Icedrive Review

As a photographer and tech reviewer, not only do I value a cloud storage solution that is ideal for viewing files, but I also need it to be secure. Icedrive ticks both of those boxes. It’s one of the best options for sharing online files with my clients, too — I can password-protect their personal images, ensuring they have as much peace of mind as I do. It’s also one of the few providers to offer lifetime cloud storage plans, which means you can save if you use the service longer than a few years.

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100GB – 3TB$2.99 / month

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Through what Icedrive calls “Sync pairing” you can now create a dedicated folder to sync all your Icedrive files. Although it will upload all future files you add to the local folder, you won’t be able to access files you uploaded previously through the web or mobile app, or a different computer. It’s not the best execution of the sync folder, but at least it’s there.

The encrypted folder gives you more control over which files you want to have the optimum level of privacy, such as bank statements. You won’t have file previews and you’ll need to download them to view them. However, you can leave files you want to access quickly outside of the encryption folder, giving you the best of both worlds. 

File requests are the best way to receive files directly to your Icedrive account. You can send a folder link to the person sending the files, have them upload the files and then you can access them via the web app or desktop client. At the time of writing, it’s not possible to access these files via the mobile app.

Users can create separate folders and subfolders for different files. You can set specific files and folders as “favorite” and quickly access them via the “favorites” tab. For a little more panache, users can color-code their folders. There’s also a search bar, which allows you to find files by name.

While Icedrive offers file previews for many common file types, there are some compatibility limitations with newer Office files and certain proprietary formats that require downloading to view.

In addition, Icedrive’s virtual drive implementation uses intelligent caching of your most frequently accessed files, minimizing bandwidth usage and ensuring smooth performance even when working with files stored in the cloud.

Free users can access up to three previous versions of a file within a 15-day period. Paid users can go back to 10 previous versions of a file for up to 180 days. This is a useful feature for anyone who regularly edits files and realizes they need to access a previous iteration.

The virtual drive for desktop is similar to a dedicated sync folder. However, once installed, you can access all your files without having to download them. You can delete, edit and interact with files just like you would on your local drive.

While the virtual drive was originally available only for Windows users, Icedrive has now expanded this functionality to both macOS and Linux users, though the implementation requires additional software like macFUSE for Mac users.

Note that Icedrive has improved compatibility with older systems by fixing sync functionality issues on 32-bit Windows operating systems, making the service more accessible to users with legacy hardware.

The portable app is different from the virtual drive. Simply download Icedrive, and you can use it on any desktop and enjoy the same user experience as the web variant. There are no overwhelming benefits — you still need an internet connection to access your files. It’s mainly an alternative for those who don’t want to open Icedrive via the web browser.

The mobile app’s design isn’t quite to the same standard as that of the web app. File names are cut off at the edges of the screen, for example. You can create folders, and upload text and media files. It’s certainly not the worst mobile app we’ve tested, but in comparison to the likes of pCloud, Google and Dropbox, it’s not the most inspiring. 

However, the iOS app received a significant update in early 2025 with version 2.2.0, featuring an improved “save to Icedrive” experience with more detailed information and error messages. The update also optimized memory usage when transferring files, resulting in smoother performance on iOS devices.

In this section, we’ll take you through each step of installing Icedrive’s virtual drive. We installed the app on our Mac device.

1. Download the Virtual Drive

   Icedrive has two download options. Select the first one, “virtual drive,” and then select your operating system.

   

2. Install the Virtual Drive

   Click“open” and authorize your computer to install the virtual drive.

   

3. Download macFUSE

   You’ll need to download macFUSE, a third-party drive-mounting software, in order to run your virtual drive on macOS.

   

4. Install macFUSE

   To install macFUSE, drag and drop “install macFUSE”into the “extras” folder.

   

5. Mount the Virtual Drive

   Return to the Icedrive virtual drive and mount it so you can begin using it.

   

In this section, we’ll take you through the steps of installing and using Icedrive’s portable app.

1. Download the Portable App

   Download the portable app via the “download” page and select the correct operating system.

   

2. Run the Portable App.

   After the download is complete, click the Icedrive logo to run the portable app.

   

3. Upload Files.

   Click the “upload” tab in the top right-hand corner to upload files and folders.

   

Icedrive ranks high in our selection of the best free cloud storage services. Users with a free account get 10GB of free storage space. There are no file size limits on uploads, making it ideal for anyone needing to upload a handful of videos. Frustratingly, there’s no zero-knowledge encryption for free — you’ll need to switch to one of Icedrive’s paid plans for that.

However, while free Icedrive accounts don’t include zero-knowledge encryption, they still benefit from robust security measures, including data-in-transit encryption and standard client-side protection, ensuring a baseline level of security that exceeds many competing free cloud storage options.

When comparing cloud storage value by cost per terabyte, Icedrive remains competitive with major providers. For example, while providers like Sync.com and pCloud offer 2TB plans (double Icedrive’s Pro I plan), the price per gigabyte works out to roughly the same, making Icedrive an excellent value proposition despite its lower headline storage amounts.

Icedrive also offers a range of pricing structures, which we really like. On top of monthly and yearly plans, you also have two-year plan and lifetime cloud storage plans. This gives you plenty of opportunity to drive down the monthly cost of storage space. 

For lifetime plan subscribers, Icedrive offers “stack” add-ons that allow you to expand your storage capacity. These include Stack 100 (128GB for $79), Stack 500 (512GB for $199) and Stack 2K (2TB for $399). These one-time purchases provide a flexible way to scale your storage without committing to a different plan tier.

For users with substantial storage needs, Icedrive offers a LIFE 10K lifetime plan with a massive 10TB of cloud storage for a one-time payment of $1,199. While this represents a significant upfront investment, it provides exceptional long-term value for professionals working with large media files or extensive data archives.

Icedrive accepts cryptocurrency payments for their lifetime plans, which will appeal to those who prefer alternative payment methods. It also adds another layer of privacy to your purchase.

If you don’t want to make a lifetime commitment, we recommend jumping on a two-year plan for the best value. You can get storage space for as little as $2.99 for 100GB, which is cheaper than much of the competition.

If you’re hesitant about committing to a plan, Icedrive offers a 14-day money-back guarantee on all paid subscriptions, allowing you to test the premium features risk-free before fully committing.

Our Icedrive speed tests revealed some notable aspects to keep in mind. Firstly, during uploads via the Icedrive desktop app, the platform used around 100MB of memory, peaking at 180MB. This means other actions on your computer can slow down while uploads are in progress. For reference, standard memory usage on other platforms is around 60MB. 

Despite high CPU usage at first, it remained low for the rest of our upload. The same isn’t true for downloads — we witnessed a spike in CPU load of around 40%, which can lead to unresponsiveness while carrying out other actions. That said, it wasn’t an overly notable issue, and we were still able to use our computer for other activities. 

There are multiple security options when sharing a file, including password protection and user permissions. It’s possible to send file requests, too, allowing external users to upload files to a shared folder that you can access via your account.

Icedrive syncs your files across all device types, and you can separate encrypted files from standard files on the mobile and desktop apps. You can sync individual files, multiple files and folders across all platforms.

The mobile app allows you to sync files directly from your photo app. However, unlike some competitors, Icedrive doesn’t implement block-level sync technology, which means entire files must be re-uploaded when changes are made rather than just the modified portions, potentially impacting performance with large files.

In early 2025, Icedrive enhanced its sync functionality with a background monitor system (IceMon) that tracks changes in files and folders even when the app isn’t running. When you reopen the app, these changes are automatically synced, ensuring your files remain up-to-date across all devices without requiring you to manually initiate sync processes.

Icedrive has several security features to give your files more protection. You can password-protect your files and set expiry dates for access to files and downloads. Two-factor authentication is available, which you can set up through either Google Authentication or SMS messaging.

In addition to Google Authentication and SMS verification, Icedrive supports FIDO/U2F standards, allowing you to use physical security keys for enhanced account protection.

Icedrive also stands out for using the Twofish encryption algorithm rather than the more common AES, making it one of the few cloud storage providers implementing this highly secure encryption method.

Icedrive is somewhat of a trailblazer when it comes to security. When your files are at rest, It uses Twofish encryption rather than the industry standard AES encryption. We can debate which is better all night, but the reality is they’re both impenetrable — your files are safe with either protocol. Icedrive uses TLS encryption when your files are in transit. 

Zero-knowledge encryption hides your encryption keys from everyone, including your service provider. Icedrive gives you the option to place specific files in an encrypted folder and separate your standard and encrypted files. The benefit to this is that encrypted files don’t have file previews or thumbnails. You need to download the files to view them.

It’s important to understand that Icedrive’s zero-knowledge encryption applies only to files placed in the dedicated encrypted folder, not to your entire account. This selective approach gives you flexibility to choose which files require maximum privacy protection while keeping other files readily accessible with previews and thumbnails.

Icedrive has a very simple, easily digestible privacy policy that helps you understand what’s happening with your data. The good news is that Icedrive won’t sell your data, nor does it track your internet usage with third-party software. The platform is fully compliant with GDPR regulations, so you have total control over how your data is handled. 

Email response time is 24 to 48 hours. Icedrive upheld this, responding to our query within six hours. Despite the great response time, though, the support team didn’t resolve our query. We were unable to create public links and were told that “it’s likely that our system has detected your IP as being high risk.” The problem persisted with multiple IP addresses.