pCloud Review

pCloud at a Glance

Our Rating4.00 / 5 stars

Price:

  • Basic: Start with 10GB can get up to 20GB. FREE
  • Premium: 500GB $4.99 / month, $47.99 / year
  • Premium Plus: 1TB $9.99 / month, $95.99 / year

PROS

  • Supports Windows, Mac, and Linux
  • Offers sync, backup, and sharing of files
  • 180-day file history with paid accounts
  • Can control how synchronization happens
  • Can backup files from Dropbox, Facebook, Instagram and Picasa
  • iOS and Android apps for auto-upload, sharing, and synchronization
  • Bitcoin cloud mining
  • Excellent file sync

CONS

  • Only email support, no chat or phone options.
  • Files not encrypted on server.
  • Mobile app can be slow to upload.

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Full pCloud Review

The cloud storage market is a tough one to be in. Not only do you have longtime favorites like Dropbox but you also have big players like Google and Amazon constantly chipping away at the prices of cloud storage making it tough to compete. To stand out from the crowd can be hard but pCloud does a pretty good job of standing out from the crowd and making them worth a second look. They are based in Bulgaria and price and feature wise are very competitive with the US-based cloud storage services

pCloud was developed in Switzerland in 2003. The company’s tech-savvy team of developers are dedicated to offering cloud-based storage solutions which make it easier for their users to store and access digital information on the virtual drive.

One of the reasons that pCloud has had continued success is its exceptional web-based interface. pClouddrive is very easy to understand and use. Another advantage of choosing pCloud is that its services are exquisitely comprehensive.

When it comes to cloud-based storage, we all want the highest data security. DropBox, one of pCloud’s top business rivals, was hacked which meant that hackers accessed tons of private information.

To ensure that pCloud is as safe and secure as possible, with a mind to avoiding a Dropbox-like disaster, pCloud decided to invite hackers to participate in a contest. Any hacker who could get into pCloud would be rewarded with a prize. But not one person got into the server or was able to penetrate encryptions with encryption keys. The hackers tried but with zero success.

In this pCloud transfer review, we will discuss its key features, installation process, and everything about the cloud storage provider. It allows users to access the virtual drive on all devices. Save users files in pCloud and have them on the laptop, phone or the web. You can grant other users to collaborate and share. You can work collaboratively with your friends and colleagues by sending and receiving every file securely. Send, receive and work together with your friends on every file. With its unbreakable security, the pCloud drive will keep your private files secure with zero-knowledge encryption.

The pCloud drive is a secure and easy-to-use service that lets you store up to 10GB for free, offers lifetime plans for up to 2TB and will always make storing files easier than most of other cloud storage providers. Though it is not completely without its flaws, we would not hesitate to recommend it to most users that are in need of storage space.

Backup Dropbox, Facebook, Instagram and Picasa

I would usually start a review like this talking about how easy it is to install the application and give a general walk through how to use it, but in this case I want to talk about a feature that helps to set pCloud out from so many of the other cloud storage service available. They offer the unique service of backing up files from several of your already existing accounts including Dropbox, Facebook, Instagram and Picasa.

Considering one of the largest competitors of pCloud is actually Dropbox, it is interesting to see that they have made it very convenient to backup files from your already existing Dropbox account to pCloud. This makes it easy to copy files to your new pCloud account. Unfortunately pCloud is not yet offered as an option with services like Mover.io to help move your files in from other cloud storage services, but you could always use Mover.io to move your files to Dropbox and then to pCloud if you wanted to avoid uploading them again.

Then there is the ability to backup your files from Facebook, Instagram and Picasa, some of the most popular photo storage and sharing websites. This feature alone is worth checking out if you use one of those services. A free pCloud account lets you easily backup those photos in the event your account is compromised you will still have access to those images.

File Sharing

It has been a long time since file sharing and sending of large files has had much attention from many of the cloud storage services. Sharing files and folders is pretty easy like most cloud storage services and allows you to easily share your files with friends and family. You can invite people to share a folder to view and modify files as if they were their own or create download links for that you can share with people to download your files.

The unique feature of pCloud sharing is the ability to create an upload link to allow people to send you large files without the need for a pCloud account. This is a unique feature that I have not seen from other cloud storage services. You can set the maximum amount of space the folder is allowed to occupy on your account and the total number of files that are allowed to by uploaded.

When you create an upload link you get a custom link and email address that people can use to upload files. This is a great feature that would be great for freelancers needing to get large files from clients on a regular basis but don’t want a pCloud account. If you would like to test this feature I have created a small pCloud upload link here that you can try.

pCloud places an icon in the system tray for easy interaction with the pCloud Drive. It creates a virtual drive in your system which is used for pCloud sync and backup. You’ll be able to see your pCloud virtual drive listed in your ordinary system file manager such as Windows Explorer.

This virtual drive should not be confused with the “drive” and “sync” folders pCloud adds to your home folder. These folders are emptied unless you have your virtual drive mounted and enabled sync.

Sync is definitely not recommended for beginners because it has much more risk than performing manual file transfers. When you sync a file, it will automatically upload or download to any of your connected devices.

The pCloud transfer does provide access to a desktop tool, the interface is a bit dull, but it is still logically designed. It is easy to navigate and the main menu buttons across the top are easy to understand.

Desktop App

pCloud has also realized how important it is to offer desktop clients for Windows, Mac and Linux. This has always been a big selling point for Dropbox and one of the shortcomings of many of the other cloud storage services. The software installed easily on the machine I tested on and I found it easy enough to create custom syncs to upload and download files.

Depending on what you need you can create 3 different types of synchronization folders. You can create two-way – full synchronization between your selected folders and pCloud. Download only syncs that applies changes only from pCloud to your PC or upload only where only changes from your computer are uploaded to your pCloud account. It is a fairly flexible system great for those that want control but easy enough for those that just want a service that works.

Mobile App

pCloud offers both an iOS app and an Android app. I only tested the Android app but expect the iOS to be fairly similar.The app itself is fairly easy to use and you have most of the features that you would expect. You can access your uploaded files, upload files from your device and even stream music and video files from your account to your mobile device. There is also an automatic upload feature to automatically upload your new photos and videos from your mobile device to your pCloud account.

The only issue I had with the Android app was with the automatic upload feature. I had to regularly open the app to continue uploading files. This is different than many of their competitors where the app will run in the background and continually check for new files to upload and send them up to the cloud. Overall the Android app has been pretty nice to use and I could easily see myself using the app and the service on a regular basis.

Web App

A strong web app is a must these days and pCloud has put a lot of thought into their web-based version. Not only can you many your uploaded files through the web app you can also easily upload and create download and upload shares and setup pCloud to backup your Dropbox, Facebook, Instagram and Picasa accounts.You can also easily stream your music and video files directly from your account to your browser, great for those that want to access their media on the go from work or another location but don’t want or cannot download the files.

Security

?While I have been impressed by many of the unique features of pCloud the one area I am less impressed with is the area of security. Yes, pCloud makes use of SSL to safely ensure your data is transferred safely from your computer and devices to them but there is little to no information available on their website about how your files are stored in their data centers. If you are looking for a cloud storage service with zero knowledge and high encryption of data on the servers I would have to say pCloud is not going to be your first choice.

pCloud Crypto is a state of the art protection. It stores all your files in the cloud, avoiding any waste on your storage space, and as a bonus, you receive free storage of a lot of GB.

In fact, it is so safe that no one will ever be able to breach it. This is precisely what pCloud offers you with its pCloud Crypto, it makes your private files invisible to others but except to those you do want to share the files, and folders with. Not even pCloud’s admin will have access to it. The encryption key of protection is in your hands, and it is called the Crypto Pass.

Overall

pCloud has some great unique features that show innovation does not just come out of the Silicon Valley and if you want an easy to use cloud storage service with easy access on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android they could easily be a great choice. I ran into no huge problems using the service but, and this is a HUGE but, the lack of more information about the security of your files and level of encryption of your files should be a major concern. It might be possible to use an encryption service like Boxcryptor but I have not tried it.

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Comments

2 responses to “pCloud Review”

  1. Maciek Avatar
    Maciek

    Just i’d like you warn you guys. In case you would like to delete account there is no option to do so. keep it mind if you care about your privacy.

  2. Naoh Avatar
    Naoh

    I just want to say that I’m very happy with pCloud. I’ve used it for about 3 months now. Syncing is great, desktop app is great, mobile app is great (although syncing through mobile sometimes needs a bit of attention before it gets started). It adds the pCloud drive to your Windows PC like a USB flash drive, which is cute. I love the fact that you can choose to sync any random folder on your PC, instead of just syncing a ‘pCloud’ folder like how Dropbox or Google Drive have it. I have only had an issue once, but pCloud support helped me right away and helped solve the problem.

    I previously used MEGA, but because of the buggy syncing (and significant loss of data), I switched over, and I’ve been very happy ever since. I truly recommend pCloud.

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