Google Drive is the go-to for nearly everyone on the planet when it comes to storage services in the cloud& despite there being more than a handful other services that are arguably far better geared towards safeguarding the interests of the users who entrust these services with their precious data. Owing to the integration with Gmail and later with the Android operating system& Google Drive has cemented a place for itself as the number one cloud storage service for consumers. Or is it? People have always searched for Google Drive alternatives and they are looking for the best Google Drive alternative in 2021 as well& and today we are looking at pCloud vs Google Drive to decide which service should you use in 2021.
part1 Quick Information On Google Drive
Google Drive is Google’s cloud storage service that provides users with 15 GB of data storage free of cost& and there are plans users can buy to bolster their storage should they need to. Google Drive is seamlessly integrated with all of Google’s ecosystem. This means that all your Google Services use Google Drive to store data. Most notably of these are Gmail and Google Photos& since these will quickly reflect against your available free space more than other services that might use negligible storage in comparison. If you get or send emails with as many attachments as possible& you will see your storage diminish quickly. Now& even Google Photos will count towards your Google Drive storage of 15 GB& since Google announced back in 2020 that it will start counting new photos (from June 1& 2021) towards your storage quota regardless of upload size setting come June 1& 2021. So& if you store your photos in High Quality today& and you have a large library& you will see that you might even need to buy more storage& depending on your current library size.
Google Drive has desktop apps that sync your computer to the cloud storage and vice versa. There are mobile apps that you can use. All in all& it is a very efficient service for most consumers. This is what Google targets this product towards& and the service excels at it. So& why a pCloud vs Google Drive comparison?
Part 2 Quick Information On pCloud
pCloud provides users with 10 GB free storage for ever and has been in the industry for almost as long as Google Drive has& having started its journey in 2013 and boasting of over 10 million users as of today.
pCloud is based in Switzerland& the land known for its data privacy laws that revolve around the rights of the consumer. Besides this obvious charm that Google cannot boast about& pCloud is more famous for its pricing model - annual and lifetime& both offering 500 and 2 TB storage options for a lucrative annual fee or one-time payment for life. Life is defined as lifetime of the account holder or 99 years.
Besides one-time pricing and privacy-centric services& pCloud also highlights its security and encryption. Together& this package makes pCloud a true alternative to Google Drive at a reasonable cost& if you value certain things such as privacy and need more storage at a cost comparable to Google Drive and are not deeply entrenched in the Google ecosystem that might necessitate paying for Google Drive instead.
Part 3 pCloud vs Google Drive Features: In-depth Comparison
pCloud vs Google Drive: Storage Space
Google Drive: 15 GB free
pCloud: 10 GB free
Google Drive offers 15 GB storage that is shared between all Google Services that you use. This means that if you send or receive an email that contains 20 MB of attachments& your usable/ available Google Drive space reduces by 20 MB& and so on. Come June 1& 2021& Google Photos stored in any resolution will count towards storage& albeit only the new photos and videos you take. But that is still going to be a lot& depending on your use.
pCloud provides 10 GB free storage. This is pure storage& not shared with any other service that might surprise you with its storage use later.
pCloud vs Google Drive: Integrations
Integration has been the name of the game for a few years now. While a service provider’s own offerings are generally seamlessly integrated with each other& third-party services such as Dropbox and Box are built around integration and are useful because of it.
Google Drive integrates with nearly every major app or service in the world that people have come to rely on. Nearly every major app or software in the world has Google Drive integration to further entice customers. No doubt& Google Drive is as integrated as they come. Google Drive integration is such as that even rival services such as Box provides users with Google Drive integration to allow for creation and edition of Google Docs& Slides and Sheets from within Box.
pCloud on the other hand is nearly as standalone as they come. This is also reflective of the target audience both cloud service providers look to serve. While for Google Drive integration and collaboration is the name of the game& pCloud focuses more on using cloud storage as the more traditional definition of a storage drive in the cloud.
pCloud vs Google Drive: Data Privacy & Security
Data privacy is the buzzword today and with good reason. With more and more data in the cloud& it becomes more and more important to talk about privacy of said data from prying eyes and malicious actors.
Google has been known to read your emails in Gmail to provide you with tailored ads in the service. pCloud on the other hand is known to do no such thing. Based in Switzerland& it highlights its privacy-focused business model to users.
Data security is as important as data privacy& and the terms are neither interchangeable nor to be confused with each other.
Data security refers to security of data at rest and in transit. Google Drive uses TLS in transit and 128-bit AES at rest. pCloud uses 256-bit AES at rest and& like Google Drive& TLS in transit. Clearly& your data is more secure with pCloud than it is with Google Drive. Shocked?
pCloud vs Google Drive: Special Features
What makes Google Drive unique is that Google Drive provides a fully online and only online office productivity suite comprising Google Docs& Google Slides and Google Sheets. With integrations with all major software providers in the world and more& if collaboration is what you are after& Google Drive is the solution for you. pCloud will not come close.
This does not mean that pCloud is left in the dust for modern requirements. Far from it! Most consumers use their smartphones for taking videos and photographs and pCloud provides a more secure alternative to Google Drive along with offering more storage and a one-time payment option. This means that you can devote pCloud towards your media storage requirements& leaving your Google Drive with 15 GB free for your email and attachments. When it gets cluttered there& you can choose to move your photos and videos from emails to pCloud& freeing up space in Gmail again.
pCloud also provides options to showcase your files as a portfolio to outside users& and there is an audio player built in that you can use on the web or mobile app to listen to music stored in pCloud.
That means you can now upload your music library to pCloud and enjoy streaming music without paying $9.99 for it every month! That saving alone will cover the cost of pCloud annual plus leave you with a lot of change to spare!
Part 4 pCloud vs Google Drive: Comparison Table
|
|
pCloud |
Google Drive |
|---|---|---|
|
Price |
Starts with Free |
Starts with Free |
|
Integrations |
None |
Integrated with Gmail and Google Workspace |
|
Special Features |
Portfolio page& embedded audio player |
Real-time Presence for Microsoft Office files |
|
Privacy |
100% data privacy |
Known to read emails for targeted advertising |
|
Security |
256-bit AES at rest and TLS while in transit |
128-bit AES at rest and TLS while in transit |
|
Unique Selling Proposition |
Lifetime Account allows one-time payment for lifelong use& Family Account also available |
Ubiquity – available everywhere with all major or minor software vendors for seamless integration |
|
What Is It Good For? |
Personal use requiring large storage& features such as audio player and portfolio display |
Personal and business use requiring document collaboration and service integration with other apps and software for office productivity |
Part 5 Managing Multiple Cloud Storages In One Place
Cloud storage is no more a niche market that it once was& thanks in part to Google Drive offering a generous 15 GB free along with integrating it with every conceivable Google Service to allow for unmatched user experience that consumers have come to love. Yet& Google Drive is hardly the only cloud storage people use. Today& they have on average 3 cloud storage accounts - there may be one for Microsoft OneDrive owing to workplace Microsoft Office use& there may be a Dropbox storage account just because& and we all have at least one Google Drive account. This is almost the minimum we all have. Most have more& depending on their uses. Isn’t it getting a little tedious managing them in different apps and having browser tabs open for each of them when the need arises?
Now& there is a solution to this problem: Wondershare InClowdz.
Wondershare InClowdz: The Cloud Storage Management Tool You Need In 2021
What is InClowdz? InClowdz is a gloriously simple tool built on the lone premise of helping you manage your multiple cloud accounts in one beautifully-designed app and help you easily transfer data between cloud accounts.
Migrate, Sync, Manage Clouds Files in One Place
- • Migrate cloud files such as photos, music, documents from one drive to another, like Dropbox to Google Drive.
- • Backup your music, photos, videos in one could drive to another to keep files safe.
- • Manage all cloud drives such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, box, and Amazon S3 in one place.
- • Sync clouds files such as music, photos, videos, etc., from one cloud drive to another.
Step 1: Register for a Wondershare ID and download InClowdz using this link: https://drfone.wondershare.com/cloud-migration.html
Step 2: Launch InClowdz and you will open to the Migrate module. Just click Add Cloud Drive in the Source Drive& follow the instructions and connect your first cloud drive.
Step 3: At this point you can begin managing your account in InClowdz& but you can add more drives to manage them in one place. If you want to transfer from one drive to another& that is possible with one right click as well.
Step 4: Click Management.
If you hadn’t added anything yet& you will see this empty pane with the button to add a drive.
If you had connected a drive already& you will see your drive connected here:
Step 5: Click on the connected drive and you will see the files in the drive.
If you do not want to manage but just want to migrate or sync content from one drive to another:
Step 1: Click Migrate or Sync
Step 2: Add the drive you want to migrate or sync from under Source Drive
Step 3: Add the drive you want to migrate or sync to under Target Drive
Step 4: Select the whole drive to sync using checkbox next to source drive or click source drive to specify what to sync.
Under target drive& click target drive to select folder to copy into& otherwise data will be synced to the root.
Step 5: Click Migrate or Sync and wait for the process to finish!
Conclusion
People start looking for comparisons with Google Drive alternatives such as pCloud when they are faced with the ugly sides of Google Drive; issues they are unable to resolve& privacy concerns that Google is always embroiled in& etc. People also look for alternatives to Google Drive when they fill their Google Drive up to the brim and are faced with the requirement to pay for more storage or delete content on their Google Drive. That is when they look for alternatives to Google Drive& and pCloud is as good a competitor and alternative as any& since it has been in the industry for nearly as long as Google Drive has been and boasts of several features that put Google Drive to shame& if users are concerned with them.
100% Secure