Proton Drive is the Switzerland-based security company’s foray into cloud storage. It’s just as ambitious as its siblings Proton Mail and Proton Pass, but despite some interesting features, falls short of its own promises, never mind the competition.
Proton Drive
Proton Drive is a cloud storage service that protects your files with high-end encryption. Usability could be improved, however.
- Many unfinished features
- Some interface issues
- No good standalone plans
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Using Proton Drive
Proton Drive is a secure cloud storage solution that offers most of the common features you’d expect—storing your files, sync, versioning, among others—and does a pretty good job. It misses out on a spot among the best cloud storage services, though because, as much as I want to like it, it lacks a few things.
One of the bigger issues with Proton Drive is that it promises a lot and doesn’t deliver. A good example is its app: for desktop it has apps for Windows and macOS, plus a browser client, while mobile users can use Proton Drive on iOS and Android. You can find all apps on the Proton Drive downloads page.
You’ll find there isn’t a Linux app, which is fine, as very few services offer it. However, this hasn’t stopped Proton Drive from promising a Linux client for the past two years, despite no visible progress on it.
This pattern of making promises but not following up dogs a lot of software, so at least Proton Drive isn’t alone, but it does hurt its reputation. Without the wild expectations, Proton Drive would be a decent—if slightly underwhelming—service. With them, you constantly feel like it could be something more.
File Management
It’s a shame, too, because Proton Drive does a decent job with the basics. A good example is the main screen in the web app, which is the only way to directly interact with your files. It looks good, and I like how everything has been squared away. The files you upload are on the main screen, and you can hop between modes in the left-hand-pane.
I like the simplicity of this, but there are some issues. For one, opening folders is weird. First it seems to select the folder, and only on the second click does it open. It’s not a real issue, but it’s a bit odd, especially when compared to the competition.
Besides uploading files directly, you can also sync them from your devices, so you assign a folder and all its contents get sent to the cloud. It works well, but I find it a bit annoying that only the Windows and Mac apps can do this. To interact with files, you need to switch to the web app. It’s an odd choice, and if you’re organizing files you constantly feel like you’re switching between programs.
Accessing synced files is also different. You have to go to the tab labeled “Computers” and from there find the computer you synced from. You can then manually download files to your current device, but not move them to the main storage. Other services simply handle this better, and I’m not sure why sync and storage have this division between them.
Lost on the Road Map
Proton Drive also likes to tout its Photos feature, which is supposed to be a direct competitor to Google Photos but just isn’t. Sharing is clunky, preview acts oddly, and there are no editing functions—not even basic stuff.
The result is that I only use Photos for cold storage, so pictures that I want to keep but don’t want cluttering up my main photo app—I mainly use Ente. It’s a shame, too, because the potential is there, but like everything else, there have been no major updates since Photos launched more than a year ago.
Another exciting feature is the Proton Drive document editor, which we tried out in the summer of 2024. Then it seemed like a really cool feature and a great alternative to Google Docs, something a lot of people are crying out for. Again, though, very little headway seems to have been made since, and the document editor is still very basic.
If Proton could develop these features into what they were promised to be, there’s no doubt in my mind that Proton Drive could be a real challenger to Google and other cloud storage services. As it stands, though, it’s mainly an interesting extra bolted onto Proton’s other, more successful products.
Proton Drive Pricing
Proton Drive’s pricing is a little complex. There are six different plans, but only two are just for one person using only storage. The others are either aimed at multiple people, or include other Proton products. This means Proton Drive is great if you are looking to switch from Google to Proton, or want to share storage with others, but if you just want a lot of storage on your lonesome, it’s not a great pick.
The free plan, which misses out on our best free cloud storage roundup by a hair, is pretty good. It offers 5GB for free, and you get to use the document editor, too. The next tier is Drive Plus, which offers 200GB for just under $50 per year, and adds versioning as a feature, which is pretty good. The price is okay; you usually pay a little more for that amount of storage.
If you need more storage than that, though, the options get tricky. The next tier, Proton Ultimate, gives you 500GB, but costs $120 per year, as it’s the bundle with all of Proton’s other products. Personally, I like this bundle as I like Proton Mail and Proton Pass (if you read my Proton VPN review you’ll see I’m not as enthusiastic about it), and I don’t need too much storage. If you’re in need of a lot more space, though, and don’t need the other services, it’s a bit of a dud.
The next tier is Proton Duo, which is the same as Ultimate but for two people at a reduced price, which may be interesting for couples. There’s also a Family plan, which is like Ultimate but for up to six users. It’s a great deal, but not for people that just need a lot of storage.
The only real option for digital pack rats is Drive Professional, which is $72 per 1TB per year. You get some nice extras with it, like user access and the like, but in a market where IceDrive gives 2TB for the same price per year, it’s not that great—read my IceDrive review to see how IceDrive’s pricing scales.
The upshot is that price-wise, Proton Drive is a great pick if you don’t need too much storage or want secure storage. It becomes even better if you also need any of Proton’s other products (read my Proton Pass review for one that I think is especially good), in which case you can save big on storage and other important security software. If you need bulk storage, though, Proton Drive should not be your first choice.
Security and Privacy
When it comes to security and privacy, you’re relying on the Proton brand, which isn’t a bad thing. Besides being based in Switzerland and its privacy-friendly legislation (something that the company plasters across almost every page on its website), there is also a strong technical basis for its claims of security and privacy.
Like all Proton products, Drive offers end-to-end encryption (E2EE), meaning that when you upload files they are encrypted on your device and not decrypted until you download them again. This is a very important part of secure cloud storage, and one that’s too often ignored by other providers. E2EE keeps files safe both from outside attacks and from tampering attempts while they’re stored.
The encryption protocols used are state-of-the-art, and are regularly audited by a third party, a security firm called Securitum. I also like how Proton has a bug bounty program set up, which always inspires confidence.
All this encryption means Proton is private. That said, there’s one caveat: Proton relies on Swiss laws, which are strict, but don’t cover everything. One Proton Mail user found that out when their details were handed over to French police after a warrant was found to be legal. To be clear, this was a Mail issue, not a Drive one, and your files would be encrypted. However, you should keep in mind that Proton Drive does not guarantee anonymity, only security.
Should You Subscribe to Proton Drive?
As a standalone cloud storage service, Proton Drive has E2EE as its main draw, and that’s about it. There are other services that do more and better. However, as a bit of extra storage tacked onto Proton’s other products, it’s perfectly okay—it’s how I use it myself.
Proton Drive
Proton Drive is a cloud storage service that protects your files with high-end encryption. Usability could be improved, however.
If you need a relatively small amount of storage and like Proton Mail or the VPN or password manager, then I would look no further. If you need dedicated storage, though, you can do better.
