As the brainchild of eccentric tech entrepreneur Kim Dotcom, who subsequently left the company, Mega configures its best cloud storage offering somewhat differently. One of the biggest draws is the variety of built-in security mechanisms you get on all of the Mega plans, including the free tier. 

Features include end-to-end encryption and the publishing of its source code on GitHub, so anyone can audit it for security issues. Mega overall is intuitive and easy to use, with cross-platform tools available across Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS.

• You can sign up for Mega here

Mega: Pricing & plans

Users can get 20GB free cloud storage - no credit cards required. Alongside the base storage, there’s a limited file transfer limit, which apparently changes dynamically based on the spare capacity on the Mega network. Extra space - up to 50 GB - can be earned by completing various tasks, like inviting friends or installing the mobile apps, but this will eventually expire.

There are three personal plans: Pro I, Pro II, Pro II. 

The first offers 2TB storage for $11 a month. The second, an 8TB plan priced at $22. The third comes with 16TB for $33. There’s also a Business subscription starting at $17 for 3TB and three users. Mega notes that your subscriptions are billed in Euros, so we’ve rounded up the estimated prices here. 

Mega: Interface 

Mega’s web interface provides a slick and smooth experience. Everything is neatly laid out and accessible – whether you need to upload files or get information about your account- all is reassuringly straightforward. The web app enables viewing (or listening to) media files, documents and so on from within your browser. The functions, such as sharing files and folders are always mere clicks away, making it one of the more user-friendly cloud storage solutions that we've come across.

Along with access to Mega through the browser, there is also the option of using the MegaSync app for Windows, macOS or Linux. Just like the online interface, all is clean and well laid-out inside the desktop client to monitor any folders that you designate, syncing files analogous to Dropbox. 

You can granularly control to sync your entire Mega cloud locker to your computer, or just your selected files and folders using the 'add sync' button. The app is unobtrusive and remains in the system tray when not in use. 

Also impressive are the number of extensions that Mega offers, including an extension to the Thunderbird email client, to a command line interface. That this cloud storage service is built by people who are passionate about technology shows through, with an integrated, encrypted chat platform called MegaChat used to speak securely with other users, when the need arises. Like Mega itself, the chat supports end to end encryption so even company employees won't be able to read your messages. 

Upload and download speeds are plenty fast when we tested them out – so with a good broadband connection, you should be fine. We really liked the desktop version, which has some extra features: the ability to throttle how much bandwidth it's using, and the option to exclude certain files from the syncing process based on their names.

Mega: Features

Mega strikes a good balance between features and simplicity, running on just about every device. You can have it monitor specific folders on your computer, along with uploading files through the web interface. On first launch of the desktop client you're offered the option of Full Sync of all files in your home directory, or Selective Sync. If you prefer to set things up yourself manually as we did, you can also skip this and add syncs later. 

Any size file can be uploaded, as long as you stay within your overall quota, with the service supporting versioning as well, enabling the retrieval of older versions of documents.

Baked right into the Mega service is file and folder sharing. It includes the option to either include the encryption key with the link which is quite convenient, or to transmit the encryption key separately, though a different channel, a nice feature to impress more security-conscious users, but perhaps not the general masses. 

For an even additional layer of security, links can also be password protected, with dates of expiration assigned. These features are sadly available to Pro subscribers only. 

When we tried to generate a link to share one of our test files, we received a stern warning from Mega not to share any Copyrighted material. As the company claims “Zero Knowledge" of your data, this is presumably done on an honor system. 

What makes Mega stand out is these security features, with end-to-end encryption supported, and a clear emphasis on protecting your privacy throughout. There’s even a secure chat client built into the platform as well, especially useful for using Mega in a small business setting for secure communication between employees.

What’s missing from Mega is the free office software suite that other cloud providers include. That, and some of the more advanced features found in other products. However, on the whole it's a slick cloud storage solution to put the focus on protecting your data. 

Uploading and syncing is a breeze, the majority of the file sharing options you're going to need are included, and your files are available from just about anywhere.

Mega: Security 

An important reason that Mega attracts customers is due to its approach to security. The platform is totally end-to-end encrypted, which means not even Mega - or anyone issuing warrants to Mega - can make any sense of your data. Also keep in mind that this means that if you forget your password, you can't get your data back (you'll need to acknowledge you understand this before you create an account).

Truth be told this is not completely true: there is a recovery key in your account, but you need to jot this down somewhere else to create a proper safety net. When you first sign in to the desktop app it displays the key along with options to save or print it. Make sure to keep yours in a safe place. 

Secure access to your account can also be done by optionally enabling two-factor authentication. From a security standpoint, we always like to see 2FA from a security standpoint. It shows that Mega takes privacy and security seriously. We were also pleased to see that 2FA can only be done via  a legitimate authenticator app rather than SMS or email, which are less secure. 

The Mega blog cautions that two-factor authentication alone isn't a magic bullet and should be combined with a strong, unique password. We recommend using Diceware. 

The very best security feature in Mega's favor though is that the client apps are open source. This means the security and programming community are free to inspect the source code to make sure that end-to-end encryption is taking place in the correct way. This is very reassuring, as it's almost impossible to verify the claims of zero knowledge cloud storage providers using proprietary closed-source software. 

Mega: Our tests 

We ran three tests on Mega on a Windows 11 virtual machine running the desktop client. The VM was connected to the internet via fiber broadband and a VPN server, which showed an average upload speed of 70 Mbps. We then measured sync speed, file recovery and versioning. 

• Test 1 - Sync speed

For this test we used the desktop client to upload our test folder of 22 files (625MB total) to the Mega cloud. We were pleased to see the app showed the number of files remaining as well as the upload progress of all our data.

It took just under 2 minutes for the app to confirm all files were successfully uploaded but around 20 seconds of this was spent on uploading one final file, so we have put this down to ghosts in the machine. Ignoring this one piece of data, upload speeds were comparable to big name competitors like Dropbox and OneDrive. 

• Test 2 - File recovery

As our test folder had been uploaded to the Mega cloud, we opened the web portal and chose ‘Move to Rubbish Bin’. Upon opening the Rubbish Bin itself, we saw the folder immediately and were able to click Restore.

The Mega web interface is excellent for previewing files, so we used this to open images and a few audio tracks to check the restoration was a success. It was.

• Test 3 - Versioning

Versioning lets you go back to previous file states - and it’s especially useful if you’ve made changes you later need to view or roll-back.

When choosing Add Sync in the Mega client, you need to specify a folder on your local device. We placed our test document in its very own folder and also created a dedicated folder for it in the cloud.

Once the sync was complete, we opened the document and removed all text except the introduction. After these changes were synced we opened the Mega Cloud and clicked the file in the virtual drive. 

There, we found Previous Versions. This showed both the original and modified version of the document and we were able to simply click the Revert button to undo our changes. 

Mega: Verdict 

Mega has plenty of appeal, certainly among users who value privacy and security above most other considerations. Having been able to use the various apps and features, it’s easy to say how easy it is to get around the service while finding all the tools needed. Mega caters to both absolute beginners of cloud storage, along with the more advanced users who can take advantage of such features as encrypted chat or a command line interface.

There is also an appeal for enterprise users as well, with its extra user management features, secure built-in chat, and the ability for easy file sharing with folks not on Mega. Overall, Mega has a clean, easy-to-use interface with plenty of useful features. 

While it doesn't quite have the scope of some other cloud services, it can edge out many of them on price, and the security measures of Mega are indeed impressive.

EaseUS is one of the biggest names in the world of data recovery software, and its Data Recovery Wizard has been around since 2005 – so, after such a long time, you'd hope it's a top option when it comes to photo recovery.

Its set of features certainly suggests that it'll get the job done. It can hunt through conventional hard disks and even damaged operating systems for photos, and it supports more file and device types than virtually every rival. It's even got a generous free version alongside powerful paid options.

For added security, we've tested and rated the best data loss prevention services and the best photo cloud storage solutions.   

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard: Plans & pricing

• One of the more expensive photo recovery choices, and without good free options 

There's no doubt that EaseUs Data Recovery Wizard has a good range of features, especially if you want to hunt down and restore photos or videos – but you'll have to pay for the privilege.

If you want to unlock Data Recovery Wizard's full range of features you'll have to pay either $70 / £49 per month or $100 / £80 for a year of access and a year of upgrades – the latter obviously offers far better value. EaseUS are also currently offering a 10% discount for new sign ups. 

If you plan to use the data recovery app often, there's a product that offers lifetime upgrades for a one-off price of $149.95 / £121. All prices are exclusive of VAT.

We'd also recommend looking at EaseUS's bundle offers, because you can combine Data Recovery Wizard with EaseUS Todo Backup and iPhone utilities to get a 30% discount..

A free version of Data Recovery Wizard is available, but this is not suitable unless you only need basic functionality. While the free product does restore files from hard drives, SSDs and external HDDs, you don't get NAS support, remote assistance or any of its photo and video repair functionality.

Previously EaseUS' free trial was just for 30-days and offered scanning but no actual recovery capabilities, which seemed pretty cruel. It appears the developers have listened to user feedback since then, as the free version now allows you to recover up to 2GB of data.

We had a hard time squaring this free allowance on our tests, as after attempting to recover a 100MB folder on a 512MB drive just three times, our allowance was reduced to around 200MB. It's possible the 2GB limit may apply to the size of the drive being scanned instead of the amount of data recovered. 

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard: Features

• Lots of file recovery options

Various file recovery features are available with this software, from straightforward undelete (whether accidental or from emptying the recycle bin) to recovering data lost by formatting a disk drive. Hard disk drives, SSDs, SD cards, flash drives, USB drives and others can be recovered with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro.

EaseUS Data Recovery wizard supports of a number of file system types, including FAT(FAT12,FAT16,FAT32), ExFA, NTFS, NTFS5, EXT2/EXT3, HFS+ and ReFS. Linux users may be disappointed to see a lack of support for ext2/ext3/ext4 drives but since Easus Data Recovery Wizard is only available for Windows and macOS, it's not unusual that it would support only file systems for those operating systems. 

RAW file systems (where the MBR is corrupt or partition table damaged) that cannot be recognised by your computer's operating system can also be recovered. The EaseUS user guide gives fair warning that some files don't share the same structure and identifiers, so certain more unusual file formats can't be recovered. This shouldn't be an issue if you simply want to use EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to retrieve lost images however, unless they're in a very old or exotic format like TIFF or PPM.  

With flexible scanning to find deleted files quickly or scan storage sector-by-sector, one of the most useful features of this software is the pre-recovery preview. This reassurance lets you observe lost files before they're fully recovered.

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro will also, its website boasts, recover data loss caused by power failure, system crash, hard drive failure, viruses, and accidental or poorly planned operating system reinstallation. Sadly as there's no free trial of the Pro features, we weren't able to test this. 

How we tested

For our data recovery tests we used a virtual machine with a clean install of Windows 11. The only third-party tools installed besides Easus Data Recovery Wizard were VLC Media Player and GIMP. 

Data files

The files we chose for recovery are an album of Mozart's Music available from the Internet Archive. 

Although EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is a popular option for recovering lost images, the utility actually supports recovering a wide number of file formats. We also felt that drives would be unlikely to contain only images so wanted to do a realistic test.  

The album included 4 music files (2 in Mp3 and 2 in FLAC) format, 6 JPG image files of album covers (with thumbnails) and 2 PNG image files. The files also included 2 XML files, a torrent file and an 'SQLite' file containing details of the album. There were 25 files in total. 

We copied the files in the music album to a 512MB virtual NTFS-formatted hard drive, which was then attached to the Windows 11 virtual machine.

Data tests

The tests were performed one after the other on three separate virtual drives:

1. File deletion : the album files were simply deleted from the drive and the Recycle Bin emptied. No other data was copied to the drive. We then tried to recover the files. 

2. Delete & Format : The files were deleted as outlined above and we also performed a 'Quick Format' using the 'Disk Management' utility built into Windows 11. We then tried to recover the files from the formatted partition. 

3. Recover corrupted files: We used the freeware program 'Victoria' to overwrite the volume header of the drive containing the files with zeroes. The drive didn't mount automatically in File Explorer and showed as being unpartitioned in Windows "Disk Management" utility. We then checked if the utility could see it and if so, recover the files. 

We do not believe that running data recovery tools in a virtual environment has a significant effect on how they function. Still, if you're considering buying software we encourage you to read all reviews thoroughly and make sure that the developer offers a refund policy.

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard: Finding files

• Speedy scanning across devices and partitions

Launching the software presents you with a list of devices and partitions. Along with physical devices, for example, you might find a recovery partition. Newly connected or inserted devices can be found by clicking the refresh button, and if you can't find a partition it be found discovered by re-scanning the device.

Clicking Scan on a partition will commence the process of discovering lost data. When the scan completes, the detected files will be listed with an accompanying file structure. To learn more about an individual file, check the file size, date modified, and file type. The Preview feature lets you take a closer look at the file, while the search box gives you the opportunity to find specific files.

To recover the data from the disk, select the files you want and click Recover. Simply select the recovery destination and wait for the process to complete.

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard: Data recovery

• Slow recovery speeds, option to save scan sessions

We were pleased to say that in all our tests EaseUS ran remarkably quickly. It detected the drive almost instantly and ran a scan in seconds. 

This is a huge improvement on our previous review, where we had EaseUS scan a 16GB SanDisk Cruzer Blade USB drive on a Dell G5505 running Windows 10. This took around 10 minutes, far longer than expected. This original scan could have been due to the performance of deep scanning techniques, but these are par for the course in recovery software.

Rather than perform the same scan every time, however, the tool features the option to save a scan session. Whether this acknowledges potentially slow scan times or not isn't clear, but it is a welcome option, enabling you to instantly load up the previous scan when restarting the software. 

For added convenience, the scan tool also includes pause and stop buttons for interrupting the process when necessary.

In our last review EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro missed files uncovered by lesser tools. This put the software in quite a difficult position. After all, why would anyone spend $69.95 or more for a tool that recovers less than a free alternative?

In our most recent benchmarks, the first test simply involves recovering files that have been deleted from a drive via the Recycle Bin. The utility managed to find all of the missing files and offered to "Recover All" to a location of our choice. 

EaseUS even helpfully opened a File Explorer window with the contents of the files. All of the files were recovered intact, with their filenames and opened without issue. 

We ran our tests again using a drive where the same files had been deleted, then the drive itself "quick" formatted using Windows 11 Disk Management Utility. 

We were particularly impressed here how EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard categorized the files here into "Lost" (in this case system volume files) and "deleted" (the files in question). The utility recovered a total of 19 of the 25 files. The two audio FLAC files, both XML files and the torrent file were missing. The others opened without any problems. Unlike other data recovery programs we tested, the utility was actually able to recover the filenames from the formatted drive. 

Finally we tested our "corrupted" drive. As soon as EaseUS opened it instantly recognized the "lost partition" and gave the option to scan it. We clicked on the "Directory Intact" option to view all of our deleted files. At this stage we ran up against the 2GB limit of the free version of EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard so opened up the preview feature instead. 

The free version allows you to preview small versions of images but encourages you to upgrade to Pro. It was also able to play all 4 of the recovered audio files without issue.

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard: Photo recovery

• Versatile and powerful photo recovery software

This program’s name might suggest that the picture recovery process takes the form of a familiar, sequential selection of windows, but that's not actually the case – the name just means that, as one of the best photo recovery apps, it reckons it's got magical properties when it comes to image recovery and restoration.

Despite the absence of a true software wizard, this tool is still easy to use. On the main screen you can easily see the storage devices that the app can access and scan. You'll find incredible compatibility here: as well as normal hard disks and SSDs, EaseUS's tool can scan USB drives, SD cards, mp3 players, external drives, ZIP drives, RAID arrays and even NAS drives. That's more power than you'll find in most other photo restoration utilities.

Once you've picked a drive, the scan starts – and EaseUS makes things easy once the results start to come in, too. You can see recoverable photos while the scan is ongoing, view file previews, and start the recovery process before the scan completes. 

It's all very straightforward to use: picking a drive is as simple as clicking an icon, and your results sit in the same kind of nested menus that you'll have seen in tools like Windows Explorer.

In the past these scans were pretty slow compared to many other tools and they used quite a hefty amount of your system's resources, but our most recent tests showed EaseUS could perform a lightning speed. Admittedly this only involved a very small drive for a handful of files, so we recommend trying out the free version on your chosen drive before subscribing. 

That comprehensive scanning ability extends to EaseUS's file format support, too. Most file recovery apps support a few hundred common file types, but this tool supports more than 1,000. And when it comes to imagery, it means you can restore formats like RAW, PSD and SWF alongside conventional formats like JPG, PNG and GIF. It works on Windows and Mac, so it'll function effectively across most laptops and PCs for photo editing,

Elsewhere, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard has effective filtering options, so you can easily search your scan results, and it has a selection of advanced features for tougher photo recovery jobs. It's able to recover files from formatted partitions and drives and restore files from damaged operating systems installations – a great tool if you've got a valuable PC that's hitting blue screens or stuck in a boot loop. The Data Recovery Wizard can even hunt through bootable media and drives that have use Microsoft BitLocker encryption.

It's got some abilities that will be particularly pleasing to photographers and people who need to recover pictures, too. It uses artificial intelligence to repair errors in damaged photo and video files, and gives you a preview of the file before it completes the restoration. It also uses the same algorithms to attempt repairs on documents and PDFs, and these features can be deployed on batches of files if you need to repair lots of pictures in quick succession.

The EaseUS' website also makes the claim that it can perform "Crash OS" recovery. You can do this through creating special bootable media from within the utility. This is a very welcome feature, as it means you don't have to try and install EaseUS Data Recovery onto the same drive which you're trying to recover. 

During our tests, EaseUS was able to recover the same image files as DMDE Free Edition, which allows you to recover up to 4000 files per directory at a time. This is considerably more generous than EaseUS' 2GB free allowance. It's not clear if the repair feature in the 'Pro' version of EaseUS would have helped us recover the 5 missing files from the formatted drive during our tests. Still, we were very impressed how quickly and efficiently the utility recovered virtually all of our test files.  

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard: Support

• Great range of support options available

EaseUS's website claims that licensed users will get "high-quality remote consultation" for what it deems "necessary cases." In truth, this undersells the support options on offer from EaseUS. Along with pre-sales support, you'll get online and email support for after sales issues with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro. You can also arrange a TeamViewer session with an EaseUS specialist. 

However, it is not clear from the website whether post-diagnostic intervention is available free or if a further charge is applicable.

Even if you're unable to persuade a member of the EaseUS team to talk you through the progress, the online user guide has tutorial videos, as well as step by step instructions on how to scan drives. This isn't really necessary as the interface is very intuitive but it's helpful all the same.  

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard: Final verdict

Feature wise, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro does everything it needs to. It looks good, the user interface is intuitive, and it detects and scans unmountable disks. 

On the other hand, it is expensive, and previous tests showed it to be slower than competing tools. Recovery is mostly effective, although not all the files turn out intact.

Perhaps most disappointing, however, are the limitations of the free version. 

The new 2GB data cap is very welcome compared to the previous free trial, which simply gave users a preview of what could be recovered if they paid for an upgrade. Still, during our tests recovering less than 100MB of files we seemed to burn through this very quickly. There's also no way to test out the 'repair' feature on one or two files without paying for a monthly subscription. 

Launched in 1999, FC2 is a pretty popular blogging host from Japan and currently ranked as the third most popular video hosting service in its homeland. From January 2018, it gained status for being the 11th most popular website in all of Japan. The company is supposedly run by brothers Takahiro (Rihiro and Takahashi) and headquartered in Amstelveen (the Netherlands), where it employs around twenty full-time staff members and about thirty part-time ones. However, a 2016 survey done by Nielsen (a global marketing research company) shows a significant drop in the number of users, resulting in a fall from the third to the eighth place in Japan. 

Controversy has followed FC2 through the years, primarily for allowing hosting without putting any restrictions on the content including pornography, piracy and defamation. Fortunately, from 2012 onwards stricter rules have been enforced and the changes in Japanese law regarding the foreign entities operating in Japan have helped the injured parties seek justice.  

• Interested in FC2? Check out the website here

For those growing up in the early 2000s, FC2’s main website may feel like a walk down the memory lane with its old-school style and somewhat puzzling user experience. Everything seems straightforward at the beginning, but soon enough you might feel like being lost in a maze, faced with dead ends and some pages popping up in Japanese just to confuse you even further.

Besides English and Japanese, FC2’s website is available in eleven additional languages, although the translation doesn’t appear to be total in some parts.  If you click on “Blog” (next to a cute rubber duck), you’ll proceed to FC2 BLOG’s website which is more modern, easier to use and available in all the same languages. 

The “About” section of FC2’s website provides a brief overview of FC2’s history that ends in 2013 and fails to mention anything about their servers or data center locations. 

• Also check out our roundup of the best blogging sites

Plans and pricing

Although there is truth in the words that you get what you pay for, since FC2 provides services that are completely free of charge, we’ll have to judge them by other means. With FC2 there aren't multiple web hosting plans to choose from, but rather one plan to rule them all for those looking for a way to create their dream blog without lightening their wallets.

As one would expect, this plan doesn’t provide much, but it does include up to 1GB of web space, one subdomain, unlimited bandwidth, a file manager and editor, support for Java and Flash file types as well for CGI, PHP and SSI. Besides shared hosting, FC2 provides its own website builder, which is (again) absolutely free.

Despite the fact that FC2’s services are free, you can make some pocket money by allowing ads on your blog, although (as of late) you can decide not to allow any advertisements on it.

Ease of use

FC2’s site may not be the most intuitive one we’ve seen, but with a little patience you’ll find everything you need to know before creating your website. To start this journey into the unknown, click on the “Free Website” key and proceed to “FC2ID registration” to create your account. Before this, you would probably want to check out the features, read terms of use, some of the beginner-friendly manuals or contact the team behind FC2. However, the latter can be done to make inquiries about three types of issues only: questions about payments, bug reports and special feature requests.

To sign up you’ll be required to enter your e-mail address, pass an image verification and agree to all terms of use. After this, to activate your FC2 account, you’ll have to do a verification via e-mail and (unless a part of your URL broke off, like ours did) you should have no trouble proceeding with the creation of your new account. The next step is to produce a password (by using letters and numbers only), pick out a gender (male or female), choose a security question to which you’ll provide an answer, add your birth date (or any birthday you’ll remember) and a zip code.

In a matter of minutes you’ll get another email form FC2 and proceed to their dashboard where you can add some of the free services they provide besides web hosting. These include FC2 Blog (where you’ll find a website builder), FC2 Video (video hosting), FC2 Live, FC2 Analyzer, FC2 Content Market and the list goes on. These and all other aspects of your website can be monitored and managed from your dashboard.

If you would rather use a website builder to create content for your new website, FC2 will provide you with one together with 5000 colorful templates, a photo album feature and an ability to create pay-to-view content. If you already have a blog, you can transfer it from a broad range of sites (WordPress included) to FC2.

If you are wondering about the ads, apart from “Powered by FC2”credited at the bottom end of each page, you won’t be seeing any, unless you chose to add them to make extra money along the way.

Speed and experience

Even though FC2 makes no promises when it comes to speed or performance, after testing their main website we were blown away by the results we received. The latest performance report by GTmetrix (which is our tool of choice) shows first-grade performance of an A (100%), with all of the vital metrics dramatically above the average values. The time it took to fully load the page amounted to 1.5 seconds which looks even better when compared with the average result of 8.2 seconds.

Since FC2 offers no uptime guarantee, we didn’t expect much when we decided to monitor the uptime of their main website via UptimeRobot. One month later we got a report indicating a spotless uptime of 100%. During this period we failed to record any downtime at all and response time, although not ideally fast, was fairly stable. All in all, it appears that neither speed nor uptime should be on your “worry list” when hosting with FC2.

Support

Having dedicated customer support is definitely not something FC2 can brag about which is understandable considering that their services come at no cost. Since direct channels of support (such as telephone number or live chat) are not an option, you’ll have to find your way using some of the self-help alternatives. The most obvious one is FC2’s “Website Manual” which contains several novice-friendly guides summarizing basic knowledge on how to create your first website. This section functions as the knowledgbase comprising of 26 articles at the time of writing.

A FAQ section is available as well and it features separate sections on various issues (such as registration, file manager, FTP, images, files and so forth) covering most of the essential questions and concerns. There is a comment section at the bottom of the page, however, since some comments have been pending an approval from 2017, we wouldn’t waste our time on that.

The competition

A good alternative to FC2 for those who are looking for free hosting is FreeHostingNoAds, an experienced host with a name that sums it all up.  For a free service, FreeHostingNoAds earns a credit for providing a decent range of features (free domain registration, auto-installs for WordPress, Joomla and the CMS Grav, and a simple website builder). However, the bandwidth is limited to 5GB (while with FC2 it’s unlimited), disc space to 1GB (same as with FC2) and the upload file limit is a mere 15MB (it’s 250 KB with FC2), so if you want anything more than a very simple website, look elsewhere.

Infinity Free is considered to be one of the best providers of free hosting and for good reasons. It puts no restrictions on storage space and the number of monthly visits and subdomains. However, in terms of speed and uptime performance, FC2 wins the prize by a long shot. At any rate, since both services are entirely free, you have nothing to lose but your time.

Although HostGator doesn’t offer free hosting in itself, with their generous 45-days money-back guarantee you are free to try out what they have to offer without worrying about your budget. In addition to this, HostGator is very user-friendly (especially towards beginners), while FC2 users are primarily left to fend for themselves.

Another good beginner-friendly choice is Bluehost which (much like HostGator) doesn’t offer free hosting but still provides user-friendly experience with 24/7 customer support, a myriad of options and features, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. FC2, although quite suitable for those who are just learning how to build their online presence, won’t give your website much space to grow and prosper.  

Final verdict

As a rule, free web hosting comes with a certain number of limitations. Such is the case with FC2, although they can supply everything that is essential for a personal blog, and a website builder with which you can build your website without much hassle. It is even possible to earn a bit of cash on the side, that is, if you don’t have an aversion to ads.

With all that said, if you are a first-timer who wants a helping hand, or a veteran webmaster wanting more than an absolute minimum, you’ll be better off choosing HostGator or Bluehost as your hosting provider. Their services don’t come free-of-charge, but will provide you with much more.

• We've also featured the best web hosting

Launched in 1999, FC2 is a pretty popular blogging host from Japan and currently ranked as the third most popular video hosting service in its homeland. From January 2018, it gained status for being the 11th most popular website in all of Japan. The company is supposedly run by brothers Takahiro (Rihiro and Takahashi) and headquartered in Amstelveen (the Netherlands), where it employs around twenty full-time staff members and about thirty part-time ones. However, a 2016 survey done by Nielsen (a global marketing research company) shows a significant drop in the number of users, resulting in a fall from the third to the eighth place in Japan. 

Controversy has followed FC2 through the years, primarily for allowing hosting without putting any restrictions on the content including pornography, piracy and defamation. Fortunately, from 2012 onwards stricter rules have been enforced and the changes in Japanese law regarding the foreign entities operating in Japan have helped the injured parties seek justice.  

• Interested in FC2? Check out the website here

For those growing up in the early 2000s, FC2’s main website may feel like a walk down the memory lane with its old-school style and somewhat puzzling user experience. Everything seems straightforward at the beginning, but soon enough you might feel like being lost in a maze, faced with dead ends and some pages popping up in Japanese just to confuse you even further.

Besides English and Japanese, FC2’s website is available in eleven additional languages, although the translation doesn’t appear to be total in some parts.  If you click on “Blog” (next to a cute rubber duck), you’ll proceed to FC2 BLOG’s website which is more modern, easier to use and available in all the same languages. 

The “About” section of FC2’s website provides a brief overview of FC2’s history that ends in 2013 and fails to mention anything about their servers or data center locations. 

• Also check out our roundup of the best blogging sites

Plans and pricing

Although there is truth in the words that you get what you pay for, since FC2 provides services that are completely free of charge, we’ll have to judge them by other means. With FC2 there aren't multiple web hosting plans to choose from, but rather one plan to rule them all for those looking for a way to create their dream blog without lightening their wallets.

As one would expect, this plan doesn’t provide much, but it does include up to 1GB of web space, one subdomain, unlimited bandwidth, a file manager and editor, support for Java and Flash file types as well for CGI, PHP and SSI. Besides shared hosting, FC2 provides its own website builder, which is (again) absolutely free.

Despite the fact that FC2’s services are free, you can make some pocket money by allowing ads on your blog, although (as of late) you can decide not to allow any advertisements on it.

Ease of use

FC2’s site may not be the most intuitive one we’ve seen, but with a little patience you’ll find everything you need to know before creating your website. To start this journey into the unknown, click on the “Free Website” key and proceed to “FC2ID registration” to create your account. Before this, you would probably want to check out the features, read terms of use, some of the beginner-friendly manuals or contact the team behind FC2. However, the latter can be done to make inquiries about three types of issues only: questions about payments, bug reports and special feature requests.

To sign up you’ll be required to enter your e-mail address, pass an image verification and agree to all terms of use. After this, to activate your FC2 account, you’ll have to do a verification via e-mail and (unless a part of your URL broke off, like ours did) you should have no trouble proceeding with the creation of your new account. The next step is to produce a password (by using letters and numbers only), pick out a gender (male or female), choose a security question to which you’ll provide an answer, add your birth date (or any birthday you’ll remember) and a zip code.

In a matter of minutes you’ll get another email form FC2 and proceed to their dashboard where you can add some of the free services they provide besides web hosting. These include FC2 Blog (where you’ll find a website builder), FC2 Video (video hosting), FC2 Live, FC2 Analyzer, FC2 Content Market and the list goes on. These and all other aspects of your website can be monitored and managed from your dashboard.

If you would rather use a website builder to create content for your new website, FC2 will provide you with one together with 5000 colorful templates, a photo album feature and an ability to create pay-to-view content. If you already have a blog, you can transfer it from a broad range of sites (WordPress included) to FC2.

If you are wondering about the ads, apart from “Powered by FC2”credited at the bottom end of each page, you won’t be seeing any, unless you chose to add them to make extra money along the way.

Speed and experience

Even though FC2 makes no promises when it comes to speed or performance, after testing their main website we were blown away by the results we received. The latest performance report by GTmetrix (which is our tool of choice) shows first-grade performance of an A (100%), with all of the vital metrics dramatically above the average values. The time it took to fully load the page amounted to 1.5 seconds which looks even better when compared with the average result of 8.2 seconds.

Since FC2 offers no uptime guarantee, we didn’t expect much when we decided to monitor the uptime of their main website via UptimeRobot. One month later we got a report indicating a spotless uptime of 100%. During this period we failed to record any downtime at all and response time, although not ideally fast, was fairly stable. All in all, it appears that neither speed nor uptime should be on your “worry list” when hosting with FC2.

Support

Having dedicated customer support is definitely not something FC2 can brag about which is understandable considering that their services come at no cost. Since direct channels of support (such as telephone number or live chat) are not an option, you’ll have to find your way using some of the self-help alternatives. The most obvious one is FC2’s “Website Manual” which contains several novice-friendly guides summarizing basic knowledge on how to create your first website. This section functions as the knowledgbase comprising of 26 articles at the time of writing.

A FAQ section is available as well and it features separate sections on various issues (such as registration, file manager, FTP, images, files and so forth) covering most of the essential questions and concerns. There is a comment section at the bottom of the page, however, since some comments have been pending an approval from 2017, we wouldn’t waste our time on that.

The competition

A good alternative to FC2 for those who are looking for free hosting is FreeHostingNoAds, an experienced host with a name that sums it all up.  For a free service, FreeHostingNoAds earns a credit for providing a decent range of features (free domain registration, auto-installs for WordPress, Joomla and the CMS Grav, and a simple website builder). However, the bandwidth is limited to 5GB (while with FC2 it’s unlimited), disc space to 1GB (same as with FC2) and the upload file limit is a mere 15MB (it’s 250 KB with FC2), so if you want anything more than a very simple website, look elsewhere.

Infinity Free is considered to be one of the best providers of free hosting and for good reasons. It puts no restrictions on storage space and the number of monthly visits and subdomains. However, in terms of speed and uptime performance, FC2 wins the prize by a long shot. At any rate, since both services are entirely free, you have nothing to lose but your time.

Although HostGator doesn’t offer free hosting in itself, with their generous 45-days money-back guarantee you are free to try out what they have to offer without worrying about your budget. In addition to this, HostGator is very user-friendly (especially towards beginners), while FC2 users are primarily left to fend for themselves.

Another good beginner-friendly choice is Bluehost which (much like HostGator) doesn’t offer free hosting but still provides user-friendly experience with 24/7 customer support, a myriad of options and features, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. FC2, although quite suitable for those who are just learning how to build their online presence, won’t give your website much space to grow and prosper.  

Final verdict

As a rule, free web hosting comes with a certain number of limitations. Such is the case with FC2, although they can supply everything that is essential for a personal blog, and a website builder with which you can build your website without much hassle. It is even possible to earn a bit of cash on the side, that is, if you don’t have an aversion to ads.

With all that said, if you are a first-timer who wants a helping hand, or a veteran webmaster wanting more than an absolute minimum, you’ll be better off choosing HostGator or Bluehost as your hosting provider. Their services don’t come free-of-charge, but will provide you with much more.

• We've also featured the best web hosting

One of the originals in the cloud storage space, Box has been busy doing file syncing and storing long before the likes of Apple and Microsoft jumped on the bandwagon. As a result, it's long been considered one of the best cloud storage services out there, packed with loads of features and options, and available just about everywhere you're going to need it.

Standing out from the crowd are Box’s business packages that make Box, but it does cater to consumers also. With a focus on syncing files inside of a dedicated folder, and not backing up entire systems and hard drives, here’s what you need to know. 

• You can sign up for Box here

Box: Pricing & plans 

The options are aplenty from Box of paid-for plans to choose from, and that even includes a free tier – provided you can get by with 10GB of free cloud storage and a file size limit of 250MB.

An upgrade to the Personal Pro plan costs $14 a month and offers 100GB of storage with 5GB upload limits. This isn't as good value as offers from mainstream competitors like Apple, Microsoft, Google and Dropbox, with 2TB generally being available for around $10 a month. 

A cheaper option is available for teams of three users or less in the form of the Starter plan, which can be useful for families. It offers a similar prospect to the Personal Pro account, with 100GB of storage. However, the file size limit is reduced to 2GB. This costs $7 per user, per month. 

Business plans offer unlimited storage, higher file size limits, and deeper integration with productivity tools, among other features. They all require a minimum of three users, starting with the Business plan ($20 per user, per month), moving up to the Business Plus plan ($33 per user, per month) and the Enterprise subscription ($47 per user, per month). A top-spec Enterprise Plus plan is available, though this requires Box getting to know your business needs in order to provide a quote. 

Regardless of plan type, discounts are to be had for annual plans, currently with 25% savings. But owing to the 100GB maximum storage allowance imposed on individual users, it’s hard to recommend Box for personal use. Businesses will get the most out of this service.

Box: Interface 

The Box interface tends to stay basic and minimal across its multiple apps, but that's not necessarily a negative. It’s decidedly polished and straightforward to use, although we would like to see a few more options and features up front rather than hidden behind menus. That simple design carries through to the mobile apps for Android and iOS too, making file access easy on the go.

Box really does feel fully integrated into the Windows and macOS operating systems. We really can't give it much higher praise than that. A downside to mention is that there's no way of throttling bandwidth use when you've got a pile of files to transfer. We did find the syncing process speedy and responsive though, providing some of the best upload and download speeds we’ve tested among other competitors.

The web experience is slick and easily navigated. Pulling up the most recent changes to your files can be done with ease, for example, along with creating a list of favorite locations within your Box folders that can get done with a click. It’s clear that a huge portion of the company’s investment has been poured into its user experience, which goes a long way towards streamlining the process and making it an easy service to use. 

Also appreciated is the auto-delete feature to set some files and folders to go away on a specific date (though you can only access this if you're on one of the paid-for packages).

The mobile app looks great, and integrates well with native file management, however the best functionality comes from using the Box app directly. Unlike the desktop client, there is some degree of control when it comes to network usage, but even this is just a warning for smartphones when uploading or downloading files over 20MB in size.

The automatic camera backup - disabled by default and buried deep in the settings - makes it one of the best photo cloud storage services for securely saving images and videos. But remember that videos may not upload due to the 250MB limit on free accounts or up to 5GB limit for personal plans. 

Additionally, Box interfaces well with third-party apps and plug-ins, blending into the background and feeling like a native feature and not an add-on. In plenty of situations, there isn't really a Box interface as such, which might be a plus or a minus against the service, depending on your perspective. Taken as a whole, the years that Box has had to refine its software offerings definitely is apparent.

Box: Features 

Taking the Dropbox approach to cloud storage, Box sets up a specific folder on your Windows or macOS computer, and then keeps all of its contents in sync with the cloud along with any other devices with Box installed. 

Similar to Dropbox, Box neatly integrates itself with File Explorer on Windows or Finder on macOS. When we installed the Windows client on our test machine, it automatically created a 'Box' mounted volume to which we could store files and folders. 

You're also given the choice to have all of your files downloaded for offline access, or to keep them online and transfer them when needed. This is useful as while you can still access files and folders in your cloud drive when online, they won't take up extra space on your local hard drive. 

Although it's not a solution to back up absolutely everything on your hard drive with OS, settings and all, Box has different strengths. This is a cloud storage platform, not a cloud backup solution.

The sharing of files and folders is a simple and straightforward task, whether you need to collaborate with other people on something or just for generating a link to be distributed to whoever needs it. Businesses can benefit as Box integrates smoothly with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Adobe Creative Cloud, among other software packages. And it's really at the business end of the spectrum where the service is most impressive. You’ll find plenty of other integrations, including Slack, Airtable, Tableau. In fact, for the most well-rounded cloud storage that’s capable of handling the ultimate workflow and sharing needs, it’s easy to recommend Box. 

The best way to see the myriad of extra features Box can incorporate is to sign in via the web interface and open the 'App Center'. From here you can see all the online services with which Box is compatible, like Slack. You don't need to install extra tools to open documents in the free online version of Microsoft Office Apps or GSuite apps. 

Keeping this in mind, the team management features are par excellence: controlling access to files and folders, seeing who is collaborating on what, checking the use of files and data across an entire country, and so on. For a large company that has a need to manage cloud storage data in complex ways, Box is easily one of the best options out there, while remaining aware that for everyone else, it's not quite as compelling.

It’s worth mentioning that the free account is fairly limited in its uses, but the 10GB of storage is up there with some of the best, with no need to provide payment details. Currently, you can increase this by another 5GB simply by installing the Android or iOS app on a mobile device and signing in. If you use a business email address to do this, you're given an extra 20GB of storage. 

File uploading for the free version is limited to a rather small 250MB, unlike the 2GB or 5GB limits imposed on paid-for personal accounts, and up to 150GB for business accounts. Note this limit only applies to individual files as during our test with a free Box account we were able to upload 625MB of data spread across multiple files. 

According to Box.com's support pages, free accounts can access only one previous version of a file. Our tests didn't bear this out. Still, if you sign up for a Personal Pro or Starter subscription you can access up to 10 or 25 previous file versions respectively.  

Box: Security 

Box takes security very seriously indeed – there's AES 256-bit encryption as standard and data is transmitted via TLS. The platform also supports other encryption ciphers such as RC4, although this is generally considered very insecure and we recommend sticking with the default options unless you're a power user. If you need full end-to-end encryption (so not even Box can get at your files in an emergency), it's available via Box KeySafe.  

Two-factor authentication is included here as well, which adds another layer of security to your account- even if someone manages to have your username and password.

The mobile app adds an extra layer of security with a passcode or biometric barrier - and this can be a different passcode to the one you would usually use to log in to your tablet or smartphone. 

Each and every file transfer, login and even a Box application installation is tracked and logged, and by the addition of the full Admin console, you get even greater auditing and control options. Anytime a file or folder is accessed, you can be informed by email (so for example, when someone says they read your report, you’ll know that they're being less than truthful). Finally, a full range of compliance and regulatory tools are on offer as well, and it all adds up to a very secure and comprehensive service indeed.

Box: Our tests 

We measured Box’s sync speed, file recovery and versioning on a Windows 11 virtual machine running the Box desktop client. Our VM was connected to the internet via fiber broadband and a VPN server, which in our speed tests showed average upload speeds of 70 Mbps  

• Test 1 - Sync speed 

We were pleased to see that Box is one of the speediest cloud storage clients we've reviewed. 

Our test folder containing 22 files (625MB of data in total) synced in just under 90 seconds which is exactly what we'd expect given the connection upload speed of our test device.

We noticed that once the test folder was copied to the Box volume by default it was stored in the cloud only, not locally on the device. However, as mentioned, you can configure Box to store an offline copy, too. 

• Test 2 - File recovery

In this test we  wanted to see if, after deleting the files from the application directory, it was possible to recover them. 

We deleted the test folder from the Box mounted volume, and received a warning that this would permanently remove the files from our device as there wasn't an offline copy.

We used the Box client to open the Box cloud web page. From there it was easy to see deleted files in the Trash and choose Restore. The website reminded us that by default deleted items are held in the trash for 30 days, though certain business/admin accounts can apply to have this extended.

We used the Box.com website's preview feature to open a few restored images and audio files to check all our data had been recovered and were pleased to see how slick and intuitive it was. 

• Test 3 - Versioning

Versioning - the ability to view a file’s previous states (and useful for rolling back any changes) - took us by surprise here. The Box website states it’s possible to recover one previous version of a file with a free account.

So, we placed our test Word document in the Box mounted volume and edited it just once before opening the Box Cloud online portal. The file was there and we could even see a tag next to it saying V2 to show that Box had multiple copies of it. 

However when we tried to open the file to restore it, Box informed us that we'd need a paid subscription to restore V2. There's no doubt this service works perfectly but it's a shame we weren't able to recover the original file, since only one change was made.

Box did offer to open our test document in Microsoft Word online or Google Docs. Had we made our changes there, it's likely we could have restored the document without paying for a subscription.  

Box: Verdict 

Box certainly tailors its offering for the business market, even though it does have a couple of plans for consumers too. It's stacked with collaboration, data compliance and automations, and makes plenty of APIs available in case you need something bespoke. Certainly with one of the more expensive plans, with unlimited storage and useful tools, it's an appealing overall package.

Alternately, for consumers that want to stretch every dollar, that money is arguably better spent elsewhere. Box's apps aren't quite as user-friendly as the ones offered by its rivals, and it gets expensive depending on what you need. While it's a great option for cloud storage and syncing,  it's not a great option for everyone.

• Best cloud backup  - tested, reviewed, and rated 

One of the originals in the cloud storage space, Box has been busy doing file syncing and storing long before the likes of Apple and Microsoft jumped on the bandwagon. As a result, it's long been considered one of the best cloud storage services out there, packed with loads of features and options, and available just about everywhere you're going to need it.

Standing out from the crowd are Box’s business packages that make Box, but it does cater to consumers also. With a focus on syncing files inside of a dedicated folder, and not backing up entire systems and hard drives, here’s what you need to know. 

• You can sign up for Box here

Box: Pricing & plans 

The options are aplenty from Box of paid-for plans to choose from, and that even includes a free tier – provided you can get by with 10GB of free cloud storage and a file size limit of 250MB.

An upgrade to the Personal Pro plan costs $14 a month and offers 100GB of storage with 5GB upload limits. This isn't as good value as offers from mainstream competitors like Apple, Microsoft, Google and Dropbox, with 2TB generally being available for around $10 a month. 

A cheaper option is available for teams of three users or less in the form of the Starter plan, which can be useful for families. It offers a similar prospect to the Personal Pro account, with 100GB of storage. However, the file size limit is reduced to 2GB. This costs $7 per user, per month. 

Business plans offer unlimited storage, higher file size limits, and deeper integration with productivity tools, among other features. They all require a minimum of three users, starting with the Business plan ($20 per user, per month), moving up to the Business Plus plan ($33 per user, per month) and the Enterprise subscription ($47 per user, per month). A top-spec Enterprise Plus plan is available, though this requires Box getting to know your business needs in order to provide a quote. 

Regardless of plan type, discounts are to be had for annual plans, currently with 25% savings. But owing to the 100GB maximum storage allowance imposed on individual users, it’s hard to recommend Box for personal use. Businesses will get the most out of this service.

Box: Interface 

The Box interface tends to stay basic and minimal across its multiple apps, but that's not necessarily a negative. It’s decidedly polished and straightforward to use, although we would like to see a few more options and features up front rather than hidden behind menus. That simple design carries through to the mobile apps for Android and iOS too, making file access easy on the go.

Box really does feel fully integrated into the Windows and macOS operating systems. We really can't give it much higher praise than that. A downside to mention is that there's no way of throttling bandwidth use when you've got a pile of files to transfer. We did find the syncing process speedy and responsive though, providing some of the best upload and download speeds we’ve tested among other competitors.

The web experience is slick and easily navigated. Pulling up the most recent changes to your files can be done with ease, for example, along with creating a list of favorite locations within your Box folders that can get done with a click. It’s clear that a huge portion of the company’s investment has been poured into its user experience, which goes a long way towards streamlining the process and making it an easy service to use. 

Also appreciated is the auto-delete feature to set some files and folders to go away on a specific date (though you can only access this if you're on one of the paid-for packages).

The mobile app looks great, and integrates well with native file management, however the best functionality comes from using the Box app directly. Unlike the desktop client, there is some degree of control when it comes to network usage, but even this is just a warning for smartphones when uploading or downloading files over 20MB in size.

The automatic camera backup - disabled by default and buried deep in the settings - makes it one of the best photo cloud storage services for securely saving images and videos. But remember that videos may not upload due to the 250MB limit on free accounts or up to 5GB limit for personal plans. 

Additionally, Box interfaces well with third-party apps and plug-ins, blending into the background and feeling like a native feature and not an add-on. In plenty of situations, there isn't really a Box interface as such, which might be a plus or a minus against the service, depending on your perspective. Taken as a whole, the years that Box has had to refine its software offerings definitely is apparent.

Box: Features 

Taking the Dropbox approach to cloud storage, Box sets up a specific folder on your Windows or macOS computer, and then keeps all of its contents in sync with the cloud along with any other devices with Box installed. 

Similar to Dropbox, Box neatly integrates itself with File Explorer on Windows or Finder on macOS. When we installed the Windows client on our test machine, it automatically created a 'Box' mounted volume to which we could store files and folders. 

You're also given the choice to have all of your files downloaded for offline access, or to keep them online and transfer them when needed. This is useful as while you can still access files and folders in your cloud drive when online, they won't take up extra space on your local hard drive. 

Although it's not a solution to back up absolutely everything on your hard drive with OS, settings and all, Box has different strengths. This is a cloud storage platform, not a cloud backup solution.

The sharing of files and folders is a simple and straightforward task, whether you need to collaborate with other people on something or just for generating a link to be distributed to whoever needs it. Businesses can benefit as Box integrates smoothly with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Adobe Creative Cloud, among other software packages. And it's really at the business end of the spectrum where the service is most impressive. You’ll find plenty of other integrations, including Slack, Airtable, Tableau. In fact, for the most well-rounded cloud storage that’s capable of handling the ultimate workflow and sharing needs, it’s easy to recommend Box. 

The best way to see the myriad of extra features Box can incorporate is to sign in via the web interface and open the 'App Center'. From here you can see all the online services with which Box is compatible, like Slack. You don't need to install extra tools to open documents in the free online version of Microsoft Office Apps or GSuite apps. 

Keeping this in mind, the team management features are par excellence: controlling access to files and folders, seeing who is collaborating on what, checking the use of files and data across an entire country, and so on. For a large company that has a need to manage cloud storage data in complex ways, Box is easily one of the best options out there, while remaining aware that for everyone else, it's not quite as compelling.

It’s worth mentioning that the free account is fairly limited in its uses, but the 10GB of storage is up there with some of the best, with no need to provide payment details. Currently, you can increase this by another 5GB simply by installing the Android or iOS app on a mobile device and signing in. If you use a business email address to do this, you're given an extra 20GB of storage. 

File uploading for the free version is limited to a rather small 250MB, unlike the 2GB or 5GB limits imposed on paid-for personal accounts, and up to 150GB for business accounts. Note this limit only applies to individual files as during our test with a free Box account we were able to upload 625MB of data spread across multiple files. 

According to Box.com's support pages, free accounts can access only one previous version of a file. Our tests didn't bear this out. Still, if you sign up for a Personal Pro or Starter subscription you can access up to 10 or 25 previous file versions respectively.  

Box: Security 

Box takes security very seriously indeed – there's AES 256-bit encryption as standard and data is transmitted via TLS. The platform also supports other encryption ciphers such as RC4, although this is generally considered very insecure and we recommend sticking with the default options unless you're a power user. If you need full end-to-end encryption (so not even Box can get at your files in an emergency), it's available via Box KeySafe.  

Two-factor authentication is included here as well, which adds another layer of security to your account- even if someone manages to have your username and password.

The mobile app adds an extra layer of security with a passcode or biometric barrier - and this can be a different passcode to the one you would usually use to log in to your tablet or smartphone. 

Each and every file transfer, login and even a Box application installation is tracked and logged, and by the addition of the full Admin console, you get even greater auditing and control options. Anytime a file or folder is accessed, you can be informed by email (so for example, when someone says they read your report, you’ll know that they're being less than truthful). Finally, a full range of compliance and regulatory tools are on offer as well, and it all adds up to a very secure and comprehensive service indeed.

Box: Our tests 

We measured Box’s sync speed, file recovery and versioning on a Windows 11 virtual machine running the Box desktop client. Our VM was connected to the internet via fiber broadband and a VPN server, which in our speed tests showed average upload speeds of 70 Mbps  

• Test 1 - Sync speed 

We were pleased to see that Box is one of the speediest cloud storage clients we've reviewed. 

Our test folder containing 22 files (625MB of data in total) synced in just under 90 seconds which is exactly what we'd expect given the connection upload speed of our test device.

We noticed that once the test folder was copied to the Box volume by default it was stored in the cloud only, not locally on the device. However, as mentioned, you can configure Box to store an offline copy, too. 

• Test 2 - File recovery

In this test we  wanted to see if, after deleting the files from the application directory, it was possible to recover them. 

We deleted the test folder from the Box mounted volume, and received a warning that this would permanently remove the files from our device as there wasn't an offline copy.

We used the Box client to open the Box cloud web page. From there it was easy to see deleted files in the Trash and choose Restore. The website reminded us that by default deleted items are held in the trash for 30 days, though certain business/admin accounts can apply to have this extended.

We used the Box.com website's preview feature to open a few restored images and audio files to check all our data had been recovered and were pleased to see how slick and intuitive it was. 

• Test 3 - Versioning

Versioning - the ability to view a file’s previous states (and useful for rolling back any changes) - took us by surprise here. The Box website states it’s possible to recover one previous version of a file with a free account.

So, we placed our test Word document in the Box mounted volume and edited it just once before opening the Box Cloud online portal. The file was there and we could even see a tag next to it saying V2 to show that Box had multiple copies of it. 

However when we tried to open the file to restore it, Box informed us that we'd need a paid subscription to restore V2. There's no doubt this service works perfectly but it's a shame we weren't able to recover the original file, since only one change was made.

Box did offer to open our test document in Microsoft Word online or Google Docs. Had we made our changes there, it's likely we could have restored the document without paying for a subscription.  

Box: Verdict 

Box certainly tailors its offering for the business market, even though it does have a couple of plans for consumers too. It's stacked with collaboration, data compliance and automations, and makes plenty of APIs available in case you need something bespoke. Certainly with one of the more expensive plans, with unlimited storage and useful tools, it's an appealing overall package.

Alternately, for consumers that want to stretch every dollar, that money is arguably better spent elsewhere. Box's apps aren't quite as user-friendly as the ones offered by its rivals, and it gets expensive depending on what you need. While it's a great option for cloud storage and syncing,  it's not a great option for everyone.

• Best cloud backup  - tested, reviewed, and rated 

One of the original companies to truly understand what the best cloud storage means is Dropbox. First released back in 2008 to replace the then-ubiquitous flash drive - a goal that it's definitely managed to succeed in reaching - it's become one of the most popular online storage sites in the world.

Working seamlessly with Windows, macOS, Android and iOS, Dropbox keeps your files backed up to the web and in sync across multiple machines without any additional user effort. Fire-and-forget, indeed. The question is, how does one of the originals in the cloud storage space compare to younger competitors?

• Want to try Dropbox? Check out the website here

Dropbox: Pricing & plans 

Full credit to Dropbox for offering a free tier, although even 2GB of the best free cloud storage space really isn’t much to write home about. However, it provides an opportunity to try the service for free, forever, which is something a lot of rivals won't allow. Your capacity can even be expanded somewhat through doing things like installing the mobile client and making referrals of other people to Dropbox, with the understanding that you'll miss out on some of the more advanced features offered by the service, such as offline folder access when mobile.

Personal plans have access to 2TB of storage - individual users get this for $11.99 a month or $9.99 a month when billed annually. The Family plan, letting you share your 2TB space among up to six users, is $19.99 a month or $16.99 a month when billed annually. 

There are several plans for businesses, starting with the Professional plan. This bundles 3TB storage and limited-access eSign software at $19.99 a month or $16.58 a month, billed annually. There are also subscription plans for small and large teams, with greater security features. The Standard plan delivers 5TB for $18 per user month (or $15 a month on the annual plan); the Advanced plan offers unlimited cloud storage for $30 per user per month, or $24 a month annually). 

It’s worth noting that, like many subscription-based models, savings are to be had for annual commitments. In the case of Dropbox, a 20% saving is pretty good. 

Dropbox: Interface

It’s hardly unexpected from a service and app that's been around through the ages, and Dropbox has grown up to offer a very clean, elegant interface that can manage all your files. Well, it always has offered one of the nicest experiences in terms of user experience, but consumer needs have meant that Dropbox has had to keep up with the trends. For sharing a folder of pictures or returning files back from digital death, Dropbox has a straightforward process no matter the device.

Client apps for Windows and macOS are kept up to date, and have a modern-looking interface. Recent changes to your files are listed, which provides a good overview of what you (and your team) are doing inside Dropbox. 

To manage syncing settings and bandwidth use is quite straightforward, with strong performance all-round. Uploading both the browser and desktop client provided near identical speeds, which were up to twice as quick as some other services we tested using the same network parameters. 

While the desktop clients are somewhat basic in what they offer, the web interface is rather impressive, so good that some other cloud storage services would do well to emulate it, with files and folders at the ready, media ready to be played directly from the web, tons of options available with a click of the mouse, and smart touches spread throughout, such as your most recent file changes displayed up top.

On the mobile front, the Dropbox apps also have a clean layout with slick functionality. You can get at all of your files and folders easily, along with uploading files from phones and tablets. These apps offer integration with native document management systems like the Files ecosystem on iOS.

Like many other cloud-based apps, the mobile versions of Dropbox offer some of the best photo cloud storage, with background support for image library backup, which is especially useful on trips where your smartphone or tablet becomes your one and only device. We especially liked the built-in document scanner, which proved great for archiving bills, invoices, and receipts. Remember, you can select for these not to sync onto your computer to minimize the impact on your desktop, and to help keep things running smoothly. 

Put simply, Dropbox’s crisp aesthetics provide a welcoming sight regardless of how you access the service.

Dropbox: Features 

With Dropbox installed on Windows or macOS, everything is then put into your designated Dropbox folder to get synced with the cloud. This may sound familiar, as Windows and macOS natively support this in conjunction with their own cloud services OneDrive and iCloud Drive. However Dropbox was one of the initial apps to trailblaze this, and despite a whole host of new competition, it still performs incredibly well offering a slick experience.

One limitation of Dropbox is that you can't include network drives or external drives in your Dropbox, because anything that you want to be synced should be moved into this dedicated space on your desktop. However, you can certainly select which files and folders are synced to which device, choosing to keep files only in the cloud which saves space on your hard drive. 

We were incredibly impressed how quickly the Windows Dropbox app installed itself after download (less than 20 seconds). One of the first options you need to choose is whether to make files 'local'. In other words, they will exist on both your device and the Dropbox cloud or 'online only.'

You're also asked which other folders you want to sync besides the Dropbox one that's created in your home directory. By default your 'Desktop', 'Documents' and Downloads are selected but you can change this during setup. 

When it comes to sharing and collaboration, Dropbox excels at giving other people access to files and folders. It even has its own Google Docs clone which is called Dropbox Paper. This lets you collaborate with other people to work on documents in real-time. There are also built-in search capabilities that are powerful, enabling you to search text within documents with one of the paid-for Dropbox options.

Previous versions of files stretch as far back as 30 days on the free plan or 180 days on the paid plan. During our testing, we found it's possible to beyond this for certain plans using add-ons. 

Dropbox even throws in a file sharing tool called Dropbox Transfer for sharing large files online. It’s worth noting that to get the full 100GB allowance here, users need to be subscribed to the Professional or Advanced business plans - otherwise, this is capped to a less-impressive 2GB. The feature list is great, however, and even better, all these functions are well thought out and intuitively presented.

One of the company’s newest features is what it calls Dropbox Passwords. A password manager available to all subscribers, offering an unlimited number of saved passwords for paying customers and a limit of 50 for free accounts, which is still respectable. It works in conjunction with a browser extension that, in our experience, worked well. The autofill process wasn’t quite as slick as the native support which - in our case - used Safari with iCloud Keychain to sync passwords across all devices. 

Dropbox: Security  

Dropbox provides 256-bit AES encryption for your data. However, the files aren't fully end-to-end encrypted like on some other services, which means in a pinch, Dropbox staff can get at your files. But it also means that the files are not always secured from anyone looking. 

The company also claims that any data transmitted between your devices and Dropbox servers is encrypted by SSL/TLS, so it can't be deciphered during transit. 

We leave it up to you as to how concerned you should be about this limitation, but it's worth noting that not having end-to-end encryption makes it an easier process for Dropbox to offer a polished, fully-featured web app. 

Other, fully end-to-end encrypted cloud drives and backup services that we’ve tested are a little more clunky to use, at best. Dropbox is also compatible with a number of third-party cloud encryption tools like Boxcryptor, which let you encrypt files locally before upload. If set up correctly, this means not even Dropbox staff will be able to read your data. 

Two-step authentication is another option Dropbox offers to accounts to keep them better protected. You can do this via SMS but we always recommend using the best authenticator apps instead, as it's more secure. 

It’s worth pointing out that a serious data leak did occur in 2012, although it wasn't publicly disclosed until 2016. The company has focused on security ever since, so things should be at least a little more secure by now.

Dropbox: Our tests

To test Dropbox, we measured sync speed, file recovery and versioning. This was conducted on a Windows 11 virtual machine running the desktop client. Connected via fiber broadband and a VPN server, our speed tests showed an average upload speed of 70 Mbps  

• Test 1 - Sync speed

To test sync speeds on the service, we placed a 625MB test folder into the Dropbox folder in our home directory. We then launched the Dropbox client. We were pleased to see each of the files that were being uploaded, each listing individual progress bars.

Dropbox synced all files in the test folder in 85 seconds - the fastest cloud storage client we've reviewed to date by a comfortable margin.

• Test 2 - File recovery

In this test we wanted to see if we could retrieve files after they were removed from the directory. 

During setup, we chose Local storage of Dropbox files. So, when we copied our test folder to the Dropbox directory after upload, it existed both on our device and in the cloud.

When we deleted the test folder, Dropbox gave us a helpful warning that it would be deleted from all our Dropbox devices. After going ahead, we used the client to launch Dropbox.com where we could easily find the Deleted File section.

From here we clicked Restore and confirmed we wanted to restore all files. They synced back to the local Dropbox folder on our device in less than 45 seconds. Again, this is the fastest speed we've seen in all the cloud storage clients we've tested.

• Test 3 - Versioning

To see how Dropbox performs for file versioning, we placed a test document - a .docx file - in the Dropbox folder on the device. We waited for the client to sync. It took less than 2 seconds. Next, we opened the document in Wordpad, removed all text except the intro and let it sync again with Dropbox.

The file appeared as Edited Now in the Activity tab in the Dropbox client. We chose ‘View on Dropbox.com' to preview the Word document on the website. When we clicked Options we saw Version History, which we used to restore the original.

Customers on the free plan, as well as 'Plus' and 'Family' subscribers can store any number of file version histories for 30 days. Dropbox Professional and Standard subscribers benefit from 180 days. Advanced and Enterprise customers can restore file versions up to 365 days after upload. Some paid subscribers can make use of Dropbox add-ons to extend version history for up to 10 years.  

Dropbox: Verdict 

Dropbox is at the top at what it does. While it lacks the online office suite capabilities of Google Drive, and the tight iOS and macOS integration of iCloud Drive, it excels when you need to sync files and folders between devices running different operating systems. In short, Dropbox is just about the best in the business – and has been for a while, which is why OneDrive and iCloud have been playing catch up for too long - but they are.

It's not quite perfect. But the desktop, mobile and web apps can leave a lot of Dropbox's rivals in the dust, both in what they can do and how well they do it. Dropbox has more than succeeded with its mission to make USB flash drives redundant. It also has gone on to do considerably more besides, as it offers intelligent, reliable, secure file syncing and cloud storage that anyone can use. 

The lack of client-side encryption isn't unusual for a major cloud storage provider. The fact that Dropbox is so popular also means that it's compatible with a number of cloud-encryption products, so if security is a concern for you, you can protect your files before uploading. 

Really it is not an overstatement to say that Dropbox can genuinely change the way you work.