What is Cloud Storage?

To put it simply, cloud storage is a service that allows you to transfer data over the Internet or other networks to an off-site storage system maintained by a third party to store the data. This means that individuals and businesses can safely transfer and store data files internally without having to use a large number of physical hard drives to store their information.

Why Do You Need Cloud Storage?

You need to access documents quickly, but it is inconvenient to always use the desktop? You have generated a lot of files due to work, but you are worried that using mobile devices for storage is easy to damage or be stolen? Do you need to store business data but worry about excessive costs? Do you have a lot of pictures, videos, or files that you want to share with friends and family, but don’t know where to start?

When you are thinking and worrying about these issues, I have to say that free cloud storage is the right answer. With cloud storage, as long as you have a network, you can quickly access your files and share files with friends and family anytime, anywhere. Cloud storage provides a cost-effective and scalable alternative, which means you can expand capacity as data volume increases, or reduce capacity when necessary.

Why you should backup files with cloud storage?

Nowadays, more and more users are willing to backup photos to the cloud. What are the benefits of cloud storage? There are 3 main reasons:

☛Free data storage: The first and most obvious advantage is that you can get free cloud storage as long as you have an account. For example 15GB free for Google Drive and unlimited free photo storage for Google Photos, 5GB free (up to 25GB with subscriptions) for OneDrive, 2GB free for Dropbox, etc.

☛Protect your data from the accident: Second, cloud storage is a safe place for your files that can free you from a natural disaster, hardware failure, or other unexpected things, such as, fire, virus, disk failure, stolen, etc.

☛Easy access to files: Third, you can instantly access your data from all devices with a cloud drive installed as long as there is an internet connection.

You can also judge whether the cloud storage service is what you need by its advantages and disadvantages:

Different cloud storage providers have different advantages and provide different functions. Next, let me introduce you to the most popular free online storage on the market. You can choose to subscribe to the services you need most through the free cloud storage comparison.

Top 6 Free Cloud Storage Services

This chapter will introduce you to six very good cloud storage providers, you can compare according to your situation (in no particular order).

Google Drive

Google Drive is a cloud storage service provided by Google. Each new user will get 15 GB of free space. It provides desktop backup application Google Backup and Sync, which supports the synchronization of files to Google Drive and Google Photos.

Advantages: Integration with Google Docs; Large free storage (15GB); Support for backups.

Subscription plan: Prices vary according to your country/region, you can click here to view.

Go for: iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows

Dropbox

Dropbox was one of the earliest market participants in the cloud storage industry in 2007, providing new users with 2GB of storage space for free. Dropbox provides users with easy-to-sync features that can help you access files and documents from any device to Dropbox.

Advantages: Easy to use; Free storage of up to 19GB; Remote device wipe.

Subscription plan: For individuals: Plus, 2TB, $10/month; Professional, 3TB, $16.58/month; For businesses: Standard, 3TB, $12.50/user/month; Advanced, unlimited, $20/user/month; Enterprise, unlimited storage, rates not listed.

Go for: iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, Kindle Fire, PC

OneDrive

OneDrive is an online storage service from Microsoft, and new users will get 5 GB of free space. The product comes with most Office software or subscriptions, and users can store any file type in OneDrive.

Advantages: Integrates with Office 365; Good collaboration tools; Ransomware detection and recovery.

Subscription plan: For individuals: Storage only, 100GB, $2/month; Office 365 Personal, 1TB, $70/year; Office 365 Home, 6TB (1TB each for 6 users), $100/year; additional storage available for Office 365 Personal and Home users, ranging from 200GB for $2/month to 1TB for $10/month. For businesses: Storage only, 1TB per user, $5/user/month or unlimited, $10/user/month; Office 365 Business Premium, 1TB per user, $12.50/user/month.

Go for: iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows

Mega

Mega is known for its free storage space and security features, the security feature can encrypt files before uploading them on the client. New users will get 50GB of storage space, 15GB of free storage space is the actual permanent storage space users enjoy as free users, and the additional 35GB of storage space will expire after one month of registration.

Advantages: Lots of storage space; Share public folders.; Mobile and desktop apps.

Subscription plan: Lite account: 200GB, $4.99/month; 500GB, $9.99/month; 2TB $19.99/month; 4 TB for $29.99/ month.

Go for: Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Windows, Mac, Linux

iCloud

iCloud is cloud storage that comes with Apple products. It provides 5GB of storage space for new users. All documents and files can be safely stored and easy to use. iCloud users can easily share photos and videos with their families. With iCloud, it becomes easy to organize files and folders.

Advantages: Seamless connection with your own Apple system; Cheap pricing for upgrades; Impressive Apple integration.

Subscription plan: Prices vary by country/region, click on plan details to learn more.

Go for: iOS, Mac

Amazon Drive

Amazon Drive is an online storage service launched by Amazon.com, which provides unlimited photo storage space and 5 GB of video and file space for Amazon Prime members. Amazon Cloud Drive stores all photos, videos, files, etc. in one place.

Advantages: Unlimited photo storage; Upload from mobile and desktop apps; Free 30-day trial.

Subscription plan: 100GB, $12/year; 1TB, $60/year.

Go for: Android, iOS, Mac, Windows

Free online storage provides incredible services, and there are many practical features and advantages that you should not miss. You could choose the best free cloud storage services according to your situation.

Free Space Is Not Enough to Store Photos And Videos

All of these popular cloud drives offer you free cloud storage, but it’s not enough. And you may be forced to create multiple accounts for a cloud drive and use it to store files. To get unlimited free space, you could consider using the cloud backup service - CBackup.

CBackup is a free yet professional online cloud service that supports you combine multiple cloud storage with its free space, including OneDrive, Dropbox, Google, etc. The premise is to create a CBackup account and connect all your cloud storage.

Besides, this software still has other advantages, such as, move files between cloud storage, support multiple backup settings, and ensure your account security with authentication protocol OAuth, and more.

Bonus Tip: Get Unlimited Cloud Backup Space for Free

If you are troubled with the limited free cloud storage, and you may need to pay for a subscription storage plan to get more space. Is there any way to get more space for free? Don't worry, the free cloud backup service CBackup will do you a big favor.

Here is how to combine multiple clouds or cloud accounts to large free cloud storage, even free unlimited cloud storage with CBackup:

✎Note: You could add Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox to CBackup, even multiple accounts of these clouds, CBackup will combine the clouds into free cloud storage.

1. Create a CBackup account and sign in to CBackup desktop app.

2. Select Storage, and then select the cloud drive (here is Google Drive), and click Authorize Now. Then follow the steps to grant authority to CBackup to access to Google Drive files. And edit the settings for Google Drive.

Repeat step 2 to add other cloud drives you have, and now you could combine these clouds into free unlimited cloud storage as below:

1. Tap Storage > + Add Combined Cloud.

2. Edit the Combined Cloud Name, tick all the cloud drives, and press Next.

3. Determine the order of clouds to store backup files, and click Combine.

If you have a large file that needs to be stored in the cloud drive, but the storage space of this drive is not enough, CBackup can combine clouds to a free cloud storage, then you could backup the large file to the combined cloud easily. And it's worth to mention that all the data is stored on your public cloud, and don't worry the data security.

Besides, CBackup offers the free 5GB cloud storage of CBackup Cloud, the secure cloud storage service, you could protect more precious data right now.

Summary

Have you found the best free cloud storage for you through this article? In any case, it is not wrong to choose a cloud storage service based on the features you need.

If you are a user who needs file synchronization and access to these files from a remote location, then you should subscribe to Dropbox, which is an expert in providing this service. Real-time file editing and file collaboration software functions are provided by services such as iCloud, Google Drive, and OneDrive. If you have a lot of photos to store, Mega and Amazon Drive will be good choices. 

Of course, if you encounter issues while backing up files to cloud using the desktop app of Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, CBackup could be the best choice to backup files to cloud.