pCloud: Product Overview and Insight

Bottom Line

Swiss file storage vendor pCloud’s standout feature is its focus on security. All files are encrypted, but users can choose extra encryption for sensitive files that need it most. For smaller businesses that need to protect important documents or videos, pCloud’s secure file storage is a good investment.

Also Read: 19 Best Encryption Tools & Software

Service Description 

pCloud offers standard, family, and business plans (pricing listed below). Though pCloud’s storage sizes are smaller than other cloud consumer offerings, businesses who want highly secure storage for their sensitive or frequently used files benefit. The Premium Plus plan, designed for files that pass between users regularly, is of special interest for businesses that do heavy collaborative graphic or video work. 

Security Features

• 256-bit AES encryption for all files.
• pCloud Crypto, an offering in which local encryption is performed on the user’s device. Only encrypted versions of files are stored on company servers. 
• Five copies of files on different servers. 
• Password-protecting for shared links. 

pCloud’s Crypto folder provides additional encryption for files.

Also Read: Best Password Managers & Tools for 2021

Collaboration Features

pCloud’s collaboration options also make it a viable choice for small businesses. These features include:

• Sharing links and file requests
• Inviting other pCloud users to shared folders
• Viewing detailed statistics for links
• Branding and customizing shared links 

pCloud allows users to request files from other users.

pCloud for Business Users

pCloud places no limits on the number of business users, so a company of any size can use it (though it does charge per user). Each user receives one terabyte of storage. pCloud provides shared folders, and where it shines is the ability to define teams and access levels. Admins can set group permissions for file access.

pCloud records all account activity and provides version control. Users can comment on files, so businesses have some limited file collaboration features, too. pCloud Business also has a 180-day trash limit, so users can return to a previous file version if it has been trashed fewer than 180 days. 

Pricing

Standard pricing is listed below, not taking into account pCloud’s frequent discounts.

Free accounts store up to 10 GB.

Annual Plan (priced per year): 

500GB—$47.88

2TB—$95.88

Lifetime Plan (priced for a one-time payment): 

500GB—$175

2TB—$350

Family Plan:

Family plans are limited to 5 users and 2TB. The standard one-time payment is $1,400 (pCloud discounts cause this number to vary).

Subscription-based Business Plan (includes 1TB per user):

7.99 per user per year (if annual subscription)

9.99 per user per month (if monthly subscription)

Key Markets & Use Cases

pCloud serves the following storage customers: 

• Small businesses that want to encrypt files in a cloud service 
• Personal users that need to store a large number of files 
• Families (can allocate storage amounts to members)

Though it’s considered a smaller storage player and doesn’t use flash, its flexible business plans and high emphasis on security make it a solid file storage and secondary backup solution for small and medium businesses, particularly ones with many documents. 

Read Next: What is Enterprise File Sharing?