Dropbox vs pCloud
Both ladders below were read from the vendors’ own pricing pages, in this market, on the dates shown. Nothing is converted: what you see is what each page showed a reader here.
What each one is
Dropboxsite ↗pricing ↗
The file sync and sharing service that popularised the category, now with document and team collaboration tools around it. Paid plans start at €11.99/mo (Plus); no free plan is published. The ladder we hold runs 3 paid tiers, topping out at €21.5/mo (Advanced).
pCloudsite ↗pricing ↗
Cloud storage sold as a subscription or as a one-off lifetime plan, with optional client-side encryption. Paid plans start at €4.99/mo (Premium 500 GB); no free plan is published. The ladder we hold runs 3 paid tiers, topping out at €29.99/mo (Ultra 10 TB). Lifetime pay-once plans are also sold. One of the few vendors anywhere still selling lifetime storage; the subscription ladder sits beside it.
The two ladders
Dropboxsite ↗pricing ↗
read 2026-09-07 · EUR
| Plan | Price | What the page says |
|---|---|---|
| Plus | €11.99/mo (€9.99 ↓) | '€11.99 / month' billed monthly; '€9.99 / month' on yearly billing (the page's own comparison row prints both). 1 person, 2 TB. |
| Standard | €14.5/mo (€12 ↓) | '€14.50 / user / month' billed monthly; '€12 / user / month' on yearly billing. For teams; the page marks it 'Best Value'. |
| Advanced | €21.5/mo (€18 ↓) | '€21.50 / user / month' billed monthly; '€18 / user / month' on yearly billing. For 3 people or more. |
| Enterprise | Custom | 'Dropbox supports...' — contact sales. No figure is published. |
pCloudsite ↗pricing ↗
read 2026-08-27 · EUR
| Plan | Price | What the page says |
|---|---|---|
| Premium 500 GB | €4.99/mo (€4.17 ↓) · €199 | Annual is €49.99 a year against a struck-through €59.88, which is exactly twelve months at the €4.99 monthly rate. Lifetime is €199 one-time against a struck-through €299 — 3.98 years of the annual price. |
| Premium Plus 2 TB | €9.99/mo (€8.33 ↓) · €399 | Annual €99.99 against a struck-through €119.88 (twelve months at €9.99). Lifetime €399 one-time against €599 — 3.99 years of the annual price, or €199.50 per TB. |
| Ultra 10 TB | €29.99/mo (€25 ↓) · €1190 | Annual €299.99 against a struck-through €359.88. Lifetime €1,190 one-time against €1,890 — 3.97 years of the annual price, and €119 per TB, the cheapest per-terabyte lifetime figure on either vendor's page. |
Where they differ
- Cheapest way in: pCloud at €4.99/mo, against Dropbox at €11.99/mo. That is the entry price in this market on the dates shown, not a judgement about which suits you.
- Free plans: neither publishes one. Any free access here is a trial, which is a deadline.
- How far each ladder goes: Dropbox tops out at €21.5/mo, pCloud at €29.99/mo. A deeper ladder is not a worse deal — it is a bill that keeps climbing if you keep growing.
How to choose in this category
- Per-terabyte cost falls as tiers rise — the entry tier is rarely the value point.
- Lifetime pay-once plans exist in this category; divide by your honest years of use before comparing them to subscriptions.
- Business and personal ladders differ — make sure the page you read matches the plan you would buy.