Best Encrypted Cloud Storage in 2025: Secure File Storage & Transfers
If you plan to store sensitive data, you’ll want to choose the best encrypted cloud storage. In this article, we list five of the top choices. Sync.com and pCloud top our list, as both offer excellent security and privacy.
Written by Jason Stagnitto (Writer, Script Writer)
Reviewed by Aleksandar Kochovski (Writer)
Facts checked by Jasna Mishevska (Lead Fact-Checking Editor)
Last Updated:
All our content is written fully by humans; we do not publish AI writing. Learn more here.
Key Takeaways: Online Storage With Encryption
- Sync.com is our top choice, offering secure cloud storage services with affordable prices and great cloud features.
- pCloud gives all accounts excellent cloud features and solid security and privacy. However, its zero-knowledge encrypted folder costs extra.
- Icedrive is the fastest cloud storage provider that offers zero-knowledge encryption. However, it lacks many of the productivity tools that other services offer.
Keeping your data on a server — either yours or a company’s — comes with the inherent risk of a data breach from a cyberattack. It’s the reality of our digital world. Storing your data with an encrypted cloud storage company helps to eliminate some of those threats, which makes choosing the best encrypted cloud storage a critical decision.
Strong encryption should be the primary consideration when choosing a cloud storage provider. Encryption maintains the security of your files — especially your private ones — and protects them from data leaks or outright theft.
Zero-knowledge encryption is crucial for cloud security. Without it, your confidential files are not fully protected. Our list of the best encrypted cloud storage providers gives you five zero-knowledge options — with many included on our list of the best cloud storage services — to help you make the safest choice to protect your data.
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09/29/2021
Rearranged and updated list to include IDrive.
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12/02/2021
Added Internxt as an honorable mention.
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06/24/2022
Updated Sync.com’s plans and pricing to include its month-by-month options.
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07/30/2022
Updated to reflect an increase in IDrive’s free plan to 10GB of storage.
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02/03/2023 Facts checked
Rewrote the article; updated for 2023 to reflect changes in encryption.
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05/23/2023
Updated to remove IDrive’s discontinued free plan.
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08/31/2024
Added video reviews for cloud storage providers in the list.
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01/25/2025 Facts checked
Added new video ranking the best encrypted cloud storage apps.
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03/22/2025 Facts checked
Updated the list to include Internxt.
Top Encrypted Cloud Storage Apps
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What Makes the Best Encrypted Cloud Storage?
All the cloud storage services on our list have the best encryption in the industry due in part to offering zero-knowledge encryption. With zero-knowledge encryption, only you have access to your data. Some cloud storage services offer an encrypted folder, while others provide zero-knowledge coverage of your entire account.
However, even the most secure cloud storage won’t be helpful if it lacks features. While we focused heavily on security and privacy, we also considered cost, file sharing and other features, such as ease of use and speed. The following five cloud storage services offer the best combination of encryption and performance.
- Sync.com — Zero-knowledge for the entire account, free or paid
- pCloud — Great cloud features; zero-knowledge costs extra
- Icedrive — Fast and sleek cloud storage; paid encryption folder.
- MEGA — End-to-end encryption on the 20GB free plan
- Internxt — Zero-knowledge cloud storage with post-quantum cryptography
Sync.com takes the top spot with its excellent combination of security, offering end-to-end encryption for all accounts, and affordable prices with competitive storage allotments. pCloud has some of the best features for a cloud storage provider, including excellent overall security. However, zero-knowledge costs extra.
Icedrive implements Twofish encryption for all account holders, making it a secure cloud storage provider, though only paid users can access the zero-knowledge folder. Like Sync.com, Internxt and MEGA have zero-knowledge for all account holders, although both have fewer features than their competitors.
The 5 Best Encrypted Cloud Storage Services
Sync.com tops our list, as it has affordable prices, great cloud features and excellent security. Its free 5GB offering makes it easy to get going, allowing you to safely store your data with zero-knowledge encryption. The other four services will keep your files safe and secure, and offer their own unique feature sets.
1. Sync.com
More details about Sync.com:
- Pricing: 5GB free, $4.80 per month (one-year plan) for 2TB
- Provider website: sync.com
Pros:
- Zero-knowledge everywhere
- User-focused privacy policy
- Affordable plans
Cons:
- Slower speeds
- Dated UI
All accounts with Sync.com enjoy zero-knowledge encryption, whether your account is free or paid. It’s one of very few services that covers your whole account with zero-knowledge security. This makes Sync.com one of the most secure cloud storage providers available, but it also means that if you lose your login credentials, Sync.com can’t help you get them back.
Digging deeper, Sync.com encrypts your data at rest with 256-bit AES encryption, while the TLS protocol protects your data while in transit, securing it from man-in-the-middle attacks.
Enabling two-factor authentication — which you should — increases your protection against cybercrimes. Even if your login credentials are compromised, without the secondary authentication information (such as a four or six-digit code), your account remains safe.
Customer Privacy First
Sync.com’s privacy is every bit as good as its encryption. With its servers maintained in Canada, your account files and data fall under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). This act requires an account holder to provide express permission to those looking to access your personal information.
Working in conjunction with privacy is Sync.com’s compliance with HIPAA requirements. This means any sensitive or confidential medical information remains protected and private. Not all cloud storage services can make this claim, such as Dropbox, which has notoriously questionable privacy practices.
A free plan with Sync.com comes with 5GB of storage. If you need more, its paid plans offer affordable pricing, such as 2TB for $4.80 per month, billed annually at $57.60. To learn more, check out our Sync.com review.
- 5GB
- 2TB
More plans
- 6TB
- Price includes 3 users
- 1TB
- Monthly price for 1 user (3 users minimum) Yearly price for 3 users
- Unlimited GB
- Minimum 100 users, custom requirements, account manager, training options
2. pCloud
More details about pCloud:
- Pricing: 10GB free, $8.33 per month (one-year plan) for 2TB
- Provider website: pcloud.com
Pros:
- Excellent privacy & security
- Robust cloud features
- Fast speeds
Cons:
- Zero-knowledge costs extra
pCloud offers excellent security and privacy, and has one of the best free cloud storage plans available. This is due to the wealth of cloud features accounts get, even free ones.
Features include robust file sharing, synchronization, and excellent media preview and playback, especially for music. It has a dedicated music player and tops our list as the best cloud storage for music.
Encryption with pCloud comes in the form of a folder rather than full-account protection. Additionally, the encrypted folder isn’t accessible on a free account, or even a paid one.
Enabling zero-knowledge, client-side encryption requires an extra paid add-on called pCloud Crypto. Any files uploaded into the encrypted folder have client-side encryption using the AES-256 cipher.
Swiss-Based Privacy
pCloud maintains its home office in Switzerland, which many consider to have the best privacy laws in the world. However, pCloud maintains two data regions: one in Dallas, Texas and the other in Luxembourg. Account information that resides on the Dallas servers could be subject to subpoena under U.S. privacy laws. Data that resides on the Luxembourg servers face no such possibility.
Both new and existing users have the option of selecting or changing a region. New users have this option via a dropdown when first creating an account. If you want your data stored in the EU, make sure to choose this option. You can request pCloud to move your data to a different region if you already have an account. However, this change comes with a one-time $19.99 fee.
pCloud makes it easy to get started with a free plan of up to 10GB. If you need a paid plan, pCloud has some excellent prices, including a account for $8.33 on an annual plan. If you want to make a long-term commitment, you could opt for one of its lifetime plans as well. We cover everything this service has to offer in our pCloud review.
- 10GB
- 500GB
- 2TB
More plans
- + FREE Encryption
- 2TB
- + FREE Encryption
- 10TB
- Price per user (minimum 3)
- 1TB
- Price per user (minimum 3)
- 2TB
- Encryption for pCloud Drive
3. Icedrive
![Video thumbnail for the video: Ultimate Icedrive Review [2024 Pros and Cons Revealed]](https://img.youtube.com/vi/iVGsDxYVV-Y/maxresdefault.jpg)
More details about Icedrive:
- Pricing: 10GB free, $5.99 per month (one-year plan) for 1TB
- Provider website: icedrive.net
Pros:
- Strong encryption & privacy
- Virtual drive on desktop
- Media preview & playback
Cons:
- Paid zero-knowledge folder
- Limited customer support
The founders of Icedrive built its cloud storage with encryption at the forefront, and, to its credit, Icedrive is a very secure cloud storage service. While many competitors use the industry-standard AES 256-bit encryption, Icedrive opted to use Twofish encryption, which is technically more secure (though both encryption protocols are practically uncrackable).
Much like pCloud, Icedrive offers a fully encrypted folder but does not cover your entire account. Files uploaded to your account’s encrypted folder enjoy zero-knowledge security. The folder isn’t available to free users, though paid users don’t have to pay anything extra for it.
Fast Transfer Speeds
Often, we note that cloud storage with strong encryption suffers from slower upload and download speeds. That’s not the case with Icedrive, which is something of a technical feat. Icedrive had the fastest upload and third-fastest download speeds in our latest round of cloud storage speed testing.
For our independent tests, we upload and download a 5GB folder twice that contains a mix of audio, video, pictures and document files. Additionally, we cap upload and download speeds at 100 Mbit/s from a virtual Windows machine located in Dublin, Ireland.
Icedrive has 10GB of storage on the free plan and offers some of the most affordable paid plans available. The 1TB plan goes for $71.88 per year or $5.99 monthly. Icedrive also offers lifetime plans. Check out our Icedrive review to learn more.
- Bandwidth limit: 50GB
- 10GB
- Bandwidth limit: 250GB
- 100GB
- Bandwidth limit: 2TB
- 1TB
More plans
- Bandwidth limit: 8TB
- 3TB
- 512GB
- 2TB
- 10TB
- Additional 128GB storage for users who purchased the Lifetime Plan
- 128GB
- Additional 512GB storage for users who purchased the Lifetime Plan
- 512GB
- Additional 2TB storage for users who purchased the Lifetime Plan
- 2TB
4. Internxt
More details about Internxt:
- Pricing: 1GB free, $2.20 per month (one-year plan) for 1TB
- Provider website: internxt.com
Pros:
- Zero-knowledge encryption
- Easy to use
- EU servers
Cons:
- No file versioning
- Few collaboration features
Internxt is another provider that protects your whole account with zero-knowledge encryption, even free accounts. This commitment to security and privacy is also seen in the privacy policy and extra security features — such as two factor authentication.
Internxt has a fairly simple UI that makes it easy to sync and share files, organize your folders and even create backups of your data. There aren’t many options for editing files included with Internxt. You can still open many file types and watch media from the app, but you won’t be able to create or collaborate.
Premium users will also get a basic antivirus and VPN with their cloud storage plan. These are important security tools. Although they’re relatively new and feature-poor, they’re great free add-ons that you should consider using if you don’t already have alternatives.
Post-Quantum Cryptography
Internxt recently switched its encryption algorithm from AES-256 to Kyber-512. Kyber is a post-quantum encryption algorithm, meaning it’s more resistant to attacks from quantum computers. This is important as quantum computers have shown rapid improvements in recent years.
This has a notable downside of only being as strong as AES-128 against traditional attacks, which are still far more common. It’s up to you to consider whether the extra quantum protection is worth it.
Internxt is an affordable provider, costing just $2.20 per month for 1TB of storage when you get an annual plan. There are also lifetime plans, which can help you save money in the long run. Read our Internxt review to learn more or try it out with the 1GB free plan.
- 1GB
- Storage + VPN (FR), Antivirus, Backup & More
- 1TB
- Storage + VPN (FR, DE, PL), Antivirus, Backup & More
- 3TB
More plans
- Storage + VPN (FR, DE, PL, CA, UK), Antivirus, Backup & More
- 5TB
- Storage + VPN (FR, DE, PL), Antivirus, Backup & More
- 1TB
- Storage + VPN (FR, DE, PL, CA, UK), Antivirus, Backup & More
- 2TB
5. MEGA
More details about MEGA:
- Pricing: 20GB free, $8.76 per month (one-year plan) for 2TB
- Provider website: mega.io
Pros:
- Robust free storage
- EU servers
- Robust zero-knowledge
Cons:
- Slow speeds
- Expensive
MEGA’s early days suffered damage to its reputation through its connection to former founder Kim Dotcom. Today, MEGA offers one of the most generous free accounts, with 20GB of storage in a secure and private cloud storage solution.
All MEGA accounts have full zero-knowledge security, and it uses AES 256-bit encryption and the TLS/SSL protocol to protect data at rest and in transit.
As is the case with Sync.com, this level of security also means MEGA can’t help if you lose or forget your password. File sharing links are encrypted, and with paid plans, you can add password protection to them as well. Other security features include two-factor authentication and a secure chat client.
GDPR-Compliant Security
Despite some dark history from the Kim Dotcom days, which includes selling shares to a Chinese businessman, MEGA has righted the ship and now offers top-notch privacy to accompany its security. MEGA maintains servers in New Zealand and the EU, making it GDPR-compliant no matter where your data is stored.
MEGA also offers a secure chat app, which sets it apart from other cloud storage providers. Secure chat encrypts all your instant messages, video calls or shared files with other MEGA account members. Many of the most popular chat apps can’t make this claim. While the secure chat requires a MEGA account, your communications with team members remain private and secure.
MEGA’s main draw is a hefty 20GB free plan, the most of any secure storage provider. However, MEGA’s paid plans run higher than its competitors, with the best value plan offering 2TB for around $105.07 or $10.50 per month.
Business options have flexible storage and pricing, costing $15.75 per month per user with a minimum of three users. Check out our MEGA review to learn more.
- 20GB
- File transfer: 2TB (Monthly plan) 24TB (yearly plan)
- 2TB
- File transfer: (monthly plan) 96TB (yearly plan)
- 8TB
More plans
- File transfer: 16TB (monthly plan) 192TB (yearly plan)
- 16TB
- Price per user (minimum 3) 3TB Transfer quota
- 100TB
Final Thoughts
Choosing cloud storage with the best encryption is difficult, but going with one on our list will keep your data safe and secure. Sync.com separates itself from the competition by offering a great combination of included zero-knowledge security, affordable prices and great features. That’s not to say pCloud, Icedrive, Internxt or MEGA aren’t excellent options.
Sync.com, Internxt and MEGA offer zero-knowledge as a standard feature. pCloud requires an additional cost to unlock this feature, while Icedrive makes it available to paid accounts only. Since all have zero-knowledge encryption, there’s no wrong choice.
Are you going to choose one of these secure cloud storage services? Is your current cloud storage secure? How important is cloud encryption? Let us know in the comments section below. Thanks for reading our article.
FAQ
Sync.com rates as the most secure cloud storage service. It has zero-knowledge encryption for your entire account and offers affordable paid plans.
Very few cloud storage services have unencrypted cloud storage, though not all are zero-knowledge. All of the providers on our list have excellent security features.
Sync.com, pCloud, Icedrive, Internxt and MEGA all offer end-to-end encryption, which protects your data from third-party intrusions when you transfer it from your device to cloud storage servers.
For any data you store on a cloud storage provider that you consider personal, sensitive or confidential, you’ll want to ensure it is encrypted. Stand-alone encryption programs, like Cryptomator, protect your data before you upload it.