If ten years ago, people were limited to only a handful of options, nowadays you can’t throw a rock without hitting a cloud storage service. With the plethora of choices on the market, it can be hard to decide which one is best suited to your needs, especially if you are on a budget.

Luckily for you, we have compiled a small list of cloud storage services with fair and transparent business models. In this article, we will focus on four cloud storage solutions, but if you want more in-depth stuff make sure to check out the linked material. Without further ado, here are the best cloud storage services with affordable pricing plans.

OneDrive

A cloud storage option that does not get as much credit as it deserves is OneDrive. Admittedly, since it is a Microsoft product, you would not exactly call it an ‘’alternative, non-mainstream’’ solution, but it is surely underrated due to the lack of attention it gets from the general public.  

The first advantage that OneDrive has over other cloud storage services is its convenience, check out this dropbox vs one drive comparison and take note of its superiority. While the free storage offering (5 GB) is quite small and does not cover most people’s day to day needs, you can easily expand it to 50 GB by paying 2 dollars per month. But the best value is arguably OneDrive’s Premium Early subscription, which awards 1 TB for 69,99 dollars per year, or 6.99 per month.  Users who own Office 365 are allotted 1 TB worth of space.

If you are a student, even better. By typing in and registering with a valid school email address (regardless of level of education), students get 1 TB of free storage space and free access to Office 365, which includes software such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Excel.

Dropbox

A staple and outright pioneer in the cloud storage industry, Dropbox has more than a decade’s worth of experience in this field, and their sleek, user-friendly interface and intuitive features stand as living proof of this fact. Unfortunately, their free tier offering (2 GB) is as poor as it can get. On the other hand, you can bump that, free of charge, either through the referral system or by linking your Dropbox account to your social media profile. Each person that registers under your name unlocks access to an additional 500 MB until a maximum of 16 GB is reached.

But Dropbox’s fair business model truly shines thanks to their excellent Dropbox Business Subscriptions. Among other things, the business subscriptions allow users to rapidly share their files, as well as giving each person unlimited space in their accounts. Other features that are designed to ensure workflow and constant collaboration are the file recovery and versioning functions. The business pricing starts at about $12.50 per month per user. But, if you are still unsure whether or not this plan is suited to your needs, you can test it for free with a 30-day trial.

pCloud

If you are either in the Google Drive or iCloud camp, there is a big chance you have probably never heard about pCloud. However, pCloud is one of the best cloud storage options in the market, as it gives users access to tons of space without paying an arm and a leg. First off, newly registered users gain access to 10 GB of free storage space, which is probably more than enough to cover the day to day needs of a casual user.

Obviously, users are not limited to the free subscription tier. By opting for the first subscription tier, the 10 GB limit can be increased to 50 GB for just 5 dollars per month. Things do not end here – if you do not like the idea of paying a monthly subscription, you can increase your storage size through the referral system. Each account created under your name gives you 1 GB until a maximum limit of 20 GB is reached. All in all, amongst the cloud storage services, pCloud has one of the fairest business models, so if you are looking for a storage option on a budget, make sure to give it a shot.

Mega

Back in 2012, when the company launched their successful Kickstarter campaign, Mega was considered sort of a rising star of the tech world. And judging by their ridiculously generous free tier, simple and intuitive drag and drop interface and tight security policy, it is no wonder why they are so beloved by people who are looking for alternative cloud storage solutions.

There are two reasons why everybody should use Mega, at least as a secondary option. First off, Mega has one of the most secure infrastructures on the market – users are put in charge of designing their own encryption keys, and the files are encrypted end to end during transfer. Secondly, as we have stated above, their pricing plan is extremely generous – you get 50 GB for free, no strings attached, 200 GB for $6 per month, 1 TB for $12 per month, and 4 TB for $23 in the same time span.

Conclusion

When it comes to cloud storage services, there is more to consider than just pricing. However, since most of us use them to dump high school photos and old college projects, the most important thing to consider is how much we get for how little. The four storage solutions we have highlighted throughout this article are the perfect combination between affordable and reliable, so if you are looking for a service that is priced fairly, make sure to give one of these a shot.