The Best SugarSync Alternative in 2024: Cheaper Cloud Storage
Finding a SugarSync alternative that’s affordable, fast and secure — while also offering apps for your desktop and mobile device — can be difficult. That’s why we’ve put together a list of the five best cloud storage options to replace SugarSync.
Written by Aleksander Hougen (Managing Editor)
Reviewed by Aleksandar Kochovski (Editor)
Last Updated: 2024-04-11T09:38:21+00:00
All our content is written fully by humans; we do not publish AI writing. Learn more here.
If you’re tired of paying exorbitant fees for your cloud storage with SugarSync or need more than a measly 500GB, then you’ve come to the right place. Although SugarSync has a solid set of features, it gets trounced by other services in things like privacy and pricing. If you’re looking for the best SugarSync alternative, one of these five services is likely to do the trick.
Key Takeaways:
- SugarSync is great for instant access to files across devices, but its plans are incredibly expensive, and you don’t get much storage space for your money.
- pCloud, Sync.com and Icedrive are our top alternatives, as each has a combination of affordable prices, lots of features and excellent security and privacy.
- Google Drive is a great option for those who value collaboration and photo management features over privacy, while those more concerned with keeping their data to themselves should consider MEGA.
Despite SugarSync’s frankly absurd prices and low storage quotas, this cloud storage service has carved out a niche for itself by letting users instantly stream their files and data between devices. That means you never have to wait for something to finish uploading, so long as the original device doesn’t go offline.
Even with this functionality, though, SugarSync seems overly expensive. Plus, if your data has grown larger than 500GB, it’s time to look elsewhere for your storage needs. If you’re not quite sure if you actually want to move away from the service yet, you can read our full SugarSync review to learn all about its pros and cons.
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08/19/2021
Updated the list of alternatives, pricing and features. Added new images and changed the article structure.
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06/24/2022
Updated to include Sync.com’s new Solo Pro monthly plan.
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12/08/2023
Updated MEGA’s price offerings.
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04/11/2024
Updated to reflect changes in Icedrive’s pricing plans and storage offers.
The Top SugarSync Alternatives
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What Makes the Best SugarSync Alternative?
The key advantages of SugarSync include its speed and easy accessibility to important files between various devices. Because of this, there really aren’t any other big cloud storage services that mimic its approach of streaming data directly from one device to another.
However, we still expect any alternative to be fast and support multiple platforms, including Windows and Mac, as well as mobile devices like Android phones and iOS devices.
Besides that, all the regular criteria for cloud storage applies. Large storage quotas and affordable pricing plans are an obvious advantage, as well as various features like collaboration and productivity, selective sync and more. Beyond that, we’ll also take a look at the security and privacy of each service, even though SugarSync was never particularly strong in this area.
The Top 5 Best SugarSync Alternatives
With those criteria in mind, we’ve selected five services that we think have the best chance of satisfying unhappy SugarSync users (though in most cases for very different reasons).
- pCloud — Feature-rich cloud storage with backup functionality and high speeds
- Sync.com — Secure cloud storage with advanced sharing and Office 365 integration
- Icedrive — Extremely well-designed, secure and affordable cloud storage
- Google Drive — Generous free plan and great photo capabilities, at the cost of privacy
- MEGA — Great security and privacy with tons of free storage
Unfortunately, none of these five alternatives can quite match SugarSync’s unique features when it comes to instant access to files between devices. However, they all outperform SugarSync in other areas, such as security, price and storage capacity.
1. pCloud
More details about pCloud:
- Price: 10GB for free, 2TB for $95.88 per year
- Website: www.pcloud.com
Pros:
- Affordable
- Secure
- Integrated media player
- Backup features
Cons:
- Zero-knowledge encryption sold separately
- No collaboration or productivity integrations
pCloud is our first choice among our SugarSync alternatives, with its only real drawback being that you need to pay extra for zero-knowledge encryption (via pCloud Crypto). Besides that, though, there’s very little to complain about with pCloud.
Syncing Multiple Folders and Automatic Backup
If you don’t look at collaboration and productivity, pCloud is one of the most feature-packed pieces of cloud storage software out there. The service’s approach to file sync lets you link any folder with the cloud, and you can set up an automatic backup that will run continuously or on a schedule, keeping your files and folders safe. It’s also one of the fastest cloud storage services we’ve tested, making it an ideal choice for SugarSync users.
Although you can’t work on documents directly in pCloud, you can stream media files from its servers without having to download them first.
Finally, pCloud is also pretty affordable, coming in at $7.99 per month for 2TB of storage if you pay annually. There’s even a lifetime plan that lets you use the service for as long as it exists without paying a recurring subscription. As always, be sure to read our full pCloud review if you want to learn everything you can about the service.
- 10GB
- 500GB
- 2TB
More plans
- 2TB
- 10TB
- Price per user (minimum 3)
- 1TB
- Price per user (minimum 3)
- 2TB
- Encryption for pCloud Drive
2. Sync.com
More details about Sync.com:
- Price: 5GB for free, 2TB for $8 per month
- Website: www.sync.com
Pros:
- Excellent security & privacy
- Extensive file-sharing features
- Affordable plans
Cons:
- Clunky desktop client
Sync.com sits at the top of our overall best cloud storage ranking for a lot of reasons. It’s a highly secure service that uses zero-knowledge encryption, making it private as well. Instead of the standard 30 days, file versioning runs from 180 to 365 days on the paid plans, which could be crucial in the event of a ransomware attack.
Office 365 Integration & Advanced File Sharing
Aside from its security (or perhaps despite it), Sync.com also offers Office 365 integration, which is unusual for encrypted cloud storage. The advanced sharing features are also some of the most extensive we’ve seen.
The only major drawback to Sync.com is its clunky and unappealing desktop application, but it partially makes up for this with its much more usable web client. Unfortunately this coupled with its mediocre transfer speed means that it’s less useful as an alternative to SugarSync, given that the latter’s main appeal is its quick and easy synchronization between devices.
Sync.com is also one of the most affordable cloud storage providers out there, as you can get 2TB of storage for just $96 per year. Unfortunately, it only offers an annual plan. You’ll need to opt for the pricier Solo Pro plan if you want to pay monthly, but signing up for a free account will let you play around with the service before committing to anything. If you want to learn more, make sure to read our full Sync.com review.
- 5GB
- 2TB
- 6TB
More plans
- Price per user
- 1TB
- Price per user
- Unlimited GB
3. Icedrive
More details about Icedrive:
- Price: 10GB for free, 1TB for $5.99 per month (one-year plan)
- Website: www.icedrive.net
Pros:
- Cheap
- Great design & usability
- Excellent security & privacy
Cons:
- Not quite as feature-rich as other cloud storage
- No collaboration functionality
Icedrive is the youngest cloud storage offering on this list. However, it has quickly earned its spot in the upper tier of cloud services, consistently ranking just behind long-time favorites Sync.com and pCloud on many of our lists.
It’s still finding its place in the crowded cloud storage market, so Icedrive doesn’t have quite the wealth of features that more established services have. That said, it has rapidly added new functionality over the past couple of years, and we expect to see Icedrive catch up in areas like advanced file-sharing features and collaboration eventually.
Secure Cloud Storage on a Budget
The biggest advantage to Icedrive is just how cheap it is compared to its competition. For just $7.99 per month (one-month plan) or $71.88 (one-year plan), you get 1TB of storage, which is one of the best value-for-money propositions in all of cloud storage. Plus it also offers lifetime plans, like pCloud does.
It also doesn’t skimp on security, offering zero-knowledge encryption, two-factor authentication and GDPR compliance. For more information about Icedrive’s plans and features, read our complete Icedrive review.
- Bandwidth limit: 50GB
- 10GB
- Bandwidth limit: 250GB
- 100GB
- Bandwidth limit: 2TB
- 1TB
More plans
- Bandwidth limit: 8TB
- 3TB
- 512GB
- Additional 128GB storage for users who purchased the Lifetime Plan
- 128GB
- Additional 512GB storage for users who purchased the Lifetime Plan
- 512GB
4. Google Drive
More details about Google Drive:
- Price: 15GB for free, 2TB for $9.99 per month
- Website: one.google.com/about/plans
Pros:
- 15GB free plan
- Great for photos
- Collaboration through Google Workspace
Cons:
- Huge privacy concerns
- No zero-knowledge encryption
- No password protection for shared files
Google Drive is easily the most popular cloud storage service out there, and chances are you already have an account, even if you’ve never used it. It has a lot of things going for it, such as affordable storage, a large 15GB free plan, probably the best collaboration and productivity suite in the business (making it great for remote teams) and excellent photo storage functionality.
Google Privacy Concerns
If all this sounds exactly like what you’re looking for, Google Drive might be the simplest solution for a good alternative to SugarSync. That said, you get all of this at the cost of privacy. Google is notorious for playing fast and loose with its users’ data, and it obviously has no interest in offering zero-knowledge encryption.
However, if you don’t care what data Google harvests about you — or the collaboration and photo management features outweigh your concerns — you can nab 2TB of storage for $9.99 per month, which is a pretty good deal. For more on the cloud storage behemoth, check out our full Google Drive review or our Google Drive vs Dropbox vs OneDrive comparison.
- Free plan
- 15GB
- 100GB
- 2TB
More plans
- 2TB
- 5TB
- 10TB
- 20TB
- 30TB
5. MEGA
More details about MEGA:
- Price: 20GB (or 35GB with achievements) for free, 2TB for around $10.86 per month
- Website: www.mega.io
Pros:
- Great security & privacy
- 20GB of free storage
- Stream audio & video
Cons:
- Clunky desktop client
- Expensive paid plans
On the opposite side of the privacy spectrum from Google Drive sits MEGA. If you like the sound of a service with security and privacy as its core reasons for being, then MEGA is just that. Additionally, there’s quite a few handy minor features included with MEGA, such as an encrypted chat client and the ability to stream media files directly from its servers.
Unfortunately MEGA shares Sync.com’s weakness in that the desktop app is clunky and annoying to use. That said, the mobile apps and the web app are all pleasant and easy to use, which makes up for it somewhat.
Impressive Free Plan
One of the best things about MEGA is that you get a whole 20GB of free storage. The free plan does have a transfer limit, but it’s not a set size and resets every 24 hours. Since it’s determined by IP, you can also get around the free storage limit by using a VPN.
The smallest and largest MEGA plans are also really good value. However, the 2TB plan, which we think is probably the most useful one, is a lot more expensive than it should be at around $10.86 per month. If you’d like to learn more about the privacy-focused cloud storage provider, read our full MEGA review.
- 20GB
- File transfer: 2TB (Monthly plan) 24TB (yearly plan)
- 2TB
- File transfer: (monthly plan) 96TB (yearly plan)
- 8TB
More plans
- File transfer: 16TB (monthly plan) 192TB (yearly plan)
- 16TB
- Price per user (minimum 3)
- Unlimited GB
Final Thoughts: SugarSync Alternatives
There you have it: our list of the five best SugarSync alternatives. Although none of these alternatives can quite match what SugarSync does in terms of direct file streaming between devices, these five services are all exceptional solutions in one way or another and overcome SugarSync’s other weaknesses.
pCloud is our overall favorite, as it manages to tick all the boxes with barely any drawbacks. Sync.com and Icedrive are close behind, though, with only minor things holding them back from the top spot. Google Drive and MEGA are also good alternatives, though for completely opposite reasons — including large free plans.
Have you been using SugarSync? Are you happy with the service, or do the high prices and small storage caps make you want to jump ship? Do you agree with our five alternatives? If not, what do you think is the best solution when looking for a service like SugarSync? Will you use a service’s free plan to start? Let us know in the comments below. Thank you for reading.
FAQ
That depends on how much storage you need. If 5GB is enough, then Sync.com is your best bet. Otherwise Icedrive and pCloud offer 10GB for free, while Google Drive gives you 15GB and MEGA provides 20GB for free. However, if you need to store all your files, then you’ll probably have to pay.
Yes and no. SugarSync occupies a bit of a niche in the cloud storage space in that it can stream your files directly between your devices. For example, you’ll have instantaneous access to your files on your iPad when you put them into your sync folder on your Mac. However, the service is also incredibly expensive and provides very little storage, making it a poor option unless you’re specifically looking for something to stream data between devices.