6 Unlimited Cloud Storage Providers in 2024
We selected the top providers of unlimited cloud storage in 2024.
Imagine a world where you never had to worry about running out of cloud storage again. Although most cloud storage providers offer generous storage capacities of 10TB or more, this may not be enough for large businesses to store their data efficiently.
Although it sounds too good to be true, a few cloud storage services provide unlimited cloud storage, backups, and other features for you or your business.
Although few providers offer this storage option, we will look at the ones that do, plus other options if you don’t need unlimited storage but need to upgrade to a higher storage plan and get private cloud storage forever, i.e., an unlimited amount of time.
Table of contents
- What is unlimited cloud storage?
- Benefits and use cases of unlimited cloud storage
- Potential drawbacks of unlimited cloud storage
- Best unlimited cloud storage in 2024
What is unlimited cloud storage?
Unlimited cloud storage refers to a service offered by cloud providers that claims to provide users with an unlimited amount of data storage space.
Unlike traditional storage methods, where physical space or hardware limitations apply, unlimited cloud storage theoretically allows users to store as much data as they need without facing capacity restrictions.
But do services really offer unlimited storage? Yes and no. Some providers offer these options when it comes to unlimited storage:
- Truly unlimited storage: In its purest form, truly unlimited storage means no artificial caps or limits are imposed on the amount of data you can store. Providers offering unlimited storage do not throttle or restrict your storage based on usage.
- Virtually unlimited storage: Many providers advertise "unlimited" storage but may have hidden limits or fair usage policies. These policies may impose restrictions or additional charges if usage exceeds what the provider deems reasonable or sustainable.
Other things to keep in mind if you choose a provider with virtually unlimited storage include:
Fair usage policy: The provider's fair usage policy states that while they advertise unlimited storage, they reserve the right to monitor and manage excessive usage. For example, Dropbox discontinued its unlimited storage plan after discovering that some users used it for resource-intensive activities like cryptocurrency mining.
Additional Charges: Under their terms of service, the provider may impose additional charges if your storage usage surpasses what they consider reasonable for typical user behavior. These charges could be based on a per-gigabyte overage fee or require upgrading to a higher-tier plan with increased storage capacity.
Benefits and use cases of unlimited cloud storage
Unlimited cloud storage is attractive because of the potential benefits for large organizations looking to store petabytes of data or even more. Here are some common advantages and use cases of unlimited cloud storage.
Scalability and flexibility
Obviously, the first benefit is data storage scalability as your storage needs grow without worrying about hitting capacity limits or hidden charges.
Furthermore, instead of investing in costly hardware upgrades or additional alternative storage solutions, businesses can manage their growing data volumes and costs through a predictable subscription model without worrying about extra fees instead of investing in costly hardware upgrades or additional storage solutions.
Enhanced collaboration and accessibility
All cloud storage providers offer collaboration for businesses or small teams with their platforms, but some unlimited cloud storage providers focus more on backups, making it more difficult to access your files or share them securely.
However, the ones that combine both these services provide granular control over file permissions, allowing administrators to manage who can view, edit, or share specific files and folders. This security feature ensures that sensitive information remains protected while facilitating collaboration with external partners or clients.
Improved data backup and recovery options
Having huge amounts of data can be risky unless you store and back up files effectively, so choosing the right cloud provider to do this will prevent you or your company from data loss.
Here’s a brief overview of backups using an unlimited cloud storage provider.
- Saving multiple copies of your data: Unlimited cloud storage services typically replicate data across multiple servers and data centers in different geographical regions. This data redundancy ensures that even if one server or data center fails due to hardware malfunction, natural disaster, or cyber attack, data remains accessible from alternative locations without disrupting your business.
- Automatic Replication: Cloud storage platforms can automatically duplicate data in real-time or at scheduled intervals, ensuring that all changes and updates are mirrored across redundant storage systems.
- Version History: Many cloud storage services maintain version history, allowing users to revert to previous versions of files or data sets. This feature is handy when data is accidentally overwritten or corrupted.
Use cases
Although tempting, unlimited cloud storage can be costly, and is often only required by businesses. Here are some ways businesses, enterprises, and organizations ensure their files are kept secure.
- Media Production: Storing and managing libraries of high-resolution videos, audio, and image files for film, television, and music production.
- Business backups: Ensuring comprehensive, continuous backup of all company data, including documents, emails, databases, and application data.
- Scientific Research: Handling large datasets from experiments, simulations, and research projects, including genomic data, astronomical observations, and climate models.
- Education: Facilitating the storage of extensive educational materials, student records, research data, and digital libraries.
- Enterprise Collaboration: Enabling seamless sharing and collaboration among distributed teams across multiple office locations on large files and projects.
- E-commerce and Retail: Managing extensive product images, customer data, transaction records, and analytics data.
- Healthcare: Storing and securing large volumes of medical records, imaging files, and other patient data, ensuring compliance with data protection regulations.
- Personal Use: Backing up and accessing extensive personal media collections, including photos, videos, and music libraries, without worrying about storage limits.
Potential drawbacks of unlimited cloud storage
Despite the initial attraction of unlimited cloud storage, there can be limitations. For example, some providers may offer unlimited storage at a base level but charge higher fees for additional features, such as enhanced security, faster access speeds, or limits to the size of files you want to upload to the cloud.
Best unlimited cloud storage in 2024
Not many businesses offer unlimited cloud storage, and the ones that do all have different features. So, here are 6 popular cloud, backup, and other services for storing your files online.
Internxt Object Storage
Internxt now offers object storage, allowing businesses an affordable solution to get unlimited cloud storage based on their needs.
Object storage represents a paradigm shift from traditional file-based storage systems. It manages data as objects rather than files stored in hierarchical folders. Each object contains data, metadata, and a unique identifier, facilitating efficient data retrieval and management across distributed environments.
With object storage, you pay for the storage you use. You can scale to get as much storage as you need and pay per terabyte used, giving your business or personal cloud account more control over storage usage.
Business plans with Internxt to help protect your business from data loss and breaches will also be available in the next few weeks.
On top of this, you can also get an unlimited cloud storage subscription with Internxt’s lifetime plans. With a one-time payment, you can access any of Internxt’s 2TB, 5TB, or 10TB storage plans, allowing you to secure folder sharing, backups, and file management forever.
Lifetime plans can also be stacked to suit your storage needs. As these plans go up to 10TB, it may be a more cost-effective and suitable solution for smaller businesses, freelancers, or other personal storage needs that may not require unlimited storage.
Sync
Sync offers unlimited cloud storage with its Pro Teams unlimited plan, which costs $15 per user, per month, billed annually, or $18 per user, billed monthly.
Sync, like Internxt, is a cloud storage provider that offers zero-knowledge encryption, file syncing, and backups. It also protects your privacy from its website, as unlike other companies, like pCloud, it does not use data trackers on its website.
Sync’s Pro Teams plan is the only subscription that unlocks all the features of its cloud storage. It requires a minimum of three users to sign up, so you will need to analyze whether this plan is cost-effective for your business.
Another important feature is that Sync is a proprietary software platform, so its source code is unavailable for public viewing. If you value transparency about how your data is protected, open-source cloud storage platforms are available.
Box
Unlike Sync, Box offers unlimited cloud storage for all its business plans. Individual plans don’t offer unlimited storage; they have a maximum of 100GB and are more expensive than some other Box alternatives.
Unlimited cloud storage is available with these plans:
- Business: €18 per user/month
- Business Plus: €30 per user/month
- Enterprise: €42 per user/month
- Enterprise Plus: Contact Box sales team
Each plan has a 3-user minimum requirement.
Box is a more expensive option, so it targets larger businesses who need access to more collaboration platforms, such as real-time document editing, whiteboarding, and Artificial Intelligence integration within the cloud.
Box also has some privacy limitations, which is a huge disadvantage considering its pricing. With Box, your files are only partially encrypted, meaning it is not a zero-knowledge platform.
Although zero-knowledge encryption is available as a paid add-on, without it, files are only encrypted when they reach the Box servers, exposing them to hackers and data breaches.
Similar to Google Drive and its exploitation of user data, Box and the third-party providers they work with regularly scan and store your file content to provide certain services and create targeted advertisements.
This creates opportunities for your data to be misused, lost, or leaked online.
Backblaze
Backblaze is another option for unlimited cloud storage, but it offers fewer features than other services on this list as it focuses on providing a backup solution for files.
Security-wise, you can set up a private encryption key that only you know, giving you complete control over who can access your files. You can also schedule or automate the backup process and get files versioned for up to 30 days, one year, or forever.
MoHowever, mobileackups are not currently available,
Backblaze offers business and single plans (it also offers a separate B2B service). Pricing is per computer and charges for monthly, yearly, or two-year plans.
- Monthly: $9
- Annual: $99
- 2-years: $189
Unlimited backups with Backblaze is a viable option if you want to add it to your data management protocols and use other cloud storage providers for more advanced features not available with Backblaze.
OpenDrive
OpenDrive offers unlimited cloud storage, backup & cloud management. Multiple users can also add to a personal plan, typically a feature reserved for business-grade services.
The service includes standard cloud storage functionalities such as file sharing and synchronization, essential for collaborative work environments. Additionally, OpenDrive integrates project management tools, enabling users to create tasks, assign priorities, and set deadlines directly within the platform.
Security-wise, OpenDrive employs AES 256-bit encryption for data at rest and TLS/SSL encryption for data in transit, ensuring robust protection against unauthorized access during storage and transmission.
Paid plans additionally feature a zero-knowledge encrypted folder, enhancing privacy by allowing users to manage their encryption keys locally.
Pricing plans for OpenDrive are available for personal, business, or enterprises.
- Free: 5GB
- Personal: $9.95 per month / $99 annual
- Custom: $5 per month / $50 annual
- Custom: $7 per month / $70 annual
- Business: $29.95 / $299 annual
- Reseller: $59.95 / $599 annual
GoPro cloud subscription
Next is a more unconventional addition to our list, but for videographers or photographers looking for cloud storage, a GoPro subscription offers unlimited cloud storage with synced editing across mobile and desktop.
While the service emphasizes seamless integration with GoPro cameras, allowing automatic upload of photos and videos directly from the camera to the cloud, it is generally tailored to support and optimize GoPro media files.
You will get 25GB of storage if you upload video recordings or photos other than GoPro footage.
Other options, such as file sharing or backups, are unavailable, so a GoPro subscription may only be worth it if you already have a GoPro and need cloud storage specifically for your footage.
If you are in the market for a GoPro, aside from the initial cost of the equipment (cameras start at $249.99), a GoPro subscription will cost you $24.99 for the first year and $49.99 after that. Another bonus of a GoPro cloud subscription is that you are eligible for a 50% discount on select GoPro accessories.
As the last entry on our list, the GoPro subscription plan may be a suitable option to store this kind of footage, but for other files or business needs, you may want to consider more specialist cloud providers.
Is unlimited cloud storage worth the investment?
Although unlimited cloud storage may not be for everyone, each cloud storage or backup solution on this list offers something.
What makes them unique is what they offer aside from unlimited storage. Regarding privacy, Internxt is the best solution, thanks to its flexible storage and business plans, allowing everyone to store and secure their files in complete privacy.