Top 10 Best Cloud Storage Services and Apps for your Business

Cloud storage has become an important part of our lives. No matter what business you are into, you have to store your daily business related data somewhere. Nobody likes to carry hard-disk or any other devices for data storage nowadays. That is where cloud storage comes into play. Cloud storage also prevents the risk of losing data. To make your life easier there are many services and apps which you can use for cloud storage.

What is Cloud Storage?

Cloud storage is a cloud computing model where users can store data on the internet. The process is done through a cloud computing provider who manages and operates data storage as a service. You don't need to buy or manage your own data storage infrastructure as with cloud storage you can store and access data anytime on-demand with just-in-time capacity and costs. Cloud storage is believed to be invented by Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider in the 1960's. Joseph was then working on ARPANET. However, its real implementation was seen in 1983 when CompuServe offered its users a small amount of disk space to store their files.

Users connect with the data server via the Internet to get access to cloud storage. When a user sends files to the data server either manually or with automation the data server forwards the information to multiple servers and then only through a web-based interface the user get access to the stored data.

Below, we've listed some of the best cloud storage services which you can use for your business.

Best Cloud Storage Services and Apps

pCloud

Launched: 2013
Headquarters: Auckland

pCloud is a cloud storage service which is secure and easy-to-use. It provides 10 GB of free storage. Hence, in a way, it is the best free cloud storage platform. So you don't have to worry before you reach 10 GB. pCloud is also considered as one of the best cloud storage services. pCloud also offer lifetime plans which allows users to store data up to 2TB. pCloud makes your life easier when it comes to storing files. There are many other options provided by pCloud to its user like collaboration, encryption, etc. but it is best known for its cloud storage service as it is very feasible.

Dropbox

Founded: 2007
Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Dropbox is a platform where you can store all your contents together. It is a personal cloud storage service which is used as an online backup service. Most of the businesses use Dropbox as it makes it very easy for a group of people to share files and collaborate on a project. Dropbox provides 2 GB storage for free and there are various paid plans by which you can get storage up to 100 GB. There is another option available which is Dropbox for Teams where you can get up to 350 GB storage. For a desktop operating system, Dropbox application is available for Windows, Macintosh and Linux. The mobile application of Dropbox supports iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry devices. Dropbox uses Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) to store users data. You don't have to worry about the protection and security of the data as the data is protected with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Advanced Encryption System (AES) 256-bit encryption.

Google Drive

Launched: 2012

Google Drive is also a cloud storage service, the main purpose of this cloud storage service is to provide the ability to the users to store more files. As the storage capacity of Google Drive is beyond the limits of your hard drive. It is available for both Android and iOS. It allows to store up to 15 GB data without any charges which are sufficient for personal and office use. It allows presentations, documents, spreadsheets to view and edits the files, whenever the user wants to view and edit them. You can also store videos, audios, photos on the cloud and share them anytime. If you want more storage, you can upgrade to a paid plan with Google One. With a paid plan, Google lets you share your storage with your family or friends and provide access to Google Experts. Google Drive is the best cloud storage platform for your business.

Microsoft OneDrive

Launched: 2007

There is another cloud storage service provided by Microsoft that is OneDrive. Microsoft's OneDrive is another best cloud storage service you can trust. It is integrated with Microsoft so the users can access and save files like Word Docs, Excel Spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations. OneDrive is accessible through Windows, Android, Mac, iOS, Windows Phone and Xbox. Microsoft OneDrive provides 7 GB storage for free and the users can also add more storage by paying some amount such as to add 50 GB for $25, 100 GB for $50, and 200 GB for $100. To make things easier, it has a tagging feature to sort out and find photos. It also gives notifications as soon as a document is edited or shared. The files also can be accessed offline, making it an easy cloud-storage app.

Amazon Drive

Launched: 2011
Headquarters: United States

Amazon Drive is another popular and secure cloud storage application which is managed by Amazon. Users can transfer and manage files using their Amazon account from web browsers, desktop applications, mobiles and tablets. It allows users to share and edit files such as docs, pictures, videos and music also on the cloud. The best part even if the device is stolen, or lost, the user can access the data (both personal and confidential) can be regained on Amazon Drive. The app is also easy to use as it allows users to access the files, rename, delete anytime and the files can be shared through links and attachments is email, text message. Amazon Drive allows storing data up to 5 GB of data for free.

Box

Launched: 2005
Headquarters: Redwood City, California, U.S.

Box is an online cloud storage service which offers cloud content management and file-sharing services to individuals as well as businesses. Box app available for both Android and iOS devices. It allows the users to view, share and edit files and that too very securely. Box comes with 10 GB of free storage to back up all files and it can be accessed via a wide range of devices such as iPhone, Windows, Android and iPad. It gives offline access to files and folders, high fidelity, PowerPoint presentations and allows you to share huge files with just a link. Box also offers real-time search in PDF, word documents, PowerPoint and Excel files.

Mega

Launched: 2013
Headquarters: Auckland

Mega is a cloud storage service which is known for its improvement and changes. It provides a storage space of 15 GB for free. The user can easily drag and drop to upload files, pictures, and videos to stream, download, store and share. Using Mega you can access the files from anywhere in the world. There are more four paid plans that Mega has which are Pro Lite with 200 GB storage at $5.69/month, Pro II with 1000 GB storage at $11.38/month, Pro III with 4000 GB storage at $22.78/month and Pro IV with 8000 GB storage at $29.78/month. The data stored in the cloud is encrypted during transit.

NextCloud

Launched: 2016
Headquarters: Stuttgart Baden-Württemberg

NextCloud is a cloud storage service which is similar to Dropbox, but unlike Dropbox, it does not offer off-premises hosting for file storage. It is an open-source software which means it is free to download and install on the user's server. It has innovative self-hosting relations. Users can also enable encryption while storing and sharing files and can protect data with encryption if needed. The files on NextCloud are stored in conventional directory structures which the user can access via WebDAV if necessary.

Resilio Sync

Launched: 2016
Headquarters: San Francisco

Resilio Sync is a free cloud-storage app by Resilio, Inc. It is also one of the best storage apps for those who are looking for a free cloud storage service. Resilio Sync is available for Windows, Android, iOS, Mac, Linux, Windows Phone, Amazon Kindle Fire and BSD. Resilio Sync comes with many features one of the best features is that it can sync files between devices on a local network or you can do the same with remote devices over the internet but for that, you need a modified version of the BitTorrent protocol. Resilio Sync is one of the most popular cloud storage services because of its features and concerns about file storage limits, privacy, cost, and performance.

Tresorit

Launched: 2011
Headquarters: San Jose, California

Tresorit is an online storage service where you can store and share your data. Tresorit comes with a free trial but it also has three paid plans for two categories. The first category is individual and the first plan is Basic which is free, the other two plans are paid which are Premium $10.42 /month and Solo $24/month if billed annually. The second category is for teams and the plans are Small business $20/user/month, Business $12/user/month and Enterprise $24/user/month if billed annually. It is known for being one of the expensive cloud-storage services in the market. Tresorit features end-to-end encryption of every file uploaded on the device, keeping the third-party interference away. The Basic plan comes with free 3GB storage.

This is our list of the best cloud storage services and apps. We will try to keep this list updated. Hope you liked this post.