★★★★★★★✩	8.5/10
RETRIEVING FILES ★★★★★★★★★✩	8.5/10
SECURITY ★★★★★★★★★★	9.5/10
SUPPORT ★★★★★★★★★✩	8.5/10
ADDITIONAL FEATURES ★★★★★★★★★✩	9.0/10

PROS

• Up to 10 GB of free storage
• Amazing syncing solutions
• Unlimited transfer speeds
• Easy to use
• Unlimited file sizes
• Client-side encryption
• Innovative lifetime plans
• US & EU Servers
• Desktop folder backup included

CONS

• No client-side encryption in the free plan
• No dedicated live chat/phone support

pCloud Review

pCloud is a great cloud service that takes pride in offering the highest protection available with unlimited download and upload speeds. It’s a service that I would recommend to anyone searching for excellent cloud storage. During this pCloud review, I realized that the security is top-notch, there’s no limit to download speeds or the size of your files. pCloud also implemented a backup feature which makes them one of the few cloud storage providers capable of backing up specific folders.

It’s also important to mention that you can backup your WordPress website and your social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram and Picassa). Backing up other cloud storages is also available (Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive).

One of the best things about pCloud is that they don’t use the storage of your PC to host files. With pCloud Drive, you have access to the files that are actually in the cloud. You can always “favourite” your files and that way store them for offline usage.

Read the full pCloud review down below.

Jump to:

Who is it for?
Ease of use
File syncing
File sharing
Retrieving files
Security
Online support
Additional features
Conclusion

pCloud Features

www.pcloud.com
Pricing & Plans
Free storage	5 GB (Up to 10GB)
Free trial
Lifetime plans
Payment methods	Credit card, PayPal, Bitcoin
Ease of use
Open in-browser	Office, PDF, Music, Images, Videos
Edit in-browser
Mobile apps	Android, iOS
WebDAV
File syncing
Supported systems	Windows, macOS, Linux
Imaginary drive An imaginary drive allows you to access all of the files that are in the cloud directly from your desktop via an application without taking up local storage space.
Sync folder A sync folder allows you to access all of the files that are in the cloud directly from your desktop via an application. Since it synchronises the files to the device, it takes up local storage space.
Block-level file sync
Selective sync Selective sync allows you to choose which folders that are located in the cloud should and shouldn't be synchronised to your device.
Sync any folder The sync any folder feature allows you to choose any local folder and synchronise it to the cloud without any further actions.
File sharing
Share download links
Link password protection
Link expiration dates
Link branding
Link download limits
Link stats
Share upload links
Share folders
Set folder permissions
Retrieving files
File versioning system
Trash bin
Rewind feature The rewind feature allows you to go back in time and inspect your cloud storage as it was in that moment. This enables easy retrieval of files in various scenarios such as malware infection.
Security
Server location	US, EU
HIPAA Compliance
Encryption protocol	256-bit AES, 4096-bit RSA
At-rest encryption
In-transit encryption
Client-side encryption
Zero-knowledge privacy
Two-factor authentication
Online support
FAQ base
Forums
E-mail support
Live chat support
Phone support

Pricing & Plans

pCloud offers us some interesting options to pick from. It’s amongst the cheapest cloud storage providers out there while also maintaining quality. If you’re satisfied with your 10 GB mark you can stick with the free plan. After the registration you’ll do a few steps to unlock that free storage such as confirming the e-mail, installing the client,…

It also offers additional Crypto protection that will encrypt your sensitive files additionally. If you would like to get more storage you will just have to upgrade your plan which I think has decent prices.

Download Link Traffic – This is the traffic generated when other people stream/download content from your public download links. Once the limits are surpassed they won’t be able to download from your links anymore, until you either upgrade your plan or the next month begins.

They also offer a 10 days money-back guarantee. In terms of payment methods they offer credit cards, PayPal and Bitcoin.

pCloud also offers lifetime plans. You can pick between 3 plans which include various sizes of lifetime storage for a one-time payment.You can read more about. They also have a lifetime plan for families which includes up to 5 users with separate logins.

Lifetime Plans

Monthly Plans

The prices above are displayed if you pay Yearly. If instead you go for monthly payments, you end up with $4.99/month for 500 GB and $9.99/month for 2000 GB.

If you wish to check out the business side of pCloud click here.

Who is it for?

pCloud is a cloud storage appropriate for any user. Whether you’re a businessman or just an average user you’ll be satisfied with this product. While we can say it’s Dropbox’s little brother I believe that will change sooner or later. It offers a lot of features and is available on almost all platforms.

The backup feature isn’t the best out there, but you can definitely backup your photos and videos from your mobile or even backup Facebook, Instagram and other social platforms. What is interesting as well is that you can backup the Dropbox itself. How ironic is that?

While there are so many good sides to this service, there will always be a bad side. It misses some sharing features (teams and groups) in the free version or even the premium version of the model. You will have to choose the business plan for that.

Apart from that pCloud is a great service that takes pride in assuring it’s users the best security measures that are currently available. I guess I could also mention the pCloud Crypto challenge. The founders of pCloud have given hackers around the world a challenge to hack into their Crypto protection. Nobody managed to pass their protection.

Ease of use

The registration procedure is very straight-forward. You can also use Google or Facebook to sign up.

It isvery easy to use, just like Dropbox. The interface is very friendly and looks nice. If you want to upload something you just simply click on the upload button or drag the file inside. The UI itself feels very responsive to our clicks. Switching between list and grid view is also possible.

On the left we have the main menu with all the options:

• Browse: Displays all the files in their structure.
• Public: Allows you to set certain files public which makes them accessible via embeds,…
• Rewind: An advanced pCloud feature that lets you go back in time.
• Trash: Displays all the deleted files and allows you to delete them permanently.
• Backups: Allows desktop, mobile and third-party backup of Google Drive, Dropbox, Facebook, Instagram and OneDrive.
• Crypto folder: Displays all your files which use client-side encryption.
• Shared: Displays all your shares and folders, files shared with you.
• File requests: Lets you manage file requests.
• Audio: Displays all the sound files in the cloud. Sortable by songs, artists, albums and playlists.

File previews & edits

pCloud allows you to preview Office and PDF documents directly in the dashboard.

You can also listen to music, preview images and watch videos. pCloud has an integrated player for playing music. It offers all the great features such as shuffling songs, creating, saving and loading playlists. I especially like that I can browse through all the files without interrupting the music at any point, the music player simply drops to the bottom right corner where I can still keep an eye on all the music currently playing.

File syncing

pCloud is available on Windows, Mac and Linux. pCloud Drive is a desktop application that they have developed for their users to make the syncing process easier. It allows you to expand your computer with an additional virtual drive. The main feature of their pCloud Drive is that it doesn’t take up any of your local storage capacity unless you mark specific files or folders for offline usage. This makes it perfect for quite literally expanding your capacity in a way that doesn’t hinder your productivity.

One additional interesting feature that this has to offer is for you to share your files directly from that virtual drive. All the options available in the web browser are accessible from the desktop client as well.

You can also access your pCloud Drive from the taskbar directlyfrom where you can manage your Drive and set it up, however, you want to. You can also sync any folder that is on your device to the cloud.

There are no hard limits on file transfer speeds. They entirely depend on your internet provider and your location in comparison to the server locations and proxies. You can limit those speeds though. The “Settings” tab also allows you to manage “LAN Sync” which speeds up synchronisation between devices connected to the same network – This is a great feature for office usage.

The “Disk Usage” tab allows us to manage the cache stored on our computer. pCloud does implement the “Imaginary Drive” feature but files still need to be downloaded when they’re accessed, for example, Office documents. When that happens the files get stored to the cache. The tab allows us to select the cache location, clear cache, set on-disk cache size and set minimum disk space size.

The app also allows us to upload screenshots to the cloud automatically which is great for sharing them in a quick fashion.

pCloud also introduces no limits on file sizes which is perfect for anyone uploading and syncing larger files.

They also provide block-level sync which shortens upload times of files that are already in the cloud (updating files).

File sharing

Sharing files is one of the primary advantages of cloud storage. Different providers provide various levels of support when it comes to this feature. We can divide sharing with pCloud into 2 main types: Sharing of specific files and sharing folders. What’s the difference? Sharing folders brings you additional options and functionalities. Let’s look at the different ways we can share folders with others:

1. Invite to Folder
2. Share link
3. Request files

Inviting folks to a folder is a great way to collaborate with someone. They’ll need a pCloud account to use this feature. It’s possible to assign 2 different levels of permissions when using this method: “View” and “Edit“. The “View” permission allows them to both view and download the files while the “Edit” one allows them to also change, delete or upload files to the folder.

Once access is given it can be revoked or changed at any point through their “Manage share” UI option. It’s important to know at all times who has access to our folders which is why we give a big thumbs up to this feature.

Sharing a link, on the other hand, presents a whole new world in terms of possibilities. Once a link is generated for a specific folder you can share it with your friends, family or coworkers (they won’t need a pCloud account). It’s important to point out that the link can be deleted at any time. Different properties can also be assigned to that specific link:

• Upload – Allow users to upload files to the folder or not. Presents with 3 different options: “Nobody can upload”, “Anyone can upload”, “Only selected users can upload”.
• Password protection [Premium] – Protects the generated link with a password which should then be shared with the people that should gain access to the folder.
• Expiration date [Premium] – It allows us to put a time limit on the link which is great for setting up a link and then easily forgetting about it. Awesome from the security and privacy perspective.
• Branding – Allows for a custom title, description, logo image and background image to be used for the sharing link. Works great and looks professional, especially suitable if you plan to use pCloud as part of your business.
• Short link – Great for sharing on social media such as Twitter where we’re limited with character number.

• Link Stats – Displays the weekly stats for a specific link. Includes the link creation date, total downloads and total traffic.

Requesting files is another cool feature that has been made accessible in recent years. Instead of granting any type of view or upload access to a folder you’re just generating a space that people can use to upload files. This is great for gathering any types of documents, birthday wishes, funny videos or pretty much anything else. It’s also possible to set an expiration date and a file size upload limit.

How are things different when sharing a specific file? There is no option to “Request files” or “Inviting people” to collaborate – it wouldn’t make sense to include those two methods here. Instead, we’re left with the “Share Link” option that works in a pretty much the same way as the folder one does with the exception of the “Upload settings” which once again wouldn’t make sense here.

The person receiving the shared files does not need an account to download them. The bandwidth limits are based on your plan and are explained under Pricing & plans. There is no limit on the size of shared folders or files.

Retrieving files

Getting your files back after you have already deleted them is a simple task. Your deleted files are in the free version stored for 15days.Files are retrievable in the premium versions for up to 30 days.The same timings can be applied for retrieving older versions of your files. You can also delete your backups permanently.

Extended File History

Getting yourself extended file history will allow you to retrieve files and versions for up to 360 days.

pCloud Rewind

pCloud Rewind is a feature that allows you to go back in timeand revert all the changes that were made during that time. Consider this as “visiting” your old account, and you can bring back any file that existed at that point.

• Free – You can browse up to 15 days back.
• Premium & Premium Plus – Downloading and restoring files that you see with Rewind up to30 days.
• With EFH up to 360 days.

Security

pCloud has their servers (owned by them) located both in US and EU. Upon registration, you’re free to choose where you wish your files stored and they will remain there. No files will be transferred from the chosen location to another without your permission or knowledge. Your files are stored in at least 3 different server locations within highly secured storage areas.Every single file is divided and stored in 15 different racks and servers. The system is live with up to 5 racks/servers down. To guarantee your files’ safety, pCloud usesTLS/SSL encryption, applied when information is transferred from your device to the pCloud servers. You can also optionally subscribe to pCloud Crypto which encrypts your files client-side. That means nobody but yourself is able to access those files, not even the cloud storage administrators or government authorities.

pCloud Cryptois the thing you should pay attention to here. In fact, pCloud is the first cloud storage provider to offer both client-side encryption and server-side encryption. You might ask yourself, what are the advantages of that? Why not simply do client-side encryption across all files and with that disable any sort of access by the government authorities? There’s one big downside. Encrypted files can’t be accessed by anyone. Even the servers and processors don’t understand the data. That way all possible applications such as image previews, playing videos and music directly in the cloud, previewing documents,…aren’t possible.

pCloud uses 256-bit AES encryption for per-file and per-folder keys. For users’ private keys they use 4096-bit RSA.

It is for that reason that pCloud has both the client-side encryption (zero-knowledge) where you can place your important files and the server-side encryption where you can place music, videos and other stuff. That is if you wish to view them directly in the cloud. You can still opt-in to upload everything to your Crypto folder and unlock that whenever you need it.

They’re fully GDPR compliant. They are also compliant under the ISO 9001:2015 – Quality Management Systems (QMS) and ISO 27001:2013 – Information Security Management Systems (ISMS).

pCloud alsooffers two-factor authentication.

They haveno security breacheson their record and it looks like it will stay that way. All of this makes pCloud one of the most secure cloud storage providers in the market.

Online support

pCloud offers anextensive FAQ basewith hundreds of questions answered. There’s a high chance that one of the questions you have will be amongst them. If your questionisn’t there you can still contact their support team whichusually answersthe same day, unless you sent the e-mail in late hours.They’re usuallyvery helpfuland provide useful feedback. I’ve also observed their support team in action on their social media accounts (Twitter and Facebook) where they are very active and eager to help their users. After contacting them personally they made a great impression on me, proving that they do care about their own customers. What it does sadly lack is the option for you to call them directly if you need technical support.

Additional features

Speed

pCloud allows you to manually set your upload and download speed limits in the settings tab. This is very useful in case you’re downloading something else in the meantime. By default these settings are set to unlimited which is a great feature, unfortunately, that’s not the only thing your download and upload speeds depend on. It all comes down to the speeds achievable by your internet provider.

Public Folder

The public folder can be used to replace the popular image hosting websites like Imgur.com. Every image that you upload to this folder has its own link which means you can use it to embed it in your website, forums or send it to your friend. It’s also important to mention that you need to have Premium access to use this feature. They also give you a 7-day trial.

pCloud Save & Remote Upload

pCloud Save is an extension for Google Chrome, Opera and Firefox. Itallows you to save images from the web directly to the cloud. You can also select any paragraph or a bunch of text and save it as a Word document directly to the cloud. I find this tool to be extremely helpful and it just works as explained.

Remote Upload is pretty much the same feature but located directly in the pCloud upload manager. Simply paste the link of a video or an image to the upload manager. Since the file is being downloaded directly to the servers of the provider, it allows you to achieve greater speeds and removes the need to save the files locally first.

Free accounts get 15 GB of one-time Remote Upload traffic while premium users get an unlimited amount.

pCloud File Backup

Using pCloud, it’s possible to backup multiple platforms and third-party services directly within the pCloud dashboard: Google Drive, Dropbox, Facebook, Instagram and OneDrive. Definitely viable if storing data on a single provider isn’t your cup of tea.

It’s also possible to backup various PC folders (not just a preselected selection that is limited with other backup providers). There are no limits when it comes to file sizes or the speed of uploading the files. The feature works as explained and it includes block-level sync which makes uploading of modified files much quicker. The backup runs continuously in the background and will update to the cloud in real-time (it’s not possible to set up a schedule).

Business plan

When compared to Dropbox it has a few differences. While Dropbox offers features like “Teams” and “Paper” in the free version already, those features come with pCloud if you choose to upgrade to a business plan. To be honest with you I, for example, don’t need those features in my line of work. But I do believe that there’s a lot of you that do.

You can try out the Business plan for 30 days and then decide whether it’s worth upgrading to that. It gives you access to creating your own teams and team-specific folders. You can then create shared folders and allow your workers to comment on the files as they work. All activity is recorded in activity logs from where you can also get older versions of the files. The pCloud Crypto plan comes for free with any Business plan, to make sure your files have the highest level of security.

The full review of the business side of pCloud can be foundhere.

Mobile application

The pCloud mobile application is available for iOS and Android systems.

The interface itself looks very organised and friendly. The application gives you the ability to automatically backup yourphotos and videos which is always a good thing. You also have the option to automatically delete photos on your mobile when they’re uploaded to the cloud and that way saving up precious storage.

Apart from that, you can watch videos, preview images, Office and PDF documents and listen to music directly from the app.

Conclusion

pCloud is a great cloud storage service and it falls onto the first spot as the best cloud storage here at Cloudstorageinfo.org. It came to the market a lot later than Dropbox did and I can guarantee it has come further in many areas such as security & privacy. Your files are kept securely which is what matters in today’s world. It also offers great upload and download speeds, compared to its rivals. The syncing features and their client are simply perfect and deserve the 100 score in that area.

While pCloud remains the underdog it already has 10.000.000+ users and that base continues to grow. I believe that they will keep working on improving their features. Hopefully, we discovered all the little things that pCloud has to offer within this pCloud review. You should try it out, it’s free after all.

Hopefully, we’ve gone through everything that you wanted to know about pCloud within this pCloud review. If you have any unanswered questions feel free to ask them in the comments section down below and I’ll answer them shortly!