Choosing the Best Free Cloud Storage Provider
Over the past year, many cloud storage services have raised the stakes and pushed the limits, making it easy to find a free cloud storage provider. In fact, small start-up cloud storage services, which are a dime a dozen, generally lure potential customers in with a generous free offer. It is clear that this tactic is clearly put in place to quite literally buy you as a customer in the hopes of you upgrading to a paid plan at some later point in the future. With so many options now available, how can you possibly choose the one that not only best suits your needs but won’t force you to upgrade in the future?
Available Space
The first thing that tends to meet the eye of a potential customer is how much space is offered within a free plan. You will likely notice a huge gap between several cloud storage providers and how much free space each offers. While one cloud storage service may offer up to 50GB of free space, this does not necessarily mean they are right for you. As an example, Dropbox only offers 2GB of free space and upgrading thereafter is quite expensive compared to the competition.
Security
An often overlooked factor by many people, which could be rather costly, is the level of security offered by a cloud storage provider and their reputation that comes along with it. Checking what type of encryption offered (Secure Sockets Layer, Advanced Encryption Standard or perhaps other less lenient encryption) is definitely a necessity however you should also look at how many data centers are used to store your data. Many top cloud storage providers employ the use of multiple data centers across the globe to ensure your data is safe and will not get damaged or vanish.
Features
Another important element to look into is the features list and how much is offered for free. Is there access via your mobile device(s) so you can access your information on the go? Is automatic backup provided? How about being able to sync your files between various computers? Some of these features may or may not be included in a free data storage plan.
Top Free Cloud Backup Services
Once you’ve taken these attributes into consideration, the next step is to evaluate the various which free cloud storage options and decide which is right for you. The best starting point is MyPC Backup, a great backup provider that’s quite generous with their free package. They are quite easy to use and are very reasonably priced for users wishing to upgrade to larger data plans. Dropbox is another great option, though it’s worth mentioning that should you need more storage space in the future, Dropbox is one of the more expensive providers out there, leaving you to pay up or go through the trouble of transferring your data to a different provider. Google Drive is also quite popular, mostly due to their massive distributing channel via Gmail.com. However the bugs in their file syncing function make the entire software unreliable and frustrating.
We hope this analysis has been useful in helping you choose a free provider. Should there be any free services you’d like to personally recommend, please feel free to do so in the comments section below.
