“Make sure you read till the very end as the Bonus round on pricing could be a surprise turnaround.”
Gone are the days of keeping documents piled up in filing cabinets, scrapbooks, and cardboard boxes!
The advent of new technologies has brought about a massive change in the way we perceive data.
You can bet that most of us cannot grasp the subtle intricacies of the inner workings of the cloud.
But with cloud storage providers popping up from every corner, we still make sure to jump on the bandwagon.
We are constantly monitoring over 20+ best cloud storage servers for their uptime performance.
We’ve all tried and tested the likes of Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive, but they are not what everyone is buzzing about right now.
pCloud has established itself as one of the trustworthy cloud storage providers.
But with Icedrive as the newest player in the game, the cloud storage arena is seriously heating up.
We took front-row seats for the pCloud vs Icedrive face-off. Read on to see who comes out as the winner.
Who Offers the Best Cloud Storage Perks — pCloud vs. Icedrive
In one corner, we have pCloud, a Swiss-based company founded in September 2013.
It has since proven as the favorite of the masses, particularly among the younger population. Check out our in-depth pCloud review.
In the other corner — Icedrive, the young blood, surfacing only in January 2019 but already drawing a lot of attention.
We did a cover on the secure cloud storage from the UK, Icedrive too. Check out the Icedrive review here.
Without further ado, let’s see who takes the win.
1. Round One: File Management
In terms of file management, Icedrive is exceptionally convenient, especially for a newcomer. We can upload, view, edit, and remove files with ease.
Much like Google Drive, Icedrive is an excellent productivity app.
With it, we can share documents, pictures, videos, and other files in only a few clicks.
However, we won’t be able to download entire folders most of the time, especially if they are large. We’ll have to download file by file, which is rather time-consuming.
pCloud, however, comes with its own list of perks. We can store and share files without any size restrictions or upload and download speed limitations.
Not to mention, pCloud took second place in our fastest cloud storage experiment here.
We can drag and drop multiple files, transfer massive folders, and upload them without a problem.
What’s more, all data stored on pCloud is available for offline access on all connected devices.
In addition, to make sure no files get lost in such abundant storage space, pCloud offers both a search function and various filter options.
On top of all that, if we accidentally delete a file, we can easily retrieve it, as it will be kept in the trash for a staggering 180 days.
2. Round Two: Security and Encryption
Security is paramount when it comes to choosing which service to entrust with storing our valuable data.
Both competitors are compliant with data protection regulations, just like all the big guns, such as Dropbox and OneDrive.
With Icedrive, which uses Two fish encryption algorithms, we can sleep soundly, knowing that our sensitive files are stored safely.
What’s more, thanks to client-side encryption, our files are so securely locked and protected on our devices that even in the case of theft, they cannot be hacked.
Icedrive also uses Zero-Knowledge encryption, which ensures that sensitive information, like our login credentials, is visible only to us.
On the other hand, pCloud uses state-of-the-art pCloud Crypto encryption [add-on purchase] that doesn’t even allow their own admins to access our data.
It remains private only to us and the people we decide to share it with. What’s more, we can set passwords and expiration dates for download links to ensure maximum data protection in Premium mode.
And we are just getting to the best part!
The people at pCloud are so confident in their client-side encryption that they started a Crypto Hacking Challenge to check if anyone could breach their security.
After six months of trying in vain, not one of the 2,860 hackers who took part in the challenge was able to claim the $100,000 reward. The unbreakable security of pCloud wins this round.
As a side note, pCloud crypto is an additional purchase as compared to what Icedrive two fish encryption offers as standard in their payment plan.
3. Round Three: Synchronization
Icedrive lets us store data directly on the cloud server, and it syncs our files automatically so that we can access them right away on any of our connected devices.
It acts as a mounted disk on our computer rather than as a single folder for synchronization, as is the case with Google Drive and Dropbox.
On a different note, pCloud has one more feature that is not available in other services. When we install their Windows or Mac software on our computer, it acts as a separate, local P drive.
Unlike other software that takes a particular folder in our Mac or PC for file synchronization, the files from our pCloud storage will instead sync to this virtual drive.
Likewise, when we make changes to a file directly from the pDrive on our computer, those changes will instantly be synchronized with pCloud.
What that means is that the drive on our computer is but a mirror image of our cloud storage and does not use up our computer space.
When we access a file from that drive, it will download as a cached file and sync the changes we make to it to the original file in pCloud.
Similarly, we can copy files to pCloud Drive; they will be saved as a local cache and copied to pCloud in the background.
4. Round Four: User Experience
Both services offer 10 GB of free cloud storage to new users, but pCloud gives 10 GB more to those who invite other users to register.
What’s more, for each successful registration, they award yet another gigabyte of storage.
Both services have beautiful and clean designs for their web, desktop, mobile, and tablet apps.
Both their interfaces are user-friendly and easy to navigate.
Files and folders with both cloud storage providers are accessible and easy to manage.
Their website applications also have easy-to-use functionality tools, such as drag-and-drop, keyboard shortcuts, and many others that make the user experience that much more enjoyable.
Icedrive also has an in-built document viewer and its own media player, too.
That convenient addition allows us to stream audio and video directly from the cloud, eliminating the need for any third-party apps.
5. Round Five: Accessibility
As of the latest release and update, Icedrive is now available on all platforms including, Windows, Mac, and Linux.
In addition, we can also access it from a MacBook, as if it were the best cloud storage for Mac.
Icedrive has developed drive mounting software that allows us to access, manage, and update all your files through your computer as if they were stored in it.
On the other hand, the pCloud mobile app runs on both Android and iOS devices. The pCloud for Web platform is available in any browser, as well as on any computer and device.
Their desktop app is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux. But what goes most in favor of pCloud is its pCloud Drive.
It is a virtual drive on our computers that gives us direct access to our files in the cloud without taking up any computer memory.
Verdict: pCloud vs Icedrive — Who Wins The Match?
We did many comparisons for pCloud such as pCloud vs Dropbox and pCloud vs Backblaze.
But today’s battle was that of pCloud vs. Icedrive.
Both services have their qualities and their shortcomings, but which one won the most rounds?
Icedrive has exceptional security and encryption systems, which we would gladly entrust with protecting our relevant data at no additional cost.
In our book, the user experience was top-notch as well. But, Icedrive is still in the initial stages, and there’s room for improvement on many fronts.
Therefore, the winner of the pCloud vs. Icedrive match is pCloud, as it excelled in all rounds.
Not only is it accessible on all devices, but it has state-of-the-art synchronization and unmatched security systems in place, with the additional cost of course.
Although Icedrive has put on a good fight, seniority takes the cup this time around!
Bonus Round: Pricing Plan
We will let our automatic pricing mechanism do the talking below.
| pCloud Live Price Monitor | |
| Premium (500GB) | $47.88/yearly |
| Premium Plus (2TB) | $95.88/yearly |
| Lifetime Premium (500GB) | $175 |
| Lifetime Premium Plus (2TB) | $350 |
| Icedrive Live Price Monitor | |
| Lite (150GB) | $1.67/mo |
| Pro (1TB) | $4.17/mo |
| Pro + (5TB) | $15/mo |
| Lifetime Lite (150GB) | $99 |
| Lifetime Pro (1TB) | $299 |
| Lifetime Pro + (5TB) | $599 |
The thing that we would like to draw your attention to is the lifetime plan.
Both offer a lifetime cloud storage plan and we believe Icedrive gives out a better value compared to pCloud.
Not only do they have a better variety of different sizes of storage, 150GB, 1TB, and 5TB. All the plans, come with full encryption at a much lower price as well.
Whereas pCloud offers only 500GB and 2TB without zero-knowledge encryption [additional $125 for the lifetime Crypto] to the plan but also at a higher price/GB as well.
| Plan | Price/GB |
|---|---|
| Premium (500GB) | $0.35 |
| Premium Plus (2TB) | $0.175 |
| Lite (150GB) | $0.66 |
| Pro (1TB) | $0.30 |
| Pro + (5TB) | $0.12 |
Do take note that the above price/GB table for Premium and Premium Plus is without the Crypto purchase which needs an additional $125 for a lifetime license.
If added in, the price/GB will become $0.6(Premium) and $0.24(Premium Plus) for pCloud.
We had done a comprehensive review on pCloud lifetime which promises great savings, which they still do.
But with the emergence of Icedrive, they are taking the crown from pCloud now.
Quick Recommendation:
If we are to use the cloud storage for personal usage, we’d suggest to go with Icedrive The price difference is just too much to be on equal footing if loaded with security feature. Check out Icedrive.