Lifetime cloud storage plans are becoming increasingly popular in recent years and can prove a great way of securing a fixed allocation of cloud storage (plus all of the usual features which go along with them) for a simple, one-off payment covering a whole lifetime of use.
Whilst lifetime cloud storage plans aren’t without their issues, they do at least provide a cloud storage account and a guaranteed allocation of cloud storage for a single one-off payment. This set-up can help to remove the worry and risks of losing data from issues relating to missed and failed payments which could exist when buying cloud storage on a monthly subscription. These lifetime plans also can work out much cheaper to utilise over a timespan of several years as well, especially so when compared to buying the same allocation of cloud storage on a monthly or annual subscription via the same provider or another provider not currently offering a lifetime subscription option.
In this guide I will be comparing several of the leading cloud storage providers which offer lifetime subscription plans. This work will aim to help assess the value which is on offer from lifetime cloud storage plans in general as well as to evaluate the utility and usefulness of lifetime cloud storage as a concept overall – vamos.
- Secure file sharing
- Zero-knowledge security
- Lifetime plans available
- Cloud backup & sync
Understanding Lifetime Plans
Many services which we utilise on the web these days are paid for on a monthly or annual subscription basis, a payment model which has become very popular in recent times and is now almost synonymous with the purchase of any kind of software or IT related service. This includes many popular offerings such as Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Office 365 and some of the best backup software titles found on this very site including Backblaze, Crashplan, iDrive and Acronis True Image amongst others.
Top 3 Lifetime Cloud Storage Providers:
Below is a quick look at the top 3 lifetime cloud providers mentioned in this guide, scroll down further for the full and detailed list of lifetime cloud storage services.
| Provider | Free Storage | Lifetime Plans | Website | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | 10GB | From $199 (500GB) | |
| 2 |  | 1GB | From €900 (2TB) | |
| 3 |  | 10GB | From $299 (512GB) |
Naturally, this subscription-based pricing model also extends (for the most part) to the many mainstream cloud storage providers which exist as of today. As such, anyone requiring more than the typical 5GB to 10GB (or so) of free cloud storage which is typically available from such cloud providers will almost certainly find themselves having to subscribe either monthly or annually in order to achieve a larger quota.
Whilst there are many benefits to buying services such as backup software or cloud storage on a subscription-based model (including free upgrades to the latest version plus enhanced technical support), such ongoing subscriptions can often become expensive over the longer term and might not be the right solution for many could storage users in certain circumstances.
Thankfully, this is where lifetime cloud storage plans come into the picture by providing their users with a means for escaping this monthly or annual subscription model. This is done by allowing customers to purchase a fixed allocation of cloud storage for a single, one-off payment thus guaranteeing access to the service over a lifetime without ever having to make any more payments to maintain the service.
By offering the cloud storage service for single one-off payment, lifetime plans can be very beneficial to cloud storage users as well as, in certain circumstances, to the cloud providers themselves as well (getting larger payments up front can often help such companies to build better cloud infrastructure earlier on in the company’s lifetime). For the most part though, as far as many cloud users will be concerned, the real benefit of lifetime plans is that the service purchased can then be used without the worry of making any additional payments or the worry which might come from losing data due to issues arising from missed or failed payments.
How Sustainable are Lifetime Cloud Storage Plans?
Naturally, when purchasing a lifetime cloud storage plan (or any other lifetime subscription service for that matter), it is only natural to wonder how sustainable the service in question might be and if the purchase really will be honoured for an entire “lifetime”.
Firstly, it is important to note that whilst the term “lifetime” is often used when describing such cloud storage services, a check of the terms of sale form such companies will often give more details on how said company defines the use of the word “lifetime” and how they might honour such plans. For example, some providers might specify a very high number of years as the definition of a lifetime (e.g. 99 years) or simply refer to the lifetime of the product or company themselves as the definition of “lifetime” as opposed to the lifetime of the customer making the purchase (so, please be sure to check the T&Cs of any lifetime cloud storage service before making such a purchase as to what these terms might actually be).
Another important (and often overlooked) issue to address when discussing lifetime cloud storage plans is the fact that, as time goes on, computer storage tends to get cheaper and more plentiful and (for the average person at least) we tend to use much more of it as time goes on as well.
NB – I am, of course, basing the fact that disk storage continues to get ever cheaper based on what has happened in the recent past – there is no guarantee this will continue to be the case in the future!
With both of these factors in mind, it stands to reason that the average cloud storage user will continue to require more cloud storage over time and that a lifetime cloud storage plan purchased today might actually be of no real use in a certain number of years’ time. For example, it could be that a commonly sought lifetime cloud storage quota (say, 2TB) which is considered very generous today might actually be considered very small in, say, 20 years’ time and the price of subscribing to such an allocation monthly might be very low (or even free) from certain cloud providers by this point in time.
There are, of course, other risk factors surrounding lifetime cloud storage plans which might come into play over time such as the cloud storage provider themselves going out of business (or been acquired by another company which is unwilling to honour any existing lifetime plans).
With all of the above in mind, I think it reasonable to suggest to people that they think carefully about the real value, benefits and risks associated with “lifetime” cloud storage plans and how this might apply to their own circumstances. For example, if you do require a 2TB cloud storage plan (which will typically cost approx. $100 / year on subscription right now), a lifetime plan offering this allocation for, say $400 might prove a very good buy if the account in question is made use of for 4+ years in total (with any additional years after this proving effectively free versus buying this storage on a subscription basis).
NB – The above is, of course, just my own opinion on the dynamics of lifetime cloud storage and I would invite anyone interested in purchasing such a lifetime cloud subscription to read my own guide called Do Lifetime Plans Offer Good Value for more information on the pros and cons of such subscriptions and for more information on the topic in general.
Lifetime Cloud Storage FAQs
There are currently 3 mainstream providers offering lifetime cloud storage subscriptions to take notice of. These include pCloud (with lifetime options from just $199), Internxt (from €900) and IceDrive (from $299).
In my own option, pCloud is not only a highly usable and privacy focused cloud storage service, but one which also happens to offer some of the best value lifetime cloud storage plans of any of the mainstream cloud providers.
The real value provided by lifetime cloud storage plans will, of course, differ widely depending upon the individual making use of such storage. Generally speaking, lifetime cloud storage plans often prove a very cost-effective method for anyone with relatively stable cloud storage requirements as well as being favourable for anyone who doesn’t like paying ongoing subscriptions.
Generally speaking, lifetime cloud storage plans will offer the same features and levels of service as the regular cloud subscriptions they sit alongside. It is, as with any cloud service, always worth investigating exactly what is provided via a lifetime plan before making a purchase (and be sure to email the provider directly if anything remains unclear).
Generally speaking, in cases where a cloud provider goes out of business, any lifetime cloud storage plans will almost certainly cease to function (and it is important to be aware of this as a possibility when purchasing lifetime cloud storage plans).
Having said this, it is always possible that such a failing cloud storage provider might actually be taken over by another company before failing and, whilst there are no guarantees here, this new owner might choose to continue honouring the lifetime plans.
The Best Lifetime Cloud Storage
Below is a list of my current top three favourite lifetime cloud storage service as are tested and reviewed right here on BestBackupReviews.com.
Remember, any ratings given below reflect my own personal opinions and that the lifetime cloud storage plans with the highest ratings might not necessarily be the best for your own personal needs. With this in mind, please refer to my detailed reviews of each entry on the list for more information on the service itself and how it might help with your own individual cloud storage requirements.
1) pCloud
pCloud is a very popular cloud storage service which is noted for its very generous pricing plus the huge number of features included across their full range of cloud storage plans, plans which also offer new and existing customers some very generous lifetime deals.
Despite offering some very generous cloud storage plans, it is cloud functionality where pCloud really stand out thanks to the service itself including a huge number of useful cloud-related features and functionalities for all users of the service. This includes use of the excellent pCloud desktop software (for Windows, Mac OS and Linux devices), secure file sharing, file upload folders, device backup, folder synchronisation, apps for iOS and Android plus the ability to play both audio and video files directly via the pCloud web interface amongst many other useful features.
Security wise and pCloud is a solid offering providing very high levels of data security and data privacy for all users of the service. This sees the service itself based and operated form privacy friendly Switzerland with server options (specified at sign-up) available in both privacy friendly EU locations as well as optionally in the USA as well.
Other security features available at pCloud include use of the pCloud Vault service, a service which sees a separate part of the pCloud account subject to strong zero-knowledge encryption (via AES 256-bit encryption) for all files uploaded to it (although note that pCloud is not zero-knowledge encrypted outside of this vault area). Unfortunately, despite this Vault service being included on all regular plans by default, be sure to note that pCloud do charge a small additional fee for including this service on the lifetime plans.
pCloud is priced form just $49.99 / year for 500GB of cloud storage on an annual plan with 2TB also available for a very competitive $99.99 / year as well. Lifetime plans start at just $199 for 500GB with 2TB priced at $399 and a massive 10TB of lifetime cloud storage available for just a single payment of $1190. More information on all pCloud pricing plans can be found via the official pCloud website.
- Lifetime cloud plans
- Backup & folder sync
- Zero-knowledge security
- iOS & Android apps
- 500GB from $49 / year
- Lifetime plans from $199
2) Internxt
Internxt, despite being a relatively new cloud provider, are one which have already developed a leading and privacy focused cloud storage service with several generous lifetime cloud storage plans on offer.
These lifetime plans from Internxt currently start at just €249 for 2TB of storage and feature all of the highly-rated features found in the regular Internxt cloud storage plans. This means lifetime plans include use of the highly usable Internxt desktop software, secure file sharing services, unlimited upload and download bandwidth, device backup and folder synchronisation services plus the easy-to-use Internxt web-based interface and smartphone apps (for iOS and Android devices).
In addition to being a great cloud storage service overall, Internxt is also a service which stands out thanks to its clear commitment to providing very high levels of data security and enhanced privacy for each and every one of its users (no need to pay extra to get this, even on the lifetime plans). This commitment to data security and privacy sees all data which is uploaded to the Internxt cloud subject to zero-knowledge encryption using strong AES 256-bit encryption technology and ensures no-one except the account holder themselves can access any file contents at any point during its time stored upon the cloud.
Further security practises see the option for anonymous account creation (with very minimal personal details required to open and run an account) plus Internxt as an organisation themselves operating from within the privacy friendly EU and adhering to strong GDPR regulations making this a very privacy friendly operation overall – one made even better thanks to the option of getting a generous lifetime cloud storage account.
Internxt is priced form just €45.99 per year for 200GB of cloud storage on regular pricing plans with up to 2TB available for just €109.99 per year. Lifetime plans start at one-off payment of just €249 for a 2TB lifetime account with up to 10TB also available for a single payment of just €749 – more information on all of which can be found via the official Internxt website.
- Lifetime plans available
- Zero-knowledge security
- Secure file sharing
- iOS & Android apps
- Lifetime plans from €249
3) IceDrive
IceDrive is a very well designed and easy to use cloud storage service which, amongst various other pricing options for obtaining great value cloud storage, also feature several competitively priced lifetime storage plans.
What really stands out about IceDrive is the great looking design of the service and the ease of use for which it facilitates. Not only does this make IceDrive a pleasure to use, easy to configure and easy to find the various tools and features it has on offer, it also extends to the IceDrive desktop software as well. This desktop software (available for Windows, Mac OS and Linux devices) offers local cache copy technology (for working on files locally which are stored upon the cloud), automatic real-time folder synchronisation plus the ability to mount IceDrive cloud storage as a virtual drive (with a virtual drive letter) making it the ideal companion for such a lifetime cloud storage service.
Other features found within IceDrive include secure file sharing, smartphone apps for iOS and Android devices, a very usable web interface plus some great security and data privacy related options covering the cloud storage service as well.
Security wise and it is great to see that IceDrive offer premium account holders the option to utilise zero-knowledge encryption via the separate IceDrive encrypted container (meaning this is not applied automatically to all uploaded files). This encryption makes use of the (less popular but equally strong) Twofish 256-bit encryption technology for ensuring all data uploaded to the IceDrive vault remains encrypted and only viewable by the account owner at any time it is stored upon the cloud.
IceDrive is priced from just $47.88 per year for 100GB of cloud storage with regular plans up to 3TB also available from just $8.99 per month on a 2-year pre-paid plan. IceDrive Lifetime plans start from just $299 for 512GB of cloud storage with a 2TB plan priced at $479 and the massive 10TB lifetime plan available for a single payment of just $1199. More information on all IceDrive cloud plans can be found via the official IceDrive website.
- Easy-to-use interface
- Lifetime cloud plans
- Zero-knowledge security
- iOS & Android apps
- Backup & folder sync
- Lifetime plans from $299
Best Lifetime Cloud Storage Summary
Despite there being only a relatively small number of providers offering lifetime cloud storage plans, as cloud storage users we do still have several really good options available. Options currently available come from some very highly rated providers including my top three picks of Internxt, pCloud and IceDrive as are mentioned in this guide just above.
Whilst the headline pricing for the lifetime cloud service itself might initially seem like the most important factor, I would urge anyone seeking such a lifetime cloud storage service to try and look beyond this initial figure and to be sure that the provider chosen meets most (or ideally all) of you other cloud storage requirements. This means providing enough cloud storage to last at least several years of use into the future, the provision of all necessary cloud storage functionality including file sharing and folder synchronisation, zero-knowledge encryption, good desktop software plus the use of good smartphone apps as well.
NB – All of the lifetime cloud storage providers featured in this guide also feature an allocation of free cloud storage as well. As such, I would recommend signing up for a free account and testing out any potential cloud storage service and ensuring it meets your needs first before considering upgrading to a lifetime plan.
Overall, lifetime cloud storage plans can be a great investment both from a financial point of view as well as from the point of view of never having to worry about losing data due to factors such as missed subscription payments and the like. They key to getting the best lifetime cloud storage deal is to try multiple options out first and ensure that you find a service which works well for you and your own requirements before committing to a lifetime payment.
