Last update: 25.03.2025
It’s not easy to find quality storage in Europe today that could compete with such established clouds as Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive or Mega from New Zealand. PCloud is an exception, it’s one of the fastest-growing storage services in the world and proudly claims its European roots in Switzerland. The service has also bet on one specific feature – the ability to make a one-off payment for your online space. In addition to the usual monthly (and yearly) payments, it also offers the option to pay once for a certain capacity and not have to deal with payments for years to come. This is a truly unique approach.
Pros
- Excellent speed
- European cloud
- Unlimited file size
- Mobile app
- Photos on mobile
- Easy photo sharing
- Audio features
- Documents reading
- Onetime payment option
- Price
Cons
- Visual needs an update
- Does not recognize face recognition
- Doesn’t have file editing
- Photos don’t have albums
If we wanted to list all the benefits of this repository we would need a longer page to write it up. We definitely have to mention the high-quality mobile app that can sort your content based on the media type. You can then browse your content based on whether you want to see videos, documents, photos or music. The music in particular is very well handled here, and if you want to use the cloud for listening and archiving music, pCloud is a great solution. Photos can compete with other clouds, and of course, there are uploading photos from your mobile and sharing them as we know them from the gallery on your phone. PCloud can read pdfs, excel or word files and offers unlimited file sizes. Quality speed and security are a given with this European storage service.
As disadvantages, we could mention the already somewhat outdated coat of the PC environment. However, this is not a disaster at all and it is possible that someone will find it suitable. We would also like to see in the future a better option for sharing photos and dividing them by the place where they were taken and the faces recorded.
pCloud storage pricing and capacity
pCloud - Monthly prices
pCloud - Annual prices
pCloud - Lifetime prices
Price is a separate chapter for pCloud. Probably few storage sites will offer you the opportunity to purchase your own space for an unlimited period of time. For example, pCloud offers 500 GB of capacity for unlimited time for $199 (link). At first glance that seems like a lot, but at 10 years guaranteed you’re getting a price of $1.4 /month and the way pCloud storage is gaining popularity it’s going to be here for a good long time to come. However, those who want to can pay the classic monthly fees and here prices start at a very nice $4.99 / month for 500 GB of space. Alternatively, an annual payment with a 20% discount can bite you off the price. If you decide to pay monthly, you need to tick “monthly plans” on the pricing page and then you will see the monthly offer.
Unique solution – pCloud lifetime offers / packages
pCloud offers several attractive lifetime storage options that provide permanent access to cloud storage for a one-time payment rather than recurring subscription fees. Their lifetime plan is defined as 99 years or the lifetime of the account holder, whichever is shorter. The company currently offers Premium lifetime plans with various storage capacities, typically including 500GB, 2TB, and 10TB options. These plans include all standard pCloud features such as file sharing, automatic sync, TLS/SSL encryption, and access across multiple devices. For users seeking additional security, pCloud Crypto, their zero-knowledge encryption service, can be added as a separate lifetime purchase to ensure complete privacy. pCloud lifetime plans provide excellent value, typically breaking even compared to subscription plans after 3-4 years of use. While the upfront cost is higher than monthly or annual subscriptions, the long-term savings are substantial, making pCloud one of the few reputable cloud storage providers offering genuinely competitive lifetime storage solutions.
Review summary
How else but to evaluate pCloud very positively? It’s a repository that when it enhances photos and offers the ability to edit files gets a net of 10 points. Even so, pCloud boasts a high rating of 9 out of 10 and is deservedly one of the best storage sites in the world. It will be a joy to watch as the European pCloud catches up with its US competition. It already offers far more in some aspects.