This post is also available in: Italiano
No, this is not that kind of post where we console you for your (terrible) choice of using a hard drive to save all your precious materials, videos, photos, graphics and so on. Because you know, hard drives can be lost, stolen, damaged. Confess: how many times have you lost hundreds of hours of work just because of this? Don’t overmoralize yourself; instead, take action. All of us started working with hard drives; but once you got tons of them lying around you start feeling the burning need for a more secure (and comfortable) solution. That is to say, the cloud. But we read your mind and know you are too tired to search and compare all the options out there. So don’t worry: we got you covered. This is the all-encompassing, right-to-the-point guide you were waiting for.
Cubbit
Cubbit is an Italian startup with a radically new offer: a privacy-first cloud service enabled by the Cubbit Cell, a cloud-enabler device that works by forming a distributed peer-to-peer network together with other Cells all over the world. The Cubbit Cell comes with 1TB of free cloud space forever and is expandable up to 4TB just by plugging in your hard drives to the Cell.
Features: military-grade encryption, expandability, up to 4 accounts per Cell owner.
Pro
- No monthly fee. Yes!
- You can turn your hard drives lying around into free cloud space just by plugging them to the Cubbit Cell.
- Even if the Cubbit Cell or the hard disks connected to it exploded you would still be able to access your files, since they’re saved on the network of Cubbit Cells, not in your Cell.
- Military-grade encryption and peer-to-peer mean strong privacy and security, i.e. no one can access your files, not even Cubbit! On their Kickstarter campaign, they claim the network is mathematically impossible to breach.
- Up to 4 accounts per Cell owner.
- You don’t give away the license to use your data: your stuff remains yours, no exception.
Cons
- No monthly fee but you have to pay $317 for the device.
- For each additional 4TB you need to buy an extra Cubbit Cell.
NOTE: the Kickstarter campaign is still ongoing. If you hurry you can get the Cell at a discounted price at this link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cubbit/cubbit-reinventing-the-cloud/description
Dropbox
The first cloud storage service has turned 12 this year. It offers 2GB of cloud space for free, plus 500MB for each referred friend up to 16GB. Dropbox plus will get you 1TB for $9.99 a month or $99 a year, plus 1GB per referral up to 32GB.
Features: 30-day version history, priority email upload, collaborative documents.
Pro
- It is the first one of its kind.
- Extra GB per referral is cool.
Cons
- You give Dropbox total, absolute, irreversible, permanent, royalty-free license to use your data.
- $99 a year per 1TB is a lot of money. Every other service gives you 2TB for $9.99 a month, which is double the space offered by Dropbox for the same price!
- A monthly fee for all your stuff will cost you an insane amount of money in just a few years.
Google Drive
Of course Google is a player in this market. It offers 15GB for free shared across all Google services - that is to say, your emails will scratch a little bit of this treasure. There are a ton of upgrade plans, from 100GB for $1.99 per month up to 30TB for $299.99 a month.
Features: Collaborative documents, AI labels people within your pictures automatically and uses metadata to optimize your Google Search results.
Pro
- More free space than anyone else.
- AI is super helpful across all Google services.
- Google surely has the resources to keep improving its offer in the future.
Cons
- You give Google total, absolute, irreversible, permanent, royalty-free license to use your data.
- Google makes money not just by selling you cloud space, but also by mining your data. It will go as far as reading all your emails and storing them on Google’s servers. A little bit invasive, don’t you think?
- A monthly fee for all your stuff will cost you an insane amount of money in just a few years.
iCloud
Apple’s cloud offer is very comfortable thanks to its Apple-style seamless integration with your iPhone / MacBook / iPod and all Apple’s services. It offers 5GB for free. Otherwise, $9.99 a month for 2TB (same as with Google Drive).
Pro
- Competitive pricing if you don’t need a lot of space.
Cons
- You give Apple total, absolute, irreversible, permanent, royalty-free license to use your data.
- Slow.
- Poor Windows client.
- No email support.
- A monthly fee for all your stuff will cost you an insane amount of money in just a few years.
Conclusions
Dropbox, Google Drive and iCloud are comfortable, but very expensive. On the contrary, Cubbit is very cheap, given how much space you need for your videos. Cubbit has no monthly fee, while with the other services you will pay a fortune in just a few years! Plus, giving away absolute, permanent, irreversible, royalty-free license to use your data is not something to be done lightly. Cubbit, instead, gives you complete control over your data and all the features of the other cloud services. Also, the ability to turn all the hard drives you have around in cloud space is a godsend.
Finally, Cubbit is just a couple of years old. Imagine what it will be just in another couple of years!
All in all, $317 seems fair for all the stuff that Cubbit gives.
NOTE: Cubbit’s Kickstarter campaign is still open, but won’t be for long. If you are interested in Cubbit and you hurry you can get the Cubbit Cell at a discounted price at this link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cubbit/cubbit-reinventing-the-cloud/description
