It's September 2024, with Summer sales for the best lifetime cloud storage services starting to flourish and we've got six of them.
Lifetime cloud storage, meaning a one-off payment for a bulk allowance in the realm of up to hundreds of gigabytes or tens of terabytes, is a real thing, but if it sounds too good to be true as a concept, well… it can be.
‘Lifetime’ subscriptions to anything only really last as long as the company does. In this wonderful world of ecommerce, deals are commonplace, and many upstart providers will offer startlingly cheap lifetime subscriptions to drum up business and publicity.
That means nothing for the ultimate longevity of the company, which is worth considering when looking at a flashy lifetime deal from a plucky startup on sites such as Stacksocial.
Our cloud storage guides
Best cloud storage: Expand your storage easily
Best cloud backup: Protect your data on the go
Best cloud storage for photos: Space for your photos
Best business cloud storage: Data resilience for business
Best free cloud storage: Bits and bytes online for free
You’ll also note that the best cloud storage providers, like Google and Microsoft, don’t offer anything like this, instead deigning to charge you by the month, or year.You might consider recurring charges worthwhile, given that its unlikely that these big tech goliaths will sink, or find them more economical, if you don't need an active subscription all of the time.
A growing number of cloud storage companies have begun to offer lifetime cloud storage as cash-strapped businesses scramble for a deal. To help, we’ve lined up all the lifetime cloud storage deals that we could find online this September, starting with one that’s exclusive to us.
Why not have a look at our best unlimited cloud storage deals, too?
- We always appreciate hot tips on lifetime cloud storage providers, and heads up on when a deal or provider is no longer current. If you’ve got anything for us, ping us an email on [email protected].
1. Internxt Lifetime Cloud Storage 5TB: €1900 €380
Save up to 78% off: Get up to 10TB cloud storage forever from EU-based Internxt. The cloud storage company offers all the features you'd expect from a solid performer. They conduct independent security audits, and, crucially, offer periodic deals of 'up to' 78% off for any and all reasons that are worth checking in on, most recently for Labor Day. 2TB: €198 | 5TB: €418 | 10TB: €638(These prices have risen as of September 2024, but it is still a regular deal from a solid provider.)
2. iDrive “Lifetime” Cloud Storage 10TB: $795 $719.48
Save 10%: iDrive doesn’t sell a lifetime cloud storage service but this is an interesting comparison. The first year is $3.98 and subsequent years are charged $79.50 per year. To arrive at this figure, we're assuming the "lifetime" of the service is around ten years.
3. Pcloud 10TB cloud storage: $6000 $1190
Save 33%: Here, you'll only pay once and benefit from advanced features such as 30-day trash storage and robust file sharing capabilities across web and mobile apps.
500GB: $199 | 2TB: $399 | 10TB: $1190
4. Koofr 1TB cloud storage: $810 $159.99 at Stacksocial
Save 80%: Though not the best deal we've seen for this provider from Stacksocial, Koofr is fast, easy to use, and a great choice for those who want access to all their files from one place, but lacks features compared to the competition. This deal also seems to be sticking around, so you'll find it hard to miss.
5. Prism Drive 20TB cloud storage: $89.99 at Stacksocial
Save 87%: As lifetime cloud storage deals go, we're a little struck by this one. 20TB is a mammoth offering for this price, and, if that's too rich for your blood, there are 2TB, 5TB, and 10TB deals available as well.
It didn't take us long to find the catch: there's no dedicated desktop or mobile app. Beyond making for a potentially cumbersome experience, this also means features such as mounting the storage as a system drive aren't possible, at least for the moment.
6. IceDrive stack-based cloud storage: $299 for 512GB, $79 for each subsequent 128GB and/or $199 for each subsequent 512GB
Save 34% The UK-based challenger brand is back with a new lifetime pricing scheme that allows you to start small and scale up at an affordable price point. On top of that, we like that IceDrive offers ultra-high security and the ability to mount its storage as though it were a physical drive.
What is a lifetime cloud storage?
As the name implies, it is a pay-once-use-forever, fire-and-forget offer with no recurring charges.
Although the initial cost can be high, it is amortized the longer you stick around - a $500 lifetime cloud storage, for example, ends up costing about $4 per month if you stay with it for 10 years (or 120 months).
Just bear in mind though that lifetime, in this case, is often as long as the company operates or chooses to fulfill this particular offer.
This is why it is often imperative for users to have a backup plan (usually by having multiple local copies of the files available).
We know of at least one company that pulled out its Lifetime offer and two household names - Amazon and Samsung - that have pulled completely out of personal cloud storage.
Why do companies offer lifetime cloud storage?
We approached a few companies, asking that particular question. Anonymously, they told us that they often do it to get more exposure and that the numbers do work out.
“Lifetime deals are not really sustainable for us as a company, but they are great for the users.” one noted. “We generate a lot of publicity from lifetime deals, which is great for us as we are the newcomers in the cloud storage space.”
Lifetime cloud storage is also a great way to bring in revenue almost immediately, which helps prop up your balance sheet, removing the risk of customers stopping payment and moving their custom elsewhere. pCloud for example, will not refund you if you cancel the subscription.
Lifetime Cloud Storage: What are the pros & cons
Pros: Lifetime cloud storage is designed to help you save money in the long run as well as remove any headache that might be associated with, well, life's little mistakes like cancelling a credit card or bank account tied with a cloud storage subscription.
With no recurring payments, you don't have to worry about account suspensions or bumped prices further down the line.
Cons: Putting all your eggs in the same basket can have unintended consequences.
Companies can go bankrupt, or change their business model like Zoolz did in 2020 when it phased out its lifetime offer because it was unsustainable.
Cloud storage has some fixed costs like the price of the hardware and some operational costs (e.g. incoming and outgoing bandwidth, the price of electricity etc) so while a lump sum can help reduce the cost of the former, it does only cover a little bit of the latter.
- We've built a list of the best cloud storage for photos out there
- Here's our list of the best cloud backup available
- Also check out our list of the best file syncing solutions around
Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter
Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!
Desire Athow
Managing Editor, TechRadar Pro
Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled in website builders and web hosting when DHTML and frames were in vogue and started narrating about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium.
With contributions from
- Luke HughesStaff Writer
More about pro
Latest
