pCloud Pricing: Subscription, Lifetime Plans, Encryption Costs, and Alternatives

pCloud offers monthly, annual, and lifetime plans which include cloud storage, syncing, backups, and media streaming.

pCloud plans start from €4.99/month and €199.99 for lifetime plans for 500GB of cloud storage. However, some additional features and products are not included with a pCloud plan, so these extra costs should be factored in if you’re interested in choosing this service.

To make things clear, this article will cover:

• pCloud plans, features, and pricing
• pCloud lifetime price
• Security
• Cheaper alternatives

By the end of this article, you will have all the options to choose a free, paid, or lifetime storage plan, either with pCloud or more secure and private alternatives.

Table of contents

• Does pCloud offer a free plan?
• pCloud pricing explained
• What features do pCloud plans include?
• What pCloud plans DO NOT include
• What is the pCloud lifetime price for all features?
• Is pCloud secure?
• pCloud vs Internxt - which is better value?
• Related products
• Frequently asked questions

Does pCloud offer a free plan?

A free pCloud plan starts at 2GB; this is the storage you get when you create a pCloud account. If you want more storage, you have to complete the following onboarding tasks:

• Verify your email address: + 1GB
• Upload a file: + 1GB
• Download the pCloud desktop app: + 1GB
• Download the mobile app: +1GB
• Enable automatic uploads from mobile: + 1GB

Total storage = 7GB

From there, you can refer your friends to get an extra free gigabyte of space, taking your free plan to 10GB.

Another thing worth noting is that pCloud automatically adds a getting started document and demo audio files to your account, which you have to delete if you want the full 2GB, which is quite annoying.

So a free pCloud plan is for 2GB, if you want more free cloud storage without spending your time doing the manual tasks, check out our list of free cloud storage options below.

pCloud pricing explained

The following are pCloud’s cloud storage plans, whereas other features and products are available as a separate service or paid add-on, which we will cover later in the article.

For now, these are the pCloud pricing plans for its monthly, annual, and lifetime cloud storage plans.

Monthly

Premium 500 GB

• €4.99/month
• 500 GB shared link traffic

Premium Plus  2 TB

• €9.99/month
• 2 TB shared link traffic

Ultra 10 TB

• €29.99/month
• 2 TB shared link traffic

Annual

Or you can choose an annual pCloud plan and save around 16% compared to paying monthly.

Premium 500 GB

• €49.99/month
• 500 GB shared link traffic

Premium Plus  2 TB

• €99.99/year
• 2 TB shared link traffic

Ultra 10 TB

• €299.99/year
• 2 TB shared link traffic

Lifetime

If you want to avoid subscriptions altogether, pCloud offers one-time payment cloud storage plans at the following prices:

Premium 500 GB

• €199.99
• 500 GB shared link traffic

Premium Plus 2 TB

• €399.99/year
• 2 TB shared link traffic

Ultra 10 TB

• €1190.99/year
• 2 TB shared link traffic

Lifetime plans can also be stacked, so if you start with a 500 GB plan and want to add 2 TB in the future, you will get 2.5 TB total.

What features do pCloud plans include?

Below are the features you get when you purchase a lifetime plan with pCloud.

• File management: Restore previous versions of your file from up to 30 days
• File sharing: Share files with password-protected links and branded links
• Streaming: Stream music or videos from pCloud’s media player
• Backups: Back up your files in the desktop app, or automatically from your phone

What pCloud plans DO NOT include

Zero-knowledge encryption

All paid plans bought from pCloud use the standard encryption used by Google Drive, Dropbox, and others, so files are not encrypted on your device and can be accessed or deleted by pCloud or other external parties.

If you want cloud storage with zero-knowledge encryption with pCloud, it will cost extra on top of your subscription or lifetime plan.

For pCloud Crypto, it will cost:

• Monthly: €4.99/month + cost of your storage plan
• Annual: €49.99/year + cost of your storage plan
• Lifetime: €150 one-time payment

If you purchase pCloud Crypto, then a separate folder is created in your pCloud account. From there, you drop or upload your files into this folder, and they become client-side encrypted.

As a result, your files are split between two storage areas:

1. Files stored outside the Crypto folder use standard server-side encryption
2. Files manually placed in the Crypto folder receive zero-knowledge encryption.

If you accidentally upload sensitive files to the regular storage area, they will not have the same level of privacy protection.

If you don’t want to pay extra for this level of protection on top of your subscription or lifetime investment, there are alternatives to pCloud available that offer zero-knowledge encryption for its free and paid cloud, which we discuss in our article below.

If you’re specifically looking for lifetime plans with zero-knowledge encryption, then Internxt is the best private cloud storage and pCloud alternative that offers post-quantum and end-to-end encryption for its free and paid plans.

There’s no need to purchase any add-ons or create separate folders; all folders uploaded to Internxt Drive are encrypted on your device, and nobody except you can read their contents.

pCloud Pass

pCloud Pass is another separate service from pCloud you can add to your subscription. A free option is available, which offers the password manager for 1 device, or the following plans are available, again, with monthly, annual, or lifetime options available.

pCloud Pass Premium

• Monthly: €2.99/month
• Annual: €29.99/year
• Lifetime: €149 one-time payment

Features of pCloud Pass Premium:

• Unlimited active devices
• Unlimited secured sharing
• Unlimited contact list
• Secure password generator
• All other features included

pCloud Pass Family

• Monthly: €4.99/month
• Annual: €49.99/year
• Lifetime: €253 one-time payment

Features of pCloud Pass Family:

• Up to 5 members
• Unlimited active devices
• Unlimited active devices
• Unlimited contact list
• Secure password generator

You can purchase this password manager on its own as a subscription or lifetime account, or combine it with a pCloud lifetime plan and pCloud crypto. The costs of all of these combined are covered below so you get a real idea of the pCloud lifetime price when all features are included.

What is the pCloud lifetime price for all features?

Now that we have covered all pCloud plans for its cloud storage, these are the additional products or features you can add on top of a lifetime plan.

One-time add-ons:

• pCloud Crypto Lifetime: €150
• pCloud Pass Premium Lifetime: €149
• pCloud Pass Family Lifetime: €253

With that in mind, below are the pCloud lifetime prices when combined with these additional features.

Based on those prices, a pCloud plan is, on average, about €251 more expensive than the base lifetime storage plan once you factor in the additional lifetime services (Crypto, Pass Premium, Pass Family, or combinations of them).

Is pCloud secure?

pCloud has had several issues in the past, which makes people wonder is pCloud safe to use. Below you can find the main problems and issues users have experienced when using pCloud.

Account termination

Due to the lack of zero-knowledge encryption for all paid plans without pCloud Crypto, the risk of your files being accessed and deleted by pCloud is already high.

In fact, when searching across Reddit, the following topics come up for pCloud:

• Accounts being suspended or terminated with little or no explanation.
• Support citing violations of the Terms of Service without specifying which files triggered the action.
• Losing access to both their data and their lifetime purchase.

While some of these files may have been deleted due to violating pCloud’s conditions, it is still concerning that your files or account could be deleted if you don’t meet their terms.

Synchronization privacy

Earlier in 2026, another incident was reported on Reddit with numerous users reporting seeing data from other users in their accounts, including:

• Folders belonging to other users,
• Filenames,
• Metadata,
• In some cases, files they claimed were not theirs.

pCloud support privately described the issue as a "rare synchronization anomaly" and said it was under investigation, but it is still unclear what happened.

Lack of transparency

Since pCloud isn't open source, its apps and encryption cannot be independently verified by the public.

Users therefore have to rely primarily on the company's own claims, reputation, and security certifications (ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO 9001)  rather than being able to inspect or independently verify the software themselves.

pCloud also claims Swiss privacy laws, but its day-to-day operations are ran in Bulgaria, and its data centers are in Luxembourg and the United States, so those data protection laws apply.

With this in mind, and past security incidents, you may want to consider an alternative to pCloud, with zero-knowledge encryption included in all plans, plus a wider range of products and tools to protect you online.

pCloud vs Internxt - which is better value?

Internxt offers post-quantum and zero-knowledge encryption included for free and paid plans, with additional features such as VPN, Antivirus, Meet, and Mail, making it a more well-rounded and private pCloud alternative.

The full list of features with Internxt plans is available below.

All files are encrypted on your device, so you never have to worry about unauthorized access to your files.

For pricing, below is a comparison of pCloud plans vs. Internxt lifetime plans. Since Internxt offers zero-knowledge encryption at no extra cost, the cost comparison includes pCloud Crypto.

Based on this pCloud vs Internxt cost comparison, Internxt offers the best overall value, with more storage for your money than the equivalent pCloud + Crypto plans.

1 TB: Internxt Essential offers better value. For only €30 more than pCloud 500 GB + Crypto, you get twice the storage.

3 TB: Internxt Premium offers better value. For only €30 more than pCloud 2 TB + Crypto, you get 1 TB of extra storage (50% more).

5 TB: Internxt Ultimate offers better value. For €230 more than pCloud 2 TB + Crypto, you get 2.5× more storage.

The only exception is pCloud's 10 TB + Crypto plan, which has the lowest cost per GB. However, you can stack an Internxt lifetime plan to get 10TB of lifetime storage, and you get more features with an Ultimate plan, such as NAS and Rclone support, plus Meet and Mail.

To get started with Internxt Drive and its fully encrypted cloud storage, get your 85% discount on all plans by following the link below.

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Frequently asked questions

How much does pCloud cost?

A pCloud lifetime price starts at 500 GB: €199.99 for 500GB, and up to €1,190.99 for 10TB, without pCloud crypto or pCloud Pass, which require separate payments, increasing the overall cost.

Is pCloud end-to-end encrypted?

No. pCloud is not end-to-end encrypted by default.

All paid pCloud plans use standard server-side encryption, meaning your files are encrypted on pCloud's servers rather than on your device. If you want end-to-end (zero-knowledge) encryption, you must purchase the optional pCloud Crypto add-on and add your files to this separate encrypted folder.

Is pCloud lifetime worth it?

pCloud has been around for ten years, so a lifetime plan may be worth the investment, but there are cheaper, more secure alternatives with zero-knowledge encryption at no extra cost, such as Internxt Drive.

Is pCloud trustworthy?

pCloud is not open source, so you have to trust them with your data as it cannot be verified by security experts. Plus, past issues of deleting lifetime accounts without warning makes users less trusting of pCloud.

If you want an open-source and audited cloud storage solution, an alternative cloud storage to pCloud that also offers lifetime plans, choose Internxt Drive

How much is pCloud Crypto?

pCloud Crypto is available as a monthly, annual, or lifetime add-on for €4.99/month, €49.99/year, or a €150 one-time payment.