Dropbox alternatives: five cloud storage picks priced in US dollars

Dropbox alternatives compared

The Dropbox alternatives worth pricing are pCloud, Google Drive, Microsoft 365 Family, Sync.com and Icedrive. Dropbox Plus, its 2 TB plan for one person, is $9.99 a month, billed yearly, as listed on Dropbox's plans page on 5 October 2026.

pCloud's matching plan, Premium Plus 2 TB, is $99.99 a year or $499 one-time, as listed on pCloud's US pricing page on 3 October 2026. Both are billed yearly, but Dropbox shows its price per month while pCloud shows the total for the year.

Pay once instead of a Dropbox subscription

pCloud sells Premium Plus 2 TB as a Lifetime plan for $499 one-time, as listed on 3 October 2026. Lifetime is pCloud's word for one payment that, under pCloud's terms, lasts for the account owner's lifetime or 99 years, whichever is shorter. The terms also let pCloud change or discontinue the service, so keep a copy of your files outside pCloud.

Icedrive sells a one-time 2 TB plan as well, Personal+ Lifetime, at $699 as read on 6 October 2026. To move files over, pCloud's third-party backup imports from Dropbox and Dropbox Business as a one-time job that can start about once a month. pCloud vs Dropbox sets the two services side by side.

More space or more people for the money

Microsoft 365 Family is $129.99 a year for up to 6 people, with 1 TB each, as read on 6 October 2026; its storage is OneDrive, Microsoft's cloud storage. Dropbox Plus covers one person.

Icedrive Pro Plus gives 4 TB with encryption included for $15.99 a month, billed monthly. Google's 2 TB plan is $99.99 a year, as listed on 5 October 2026, and every Google account starts with up to 15 GB free in a pool that Gmail, Drive and Photos share.

Sync.com Personal 1 TB is $12 a month billed annually at the regular price, with a 30-day free trial per its FAQ. Best cloud storage prices eight services on one table.

For a small team, Dropbox Standard starts at 3 TB for the team at $15 a user a month, billed yearly, as listed on 5 October 2026, and Dropbox lists Try for free on it. pCloud Business is 3 users with 1 TB each at $29.97 a month, billed monthly, as listed on 19 September 2026, with a 30-day free trial.

Dropbox features you would give up, and how files leave

Dropbox Plus transfers files of up to 50 GB. pCloud's own sending service, pCloud Transfer, stops at 5 GB, though its recipients need no pCloud account.

Both services keep deleted files for 30 days on a paid plan: Dropbox lists 30 days to restore deleted files on Plus, and pCloud's paid plans hold them in Trash for 30 days. pCloud's Extended File History add-on stretches that to 365 days, and only from the day you turn it on.

To move files out of Dropbox, tick the file or folder on dropbox.com, then click Download. A folder downloads only if it is under 250 GB uncompressed and holds fewer than 10,000 files, and the download is a separate local copy: edits to it do not go back to the Dropbox original.

Which Dropbox alternative fits which buyer

• pCloud to pay once for 2 TB: Premium Plus is $499 one-time, or $99.99 a year.
• Microsoft 365 Family for up to 6 people with 1 TB each at $129.99 a year.
• Google Drive to start on up to 15 GB free.
• Sync.com for a 30-day free trial, and Icedrive for 4 TB with encryption included at $15.99 a month.
• Dropbox Plus itself for transfers of up to 50 GB.

Moving to pCloud carries a 14-day money-back guarantee from the day you pay, on a written request, and a refund can be declined on a discounted purchase.