The best Cloud Storage & Sync
Every option ranked — open-source, self-hostable, and commercial — by our transparent Sovereignty Score, with honest trade-offs so you choose what fits you, not us.
Keep your files in sync on storage you control, not a vendor's cloud.
L3Infrastructure — layer 3 of the AI stack- 1
Nextcloud
Top pickOpen sourceA full self-hosted cloud: files, sharing, and more.
Free / open-source (self-host); paid support/hosting optional · in our Dropbox comparison →
What is Nextcloud? →90sovereignty - 2
Syncthing
Open sourceContinuous peer-to-peer file sync with no cloud.
Free / open-source · in our Dropbox comparison →
What is Syncthing? →92sovereignty - 3
CryptPad
Open sourceEnd-to-end-encrypted collaborative documents where the server never sees your content.
Free / self-host; free public instance at cryptpad.fr · in our Google Drive comparison →
What is CryptPad? →92sovereignty - 4
Seafile
Open sourceFast, reliable self-hosted file sync and share.
Free self-host (Community Edition); paid Pro tier · in our Dropbox comparison →
What is Seafile? →86sovereignty - 5
Internxt
Open sourcePartnerOpen-source, zero-knowledge encrypted storage with lifetime plans.
10GB free; 200GB ~€3.49/mo; 2TB ~€8.99/mo; lifetime plans from ~€135 one-time · in our Dropbox comparison →
What is Internxt? →68sovereignty - 6
Proton Drive
CommercialPartnerEnd-to-end encrypted cloud storage from the Proton privacy suite.
Free tier (a few GB); paid from about $4/month (or bundled in Proton Unlimited) · in our Dropbox comparison →
What is Proton Drive? →60sovereignty - 7
pCloud
CommercialPartnerSwiss hosted storage with true lifetime plans — the commercial pick.
Lifetime (one-time) list prices: 500 GB $279 · 2 TB $709 · 10 TB $2,799 — often discounted ($219 / $499 / $1,499 on 2026-09-17). Monthly and annual subscriptions also sold; zero-knowledge pCloud Encryption is a separate paid add-on · in our Dropbox comparison →
What is pCloud? →38sovereignty
Is it free?
The free tier, its real limits and where you start paying — read from each vendor's own pricing page and dated.
Run these yourself
What each one actually needs — real RAM, honest running cost, and the setup time nobody quotes.
- Self-hosting Nextcloud 4 GB
- Self-hosting Syncthing 512 MB
- Self-hosting CryptPad 2 GB for a small instance
- Self-hosting Seafile 4 GB
Replacing a specific tool?
Head-to-head comparisons for each popular cloud storage & sync product.
Straight head-to-heads
Two cloud storage & sync tools, side by side — verified facts and a plain verdict.