Proton Drive
Encrypted-at-rest cloud storage from the Proton stack, with sharing that treats the recipient as a first-class concern.
TL;DR verdict
The first end-to-end encrypted cloud drive that a normal person can hand to a colleague without a support call. Sharing is thought through, the web app is genuinely polished, and the native clients still have some catching up to do. Nothing else at this price point is close on the encryption story.
What we like
- E2E encrypted cloud storage that's not a hobby project
- Shared links carry their own encryption, with expiry and password options
- Same account and jurisdiction as Proton Mail, VPN and Pass
- Version history covers accidental deletes and overwrites for 200 days
Where it falls short
- Web app is where the polish is; native apps lag behind
- Sync client on macOS occasionally needs a manual kick to resume
- Free tier storage is small and disappears fast with a phone backup
- No block-level sync, so large-file updates re-upload more than they should
TL;DR verdict
Proton Drive is the encrypted cloud drive to reach for when the alternative is Dropbox and the alternative is not acceptable. Files are encrypted client-side, sharing works without asking the recipient to install anything, and the whole thing lives under the same Proton account as your mail and VPN. Rough edges are in the native clients, not the crypto.
What it does well
The encryption model is the correct one. Files are encrypted on the client, keys are derived from your account password, and Proton's servers only ever see ciphertext. This is the same architecture that used to require self-hosting a Nextcloud instance and reading three tutorials, delivered as a product a colleague can actually use.
Sharing is the feature that separates Proton Drive from the older generation of encrypted-storage tools. Links carry their own encryption key inside the URL fragment, which the server never sees. You can attach a password, set an expiry, cap the number of downloads, and revoke the link at any point. The recipient does not need a Proton account, and the flow does not require them to install anything. This is how sharing should have worked ten years ago.
Version history covers 200 days on paid plans, and it has already earned back its cost the first time you accidentally overwrite a document at eleven at night. Photo backup on iOS and Android is straightforward and encrypts the photos before upload the same way as everything else.
Where it strains
The native clients lag the web app. The macOS sync client is stable most of the time but has needed a manual restart twice in a month of daily use. There is no block-level sync yet, so editing a large file re-uploads more than it strictly should. Windows and Linux clients are usable but visibly younger than the Dropbox and OneDrive equivalents.
The free tier exists to sell you the paid tier. Five gigabytes vanishes as soon as you point a phone at it. The bundled Unlimited plan is the honest way to use the whole Proton stack, and it prices accordingly.
There is no first-class collaboration story yet — no in-browser document editor, no realtime co-editing. If your workflow depends on Google Docs, Proton Drive is a storage layer next to that workflow rather than a replacement for it.
Who it's for
Journalists moving source material between machines who cannot put it on a US cloud. Activists and researchers sharing sensitive files with people outside their organisation who should not have to sign up for anything. Remote workers who have already moved their mail and VPN to Proton and would rather not have a Dropbox tab open next to it. Travellers who want photo backup that does not become someone else's training data.
Frequently asked
What does end-to-end encrypted actually mean for a cloud drive?
Files are encrypted on your device before they leave it, using keys derived from your Proton password. Proton's servers store the ciphertext and cannot read the contents. Shared links carry a separate key inside the URL fragment, so the server sees who requested the file but not what the file contains. This is not the same as Google Drive's "encryption at rest", which is encryption Google can undo.
How does sharing work if the recipient is not on Proton?
You generate a link, optionally add a password and an expiry, and send it. The recipient opens the link in a browser and downloads the file with the key that travels in the URL fragment. They do not need a Proton account. You can revoke the link at any time from your side, and the file becomes unreadable to anyone who saved the link but not the file.
Can I use Proton Drive for backups?
Yes for documents and photos, cautiously for full-system backups. The sync clients handle folders well. There is no native macOS Time Machine or Windows File History integration, so if you need true backup semantics rather than sync semantics, pair Proton Drive with something like Arq or Restic pointed at its WebDAV endpoint where supported.