Cloud storage is popular, that’s a fact.
Everyone with a computer or phone is using it.
And the reason they are so popular is because of their productivity and security features; it just makes your life easier to store your files at your fingertips.
As the demand for cloud storage increases, so does the number of these services.
They’re just everywhere, popping up with new features and services to differentiate themselves from other cloud storage competitors in the market.
Interestingly enough, these providers have gone mainstream.
Some of them have offer plans for a one-time payment instead of monthly or annual subscriptions to get ahead of the other competitors.
In short, there aren’t many of them out there. We had concluded the 4 of the cloud storage below that offer these LTD.
| pCloud Reputable, Top-notch Security | Jump to details |
| Icedrive Cheap, Easy to use | Jump to details |
| Koofr Seasonal sales offer, Hybrid type | Jump to details |
| Zoolz Best to avoid | Jump to details |
Is It A Good Deal To Get The Best Cloud Storage with Lifetime Access?
It’s definitely intriguing and, sure, caught my eye about this lifetime cloud storage plan.
And therefore, I ask myself, “is it a worthy investment?”
So, let’s say I am looking for storage space that offers lifetime plans.
What are the benefits of getting lifetime cloud storage?
And I don’t know about you, and I’m not too sure if you’ve noticed it, but — why do most of these providers offer special deal plans on their LTD (Life Time Deal) during particular events such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, New Year Sales, etc.?
What’s the catch behind this, and if I choose to select one of them, am I reaping the benefits and saving big, or it’s just a marketing tactic to get me to buy?
And now that more and more cloud storage offers cheaper subscriptions, is it wise to spend a one-time payment of big bucks for these deals?
But before we get into that subject, let’s quickly take a look into the benefits of getting a lifetime cloud storage plan.
So, what’re the benefits of getting lifetime cloud storage?
Well, that’s why I’m here.
Before committing yourself to any of these plans, you should know about their history. Durability, quality, and stability should be in mind when it comes to a lifetime plan.
This indirectly tells you how the provider will perform and whether will they be long enough in the market.
The value in terms of storage and other criteria such as features, ease of use, speed, privacy, and security.
Security and privacy are kings when it comes to cloud storage services. That is why we emphasize encrypted cloud storage all the time.
I mean, it doesn’t make sense if the provider offers the best cloud storage and their security is diddly-squat.
Privacy is also an important topic.
Depending on the cloud storage encryption feature, if it provides zero-knowledge privacy, then they are good to go. You should have nothing to worry about.
Apart from this, I’d like to see robust collaboration features as good as google drive or secondary features like file previews.
If all that works, then there are incredible benefits.
Not only do you save a lot of money, but you also don’t have to take care of a recurring payment every now and then.
It’s a one-time payment thing.
I mean, just think about it — your account won’t be suspended because you forgot to update your credit card details or lack of payment.
You will get the same capabilities from a recurring subscription payment, it’s still the same.
But here’s the difference, the access may be like forever, but the storage may differ due to what they offer.
For example, pCloud lifetime provides 500GB and 2TB, whereas Icedrive lifetime offers 150GB, 1TB, or 5TB.
Moreover, if their software and infrastructure are high-quality in the long run, it can fix issues such as bugs, and new features are deployed whenever needed.
But at the same time, nothing lasts forever.
Though these LTDs are sold as “lifetime access,” many will be asking “Whose lifetime will that be (users or the providers)?
They can stop the services anytime, which means you are bound to their terms and conditions.
A great example of this would be a French cloud storage service, hubiC.
And same goes for lifetime deals as well.
This brings us to the subject we talked about at the beginning of the article.
Why do most cloud storage vendors offer special discounts on their lifetime plans, especially during the holidays?
Why do they offer special lifetime deals for a limited time during holidays and the shopping season?
From what I learned, cloud storage service doesn’t change their prices often unless it’s time to update their storage quotas to stay ahead in the industry or introduce new features.
Several cloud storage vendors also offer unique lifetime plans during public holidays and shopping seasons such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas Sales, Valentine, Easter, New Year Sales, etc. You name it; there are many.
But here’s the exciting part — not all cloud storage platforms offer amazing deals for a limited time.
And their reasons could be endless, from getting lots of money into the company, paying their employees’ wages to build new features, and improving the service.
That’s alright!
This brings us to the next point, if we buy these deals, are we really reaping the benefits and saving big?
Are we really reaping the benefits and saving big with these lifetime deals?
To really know if these premium lifetime deals are working in our favor, we’ll do a calculation on several cloud storage offers to really see if we will save big time.
Let’s begin with Koofr Cloud Storage.
According to the article, you can get a lifetime 1TB storage subscription for the price of $169.99.
For 100GB, it cost $29.99, and for $59.99, you can get 250GB.
If you checked out their article like we did and tried to use Venture Beat’s promo code BFSAVE40, well, here’s a little bad news, their promo code has expired as it was only available for a limited period.
Truth is, it never works from my experience.
Let’s compare the same storage with their yearly subscriptions.
These are the prices mentioned on their site:
I) 100 GB: 2 €/month – 24 €/year – $29.13
II) 250 GB: 4 €/month – 48 €/year – $58.26
III) 1 TB: 10 €/month – 120 €/year – $145.65
Converted from Euro Pounds to USD dollars using the XE currency platform.
| Storage | Yearly Plan | Lifetime Deal |
|---|---|---|
| 100GB | $29.13/yr | $29.99 |
| 250GB | $58.26/yr | $59.99 |
| 1TB | $145.65/yr | $169.99 |
Based on the differences between the prices, the lifetime plans cost slightly more than the yearly plans.
But just give a moment to think about it, would you rather pay $145.65 every year for 1TB or pay $169.99 once for the very same storage space?
Let’s say you spend $145.65 every year for the next 5 years without any changes in the vendor’s price; it will cost a whopping $728.25!
From what I can see, it’s a jackpot from the deals!
We’ve reviewed Koofr, and it’s legit. You can check out our review.
On a side note, is it truly that easy to hit a jackpot?
But for others, such as Polar Cloud, we did a bit of snooping, and their customers’ reviews are not very good.
So, do your own research before purchasing them.
But besides Koofr (lifetime deal only available during festive seasons), other cloud storage vendors offer lifetime deals too.
A few good ones are pcloud and Icedrive.
Make sure you check out our pCloud lifetime saving calculator to work out the numbers on one-time vs recurring savings to help you decide.
But on the other hand, other cloud storage providers are providing cheaper subscription plans, iCloud and Google Drive are slaughtering opponents with their aggressive pricing plans.
So is it smart to pay a hefty sum to secure a lifetime deal or pay affordable subscription plans?
With cloud storage services getting cheaper, is it wise to fork up a big chunk of a one-time payment to secure up the lifetime storage deal?
Great question and we thought about this as well.
Let’s take a couple of affordable cloud storage providers and compare them with those that offer lifetime storage plans such as the Icedrive lifetime deal.
For example, we all know Google One Plans are very, very affordable, and let’s compare them with Koofr and pCloud lifetime plans.
Let’s say you choose 2TB from Google Plan and it cost $9.99 per month or prepay annually for $99.99.
If you think about that for a second, it’s not bad; it’s quite affordable, $9.99 per month, or pay $99.99 per year, close to $100 for 2TB.
At the same time, pCloud offers $350 for a one-time payment for 2TB.
You can definitely see a big difference between the pCloud and Google Plan for the 2TB storage space.
But at the end of the day, it entirely depends on your commitment.
If you’re planning to commit to a plan for a very long time, would you rather pay $99.99 per year for the next 5 years to a total amount of $499.95 or just pay $350 in one lump sum?
The price difference is $149.95, and it’s better to save that money for your own use!
You’ll never know when Google decided to increase their price or start charging for something they offered free previously like the free plan of Google Photos where you no longer get unlimited storage for your photos backup.
From what I see, it’s a huge potential to save a lot of money here.
Let’s Compare iCloud with LTD Cloud Storage
For one last time, we’ll make another comparison between iCloud and pCloud lifetime.
Everyone knows that iCloud is another affordable cloud storage.
iCloud offers 50GB for $0.99/mo, 200GB for $2.99/mo, and 2TB for $9.99/mo.
I mean, let’s face it, almost a dollar per month for 50GB is very affordable for personal use!
But let’s see how much these subscription plans cost per year:
| Storage | Monthly Plan | Yearly Plan |
|---|---|---|
| 50GB | $0.99/mo | $11.88/yr |
| 200GB | $2.99/mo | $35.88/yr |
| 2TB | $9.99/mo | $119.88/yr |
Suppose you compare pCloud’s 2TB lifetime plan of $350 to iCloud’s 2TB plan, which is a total of $119.88 annually.
There’s a massive difference in the price of $230.12.
And that’s how much it cost per year!
Again, the yearly subscription fee will eventually add up if you continue to subscribe to them and we see no reasons why you will stop after a year or two.
Eventually, the iCloud subscription will surpass the pCloud lifetime cost after the third year.
Verdict – Lifetime Cloud Storage Service Gets the Nod
That concludes our review of these deals.
We did the calculation and broke it down for you.
And if you take the Icedrive lifetime deal into the equation, the saving is even bigger.
At the end of the day, you’ll have to make the decision, and if you need a lot of storage to store your files for a long period of time, we recommend getting lifetime cloud deals.
If you don’t like the recurring subscription fees also, lifetime storage plans work great for you too.
One thing you should be noted is that most of these are not sharing-friendly. They tend to work for individual users only.
Or you might be thinking NAS might be a better option as opposed to cloud storage.
Read our NAS vs Cloud Storage for a better understanding.
Or my DS220j review which I think is the best home NAS for a cloud backup.
The breakdown presented above is, in our opinion, an excellent opportunity to save money in the long run.
But if you’re concerned with the high price and you’re not looking to store your files for the long term, we recommend you check out our site for reviews on other cloud storage services.