At some point, most of our digital lives outgrow the space with a free cloud storage account. When that happens, you’ll want a cloud storage service with the most storage at the lowest price. However, if you pay a higher upfront cost, you could end up with what’s essentially free storage indefinitely. That possibility exists with a pCloud lifetime plan.
Key Takeaways:
- pCloud lifetime plans provide excellent value. If you stay with the service for at least three to four years, you’ll break even on your investment.
- If you want client-side and zero-knowledge encryption with pCloud, you’ll need an additional paid service called pCloud Crypto, which also has a lifetime plan option.
- If you are unsure about a lifetime plan, you can always upgrade later, no matter your current plan.
pCloud isn’t the only cloud storage provider offering lifetime plans, but it has some of the most competitively priced options. It’s one of our favorite cloud services, and we think staying with pCloud for the long term is worth your consideration.
Our pCloud review highlights several reasons why it’s a cloud service worth your money. Two of the primary reasons have to do with pCloud’s outstanding security and privacy. Based in Switzerland, pCloud enjoys what are considered the strictest privacy laws in the world, making it GPDR-compliant.
Even without a pCloud Crypto subscription (a paid, optional layer of protection), your data is encrypted before transfer and remains protected at rest with AES-256 encryption and TLS/SSL channel protection. Read on to learn more about the lifetime options with pCloud and if it’s the right fit for your needs.
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Yes, pCloud offers lifetime plans, starting with for a one-time payment of $199. pCloud considers a lifetime plan to run 99 years.
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While Dropbox makes it easier to collaborate with others, pCloud offers more free storage, better security and stronger privacy.
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The main disadvantage of pCloud is the additional charge for enhanced security and privacy, as the top pCloud competitors include client-side and zero-knowledge encryption as standard features.
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What Is pCloud Lifetime?
Lifetime plans mean a user pays a one-time fee to use the service for life. If you expect to need cloud storage for many years or decades, you can save money with a long-term plan.
pCloud offers several lifetime subscription options for single or multiple users, and there are many different storage space options that could meet most storage requirements. It’s worth noting that pCloud does not offer a lifetime account for its business plans.
pCloud shows you the lifetime plan as the default when you check out its prices.
The prices pCloud shows on its website reflect the current specials or promotions, but we’ve never seen pCloud charge full price to sign up for its plans. These discounts include the pCloud lifetime deals, and all pCloud lifetime subscriptions have the same amount of storage as its monthly or annual premium plan options.
Individual pCloud lifetime plans come with 500GB, 2TB or 10TB for $199, $399 or $1190, respectively. You’ll get all the same premium features with a lifetime plan that you would from the monthly or annual options.
A pCloud Family Lifetime plan provides some of the best value available.
pCloud lifetime plans for families offer either 2TB for $595 or 10TB for $1499, each with up to five users on the same account. Both plans afford plenty of storage and flexibility for digitally connected families. pCloud family plans are currently only available as lifetime subscriptions.
How Does pCloud Lifetime Cloud Storage Work?
A pCloud lifetime plan requires a one-time payment that gives you access to pCloud for as long as you maintain your account. There’s a limit of 99 years mentioned in the fine print, which for most of us equals a lifetime. You’ll never lose access to your storage if you don’t cancel your account, and pCloud doesn’t impose penalties for inactivity.
You can upgrade to a lifetime plan if you have a pCloud account with either the monthly or annual option. To do so, you’ll need to contact pCloud’s customer support, since you will no longer have a billing cycle.
If you already have a lifetime subscription — say, the 500GB option — and you decide to upgrade to the 2TB lifetime plan, you’ll end up with 2.5TB of storage. You’ll end up paying for the 2TB in addition to what you already paid for the 500GB plan.
pCloud Crypto Lifetime Plan
pCloud Crypto is another lifetime subscription option that brings added security. No, pCloud Crypto isn’t an investment into cryptocurrency. Instead, pCloud Crypto is a paid add-on that provides client-side encryption and zero-knowledge privacy to your account. Purchasing the pCloud Crypto lifetime plan will cost you $150.
You’ll have to pay extra to get pCloud Crypto (annual or lifetime) and zero-knowledge encryption.
There’s a lot to like about pCloud, but one feature we don’t like is paying extra for additional security and privacy — especially considering that some of pCloud’s top competitors offer these benefits with free accounts.
Full disclosure here: Adding pCloud Crypto doesn’t protect all your files. Only the ones you place in the designated Cypto folder enjoy additional security and privacy. Fortunately, with a Family Lifetime plan, each family member gets their own Crypto folder.
Is a pCloud Lifetime Subscription Worth It?
The value of a pCloud lifetime plan comes from longevity. If you know you’ll stick with pCloud for many years, paying for a lifetime plan will ultimately save you money. If you decide pCloud is your cloud storage of choice, it’s worth considering adding lifetime pCloud Crypto to your account.
pCloud Lifetime Access: Cost Benefit Analysis
| Plan: | Lifetime Details | Time to Break Even |
|---|---|---|
| Premium 500GB Lifetime | 500GB for $199 one-time payment | 3 years |
| Premium Plus 2TB Lifetime | 2TB for $399 one-time payment | 4 years |
| Custom 10TB Lifetime | 10TB for $1,190 one-time payment | Not comparable to annual plan |
| 2TB pCloud for Family Lifetime | 2TB for $595 one-time payment; up to 5 users | Not comparable to annual plan |
| 10TB pCloud for Family Lifetime | 10TB for $1,499 one-time payment; up to 5 users | Not comparable to annual plan |
The premium 500GB plan comes with a one-time payment of $199. Paying for the same plan annually costs you $49.99. After about three years, the same amount of storage will cost more with the annual option.
There’s a similar payoff with the Premium Plus 2TB plan. The monthly price is $9.99, while the annual price is $99.99. As the lifetime subscription comes in at $399, the payoff time for this plan is closer to four years. After four years, the lifetime plan essentially becomes free storage.
pCloud’s Lifetime Deal vs Normal Pricing
Below are the full subscription options, so you can compare the lifetime deal to the monthly or annual plan.
Business
- : Price per user (minimum 3)
- : 1TB
Business Pro
- : Price per user (minimum 3)
- : Unlimited GB
pCloud Crypto Encryption
- : Encryption for pCloud Drive
Ultimately, determining if a pCloud lifetime plan is worth it comes down to what you perceive as the best value. If you like pCloud and plan to stay with it for the long haul, you should consider a lifetime plan.
What if pCloud Goes out of Business?
The biggest risk associated with paying a large sum of money up front for a lifetime subscription comes from uncertainty. When you invest in a pCloud lifetime subscription, you expect the company to exist for many years.
However, there’s no guarantee. In fact, Treasure Cloud was a new service that offered lifetime cloud storage for cheap — but then shut down unexpectedly, giving users only 11 days notice of the termination.
However, pCloud is a reliable mature cloud storage provider and the overall cloud service market shows no signs of collapse. As we continue to live our lives online, the security and privacy of our sensitive data remains critically important.
While no one can predict the future, if you plan to pay for cloud storage over the next several years, you could save money long term by subscribing to a lifetime plan. If pCloud falters as a company or gets bought out anytime in the next decade, you’ll likely break even at worst.
Final Thoughts
Paying for lifetime cloud storage isn’t the easiest decision, but for many, the benefits outweigh the risks. Aside from the high upfront cost, committing to a company for decades or longer brings uncertainty, since we can’t predict the future. However, a pCloud lifetime plan provides the best value for one of the best cloud storage options out there.
Are you considering a pCloud lifetime storage plan? If you have lifetime storage, what has your experience been like? Would you consider pCloud lifetime cloud storage at a discounted rate? Would you pay extra for pCloud Crypto? Let us know in the comments section below. Thanks for reading our article.
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