This page tracks every change to the major free plans — dated, sourced, and updated monthly — so you can see where a provider is heading before you trust it with your data. It is the companion to our best free cloud storage comparison: that page tells you what the plans are today, this one tells you how they got there.
Every figure on this page links to an official pricing page, help-centre article, provider announcement or contemporaneous press report. Where we cannot source a value, the cell reads “Not publicly specified — being verified” rather than showing a number we guessed.
Latest changes
62 loggedProton Drive CLI launched for Windows, macOS and Linux
Proton shipped an official command-line client for Proton Drive, built on the Proton Drive SDK, aimed at scripted uploads, backups and share management without a syncing folder.
Introducing Proton Drive CLI | Proton ↗New accounts in select regions default to 5 GB; full 15 GB requires linking a phone number
Google began a test in which newly created personal accounts in unnamed 'select regions' receive only 5 GB of free storage by default, with the full 15 GB unlocked by linking a verified phone number. Google's own help pages were changed from 'comes with 15 GB of cloud storage at no charge' to 'up to 15 GB'. Existing accounts are unaffected.
Google accounts no longer get 15GB of free storage, only 5GB until you link a phone number (9to5Google) ↗Internxt restricts rclone (native and CLI/WebDAV) access to Ultimate plans
Internxt announced its native rclone support and stated that Ultimate annual and lifetime plans are required to access rclone; the CLI/WebDAV route is likewise Ultimate-only. Free accounts get neither.
Internxt Native Rclone Support - Internxt Blog (2 February 2026) ↗Native Internxt backend added to rclone in v1.73.0
rclone shipped a first-party `internxt` backend (contributed via PR #9110 by jzunigax2) in release v1.73.0, allowing direct sync/copy/mount of Internxt Drive without a WebDAV bridge.
Internxt Drive - rclone documentation ↗Free plan's '50GB Monthly Bandwidth' relabelled '50GB Public transfer'
Icedrive changed the free plan's stated allowance from a general 50 GB monthly bandwidth cap to a 50 GB 'Public transfer' allowance, apparently narrowing the metered quantity to public/shared-link traffic.
Plans & Pricing - Icedrive (archived 14 Sep 2025) ↗Proton Drive SDK released as an open-source preview
Proton published a preview of the Proton Drive SDK (C# and JavaScript) on GitHub - the shared engine behind its own clients - while explicitly stating it is not ready for third-party or production use.
Proton Drive SDK preview: A first look for open-source developers | Proton ↗Inactive Account Policy and Storage Abuse Policy added to Terms of Service
Icedrive added an explicit clause allowing removal of free accounts inactive for 12 consecutive months, plus a storage-abuse clause. No comparable inactivity clause existed in the ToS before this.
Terms of Service - Icedrive Legal (archived 21 Mar 2025) ↗Free tier cut from 10 GB (referral-expandable) to a flat 1 GB
Internxt reduced its free plan to 1 GB of storage with no way to earn more. The free plan went from "2 GB on signup, up to 10 GB via referral actions" to a flat 1 GB for life.
How much free storage do I get? - Internxt Help Center (article dated June 18, 2024) ↗Referral program (the route from 2 GB to 10 GB free) discontinued
Alongside the storage cut, Internxt retired the referral program that let free users grow storage from 2 GB up to 10 GB by referring friends, subscribing to the newsletter, and installing the mobile/desktop/web apps.
How does the Referral Program work? - Internxt Help Center (Wayback snapshot, 11 December 2023) ↗WebDAV support launched via the Internxt CLI
Internxt announced WebDAV support, implemented as a local-only WebDAV bridge server run by the Internxt CLI so that zero-knowledge client-side encryption is preserved.
New Feature: WebDAV Is Now Available Alongside Internxt's CLI Tool - Internxt Blog ↗Inactive-account policy: 12-month window for accounts created on or after 9 April 2024
Proton set a 12-month inactivity window for free accounts. Accounts created before 2024-04-09 were given an extended 24-month grace period instead.
Inactive accounts | Proton ↗Free Drive storage raised from 1 GB to up to 5 GB
Proton raised the Proton Free storage allocation for Drive from 1 GB to up to 5 GB, applying to both new and existing free users. The 5 GB is gated: accounts start at 2 GB and unlock the remaining 3 GB by completing an onboarding checklist.
Upgraded 5GB Free Storage at Proton Drive (Best Backup Reviews, 21 Feb 2024) ↗Amazon Drive shut down; access to files ends
Amazon Drive was retired on December 31, 2023. Customers lost access to files stored there. Photos and videos remained accessible via Amazon Photos (which they were already mirrored into), but all other file types had to be downloaded manually before the deadline or were lost. Amazon Photos continues with 5 GB free for all customers.
Amazon Drive is shutting down in 2023, no impact to Amazon Photos (9to5Google) ↗Inactive-account deletions become possible (earliest deletion date)
December 1, 2023 is the earliest date on which Google could delete an account under the 2-year inactive account policy. Google sends notifications to the account address and any recovery address before deleting.
Inactive Google Account Policy (Google Account Help) ↗Free-tier bandwidth switched from 3 GB/day to 50 GB/month
The free plan's transfer allowance changed from a 3 GB daily cap to a 50 GB monthly cap, removing the daily ceiling but lowering the theoretical monthly maximum (~90 GB to 50 GB). Storage stayed at 10 GB.
Plans & Pricing - Icedrive (archived 12 Dec 2023) ↗Google announces 2-year inactive-account deletion policy
Google updated its inactivity policy so that a personal Google Account unused or not signed into for at least 2 years may have the entire account and its contents deleted, including Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar and Google Photos. Effective immediately in policy terms, with actual deletions to begin December 2023 starting with accounts created and never used again. Workspace/school/business accounts excluded; accounts with YouTube videos not targeted at the time.
Updating our inactive account policies (Official Google Blog) ↗Box WebDAV server fully decommissioned (end of life)
After nearly four years in an unsupported-but-running state, Box's WebDAV server was shut off entirely on April 28, 2023. Recommended alternatives were Box Drive, the box.com web app, the Box APIs, the FTP/FTPS service, and email upload. This is the definitive end of WebDAV as a Box access protocol on any plan, free or paid.
Announcing end of life for Box WebDAV support (Box Support) ↗Outlook.com email attachments begin counting against the 5 GB OneDrive quota
Microsoft changed what consumes the free 5 GB allowance: from 1 February 2023, storage used by Outlook.com email attachments counts against the OneDrive/Microsoft cloud storage quota rather than against the separate 15 GB Outlook.com mailbox quota. The headline number stayed 5 GB, but effective usable OneDrive space shrank for anyone with a busy Outlook.com inbox — and hitting the 5 GB cap disrupts the ability to send and receive Outlook.com email.
Outlook attachments count toward OneDrive capacity — The Register ↗Uploads to Amazon Drive disabled
Amazon stopped supporting new uploads to Amazon Drive; existing files remained downloadable for another 11 months.
Amazon Drive is shutting down in 2023, no impact to Amazon Photos (9to5Google) ↗Degoo cuts free tier from 100 GB to 20 GB and wipes ad-earned storage
In December 2022 Degoo emailed free users that it was cutting the free account from 100 GB to 20 GB, blaming inflation and rising costs. Users had until Sunday, January 1, 2023 to upgrade or delete files down to the new limit, or have the account terminated. Storage that users had previously earned by watching sponsored ads was wiped as well. Degoo offered affected users a 50% discount on 500 GB Degoo Pro for three months as compensation. This is the single clearest reason for WATCH status: an 80% overnight cut with roughly two weeks' notice and a termination threat.
Degoo Review - This Is Why You Shouldn't Use It (CloudStorageInfo) ↗Amazon Drive apps pulled from iOS and Android app stores
The Amazon Drive mobile apps were removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play as the first step of the wind-down.
Amazon Drive is shutting down on December 31, 2023 (AppleInsider) ↗hubiC definitively shut down; unretrieved data deleted
hubiC closed for good on September 30, 2022, eleven years after launch and four years after it stopped taking new users. Files not downloaded were automatically and permanently deleted - there was no migration path. The hubiC homepage was redirected to Shadow Drive, OVH's Nextcloud-based successor, which is reported to offer 20 GB free. Premium account holders had until September 25, 2022 to migrate data (subject to a 2 TB cap).
Le stockage cloud francais hubiC devient Shadow (Clubic) ↗Proton Drive exits beta and launches publicly with 1 GB free
Proton Drive's web app left beta and launched to the general public. The free plan offered up to 1 GB of storage; paid tiers were Drive Plus (200 GB) and Proton Unlimited (500 GB).
We're launching Proton Drive, the encrypted cloud storage for everyone | Proton ↗Amazon announces Amazon Drive will be deprecated
Amazon notified customers that Amazon Drive would be retired so the company could focus on Amazon Photos, publishing a staged wind-down timeline. Amazon Photos was explicitly not being deprecated.
Amazon Drive is shutting down in 2023, no impact to Amazon Photos (9to5Google) ↗OVH notifies hubiC users the service will close
Four years after freezing the service, OVH emailed remaining hubiC users that the legacy hubiC offers would soon stop, told them to retrieve their files, and warned that files left behind would be automatically deleted. OVH offered a choice between deleting the account immediately or keeping files until final closure. There would be no account or content transfer to any successor.
hubiC : la fermeture approche, son successeur aussi (MacGeneration) ↗WebDAV access removed from the free (Basic) plan
pCloud restricted WebDAV access to paid plans. From 11 February 2022, Basic/free accounts could no longer connect over WebDAV; the feature became Premium-and-above only.
Zotero Forums — 'pcloud ending webdav support for free plan' (thread opened 9 Feb 2022, quoting pCloud's notification email) ↗Google Photos 'High quality' uploads begin counting against the shared 15 GB
The November 2020 announcement took effect. From this date all new Photos uploads, including the compressed tier renamed 'Storage Saver', consume the shared 15 GB free quota. Photos and videos uploaded in High quality before June 1, 2021 remain exempt. The 2-year inactivity and over-quota deletion clocks also started running from this date.
Updating Google Photos' storage policy to build for the future (Official Google Blog) ↗Base free storage raised from 15 GB to 20 GB for all accounts
MEGA raised the permanent free base from 15 GB to 20 GB for both new and existing accounts, and standardised the duration of Achievement/referral bonus storage at 365 days, allowing free users to reach roughly 50 GB temporarily.
MEGA aumenta los gigas gratis: 20 GB para todas las cuentas (ADSLZone) ↗Google announces end of unlimited Photos plus new 2-year inactivity and over-quota deletion policies
Google announced that from June 1, 2021 new 'High quality' Photos uploads would count against the free 15 GB. The same announcement introduced two deletion policies: content in Gmail, Drive or Photos may be deleted after 2 years of inactivity in that product, and content across all three may be deleted after 2 years over the storage limit. Pixel 1-5 phones kept unlimited High quality uploads.
Updating Google Photos' storage policy to build for the future (Official Google Blog) ↗Box ends support for WebDAV
Box deprecated WebDAV access. The cutoff was originally announced for January 31, 2019, then extended to October 25, 2019 to give customers time to migrate. Box directed users to Box Drive, the Box web app, or its SDKs/APIs instead.
Update on the End of Support for WebDAV (Box Support) ↗Free tier cut from 20 GB to 10 GB
Icedrive halved the free plan from 20 GB to 10 GB. The 3 GB/day bandwidth cap and the exclusion of client-side encryption were unchanged.
Icedrive - Next-Generation Cloud Storage - Get 10GB Free (archived 7 Jul 2019) ↗Dropbox Basic limited to 3 linked devices
In March 2019 Dropbox quietly capped free Basic accounts at three simultaneously linked/logged-in devices. Devices linked before March 2019 were grandfathered and remain on the device list, but no new devices can be added once at or over the limit. Paid plans (Plus, Family, Professional, Essentials, team plans) have no device cap. Browser access and third-party API apps do not count toward the limit.
How many devices can I use with my Dropbox account? - Dropbox Help ↗OVH closes hubiC to new signups (service frozen, not shut down)
OVH stopped accepting new hubiC subscriptions and halted development of the service, redirecting focus to its core European cloud business. Critically, this was NOT a shutdown: OVH stated existing customers could continue using the service indefinitely under the same terms, that no data would be deleted, and that sync, backup, the web app, the API and the Windows/macOS/iOS/Android clients would all remain active.
hubiC Closed by OVH (StorageNewsletter) ↗Public folder converted to a private folder on free accounts
On 15 March 2017 Dropbox converted the legacy Public folder into a standard private folder on Basic (free) accounts, breaking all existing public links to files in it. The files themselves were retained. Plus and team accounts kept the Public folder until 1 September 2017.
Changes to the Dropbox Public folder - Dropbox Help ↗Free accounts lose HTML rendering via public links
As of 3 October 2016, Dropbox Basic (free) users could no longer use public links to render HTML content in a web browser — ending the common practice of hosting simple static web pages from a free Dropbox account.
Changes to the Dropbox Public folder - Dropbox Help ↗Free tier reduction to 5 GB takes effect; camera roll bonus removed
The reduction announced in November 2015 actually took effect on 27 July 2016: free OneDrive accounts that had not opted in by 31 January 2016 dropped from 15 GB (plus any 15 GB camera roll bonus) to 5 GB total. Free users who were over the new limit were offered one free year of Office 365 Personal (1 TB) as compensation.
OneDrive's free storage will officially go down to just 5GB on July 27 — Windows Central ↗Bitcasa Drive consumer service shuts down; all data deleted
Bitcasa Drive shut down at 11:59 p.m. PST on May 20, 2016. All accounts and stored data were permanently deleted at that point. Bitcasa cited overwhelming competition from Amazon, Box, Google, Microsoft and Dropbox, and pivoted entirely to its B2B platform.
Bitcasa pulls out of consumer cloud storage (TechCrunch) ↗Copy.com and CudaDrive shut down
Barracuda shut down Copy.com (15 GB free tier) and CudaDrive on May 1, 2016. Users had to migrate data out beforehand; Barracuda published a guide for moving to a local drive or another cloud service.
Barracuda kills CudaDrive and Copy cloud storage services (The Register) ↗Bitcasa announces exit from consumer cloud storage
Bitcasa notified users it was discontinuing the consumer Bitcasa Drive product to concentrate on its B2B platform business, giving customers roughly one month to retrieve their files.
Cloud storage pioneer Bitcasa is killing its cloud storage (PCWorld) ↗Permanent +2 GB free Drive storage for completing the Security Checkup
For Safer Internet Day, Google offered a permanent 2 GB bump to free Drive storage to any consumer account that completed the Security Checkup by Feb 11, 2016. Google ran the same promotion in February 2015, and users who claimed it in 2015 could claim it again in 2016. Excluded Google Apps for Work/Education accounts.
Up your online safety in just two minutes (Official Google Blog) ↗Barracuda announces Copy and CudaDrive will be discontinued
Barracuda publicly announced it was discontinuing both the consumer Copy service and the business CudaDrive service, giving users roughly three months' notice and publishing a migration guide (including a Mover-based path to OneDrive).
Barracuda Is Shutting Down The Copy Cloud Storage Service On May 1st (Android Police) ↗Microsoft apologizes and offers opt-in grandfathering of 15 GB + 15 GB camera roll bonus
After the backlash, OneDrive group program manager Douglas Pearce apologized ("we are all genuinely sorry for the frustration this decision has caused") and announced an opt-in page letting existing free users keep their 15 GB of free storage plus the 15 GB camera roll bonus. Users had to actively click through by 31 January 2016; Microsoft explicitly did not reverse the underlying plan changes.
Microsoft Partially Takes Back Changes To OneDrive's Storage Caps — TechCrunch ↗Microsoft announces free tier will drop 15 GB → 5 GB and the 15 GB camera roll bonus will end
In the post "OneDrive storage plans change in pursuit of productivity and collaboration," Microsoft announced it would cut the free tier from 15 GB to 5 GB, discontinue the 15 GB camera roll bonus, end unlimited storage for Office 365 Home/Personal/University (capping at 1 TB), and replace the 100 GB and 200 GB plans with a single 50 GB plan at $1.99/mo. Microsoft blamed a small number of users storing 75+ TB each. The announcement triggered a large user backlash (tens of thousands of UserVoice votes).
Microsoft apologizes for riling OneDrive users, restores some free storage space on request — Computerworld ↗Google Photos launches; 'High quality' uploads exempt from the 15 GB pool
Google Photos was spun out of Google+ at Google I/O with free unlimited storage for photos at up to 16 MP and video at up to 1080p in the 'High quality' tier. Those uploads did not count against the shared 15 GB free quota, effectively making the free tier unlimited for compressed media until June 2021.
I/O 2015 - New Google Photos App Launches Today, Includes Unlimited Free Storage Of High Quality Photos And Video (Android Police) ↗Non-migrated Bitcasa accounts and data deleted
Users had until November 15, 2014 to install the new Bitcasa apps and migrate their data to the new platform. All accounts and data not transferred were deleted on November 16, 2014 - roughly three weeks' notice for a forced full-data migration.
Bitcasa Ends Unlimited Storage (TechCrunch) ↗Bitcasa kills its "Infinite" unlimited storage plan
Bitcasa discontinued the unlimited/"Infinite Drive" plan that had been its signature offering since 2011, citing low adoption and terms-of-service abuse. Existing Infinite subscribers were forced onto a 1 TB Premium plan ($99/year) or a 10 TB Pro plan ($999/year), with no refunds for recently purchased annual unlimited subscriptions. Bitcasa said only ~0.5% of accounts used more than 1 TB and under 0.1% used more than 10 TB.
Bitcasa Ends Unlimited Storage (TechCrunch) ↗15 GB camera roll bonus offered, taking free accounts up to 30 GB
Microsoft offered an extra 15 GB of free OneDrive storage to users who enabled automatic camera-roll backup, bringing a standard free account to 30 GB total. It was pitched as a limited-time offer ending that month, but storage claimed under it was permanent. This bonus is the same one later withdrawn in the 2015/2016 changes.
Microsoft offers up to 30 GB of free OneDrive cloud storage — Notebookcheck ↗OneDrive free tier more than doubled from 7 GB to 15 GB
Microsoft raised the free OneDrive allowance from 7 GB to 15 GB for everyone, gave Office 365 subscribers 1 TB (up from 20 GB), and cut paid plan prices to $1.99/mo for 100 GB and $3.99/mo for 200 GB. Microsoft's stated rationale: "3 out of 4 people have less than 15 GB of files stored on their PC."
Massive increase to OneDrive storage plans: 15 GB free for everyone, 1 TB for Office 365 subscribers — Microsoft 365 Blog ↗pCloud launches (September 2013)
pCloud, a Swiss-registered / Sofia-based cloud storage service founded by Tunio Zafer and Anton Titov, publicly debuted in September 2013 with a free consumer tier alongside paid plans.
pCloud press release (Media OutReach, Nov 2023) — 'About pCloud' boilerplate ↗Free plan doubled from 5 GB to 10 GB
Box doubled its free personal plan from 5 GB to 10 GB and simultaneously introduced a new "Starter" tier at $5 per seat/month with 100 GB storage and a 2 GB file size limit, aimed at small firms graduating off the free plan. This 10 GB figure is still Box's free tier as of 2026.
Box Doubles Its Free Plan To 10GB, Creates New $5/Month, 100GB Storage Tier For Small Firms (TechCrunch) ↗Copy raises free storage from 5 GB to 15 GB
Barracuda Networks tripled Copy's free tier from 5 GB to 15 GB, explicitly matching Google's newly unified 15 GB allowance. Copy also ran an uncapped referral program giving 5 GB to both the referrer and the referee per signup.
Copy "Copies" Google with 15GB of Free Cloud Storage (Barracuda Networks press release via PR Newswire) ↗Free storage raised to 15 GB and unified across Drive, Gmail and Google+ Photos
Google merged the separate Drive (5 GB), Gmail (10 GB) and Google+ Photos quotas into a single pooled 15 GB free allowance usable however the account holder wants. Google Apps accounts got 30 GB. The 25 GB paid tier was retired; entry paid tier became 100 GB for $4.99/mo.
Bringing it all together: 15 GB now shared between Drive, Gmail, and Google+ Photos (Official Google Drive Blog) ↗MEGA launches with 50 GB free storage
Kim Dotcom's MEGA launched as an end-to-end-encrypted cloud storage and file sharing service, offering a free tier of 50 GB alongside three paid tiers with more storage and bandwidth.
Mega Launches Its Cloud Storage And File Sharing Service As 'The Privacy Company' Amid A Huge Surge Of Interest ↗Google Drive launches with 5 GB free
Google Drive went live on April 24, 2012 with 5 GB of free storage per account, separate from Gmail's quota. Paid upgrades started at 25 GB for $2.49/mo, 100 GB for $4.99/mo, 1 TB for $49.99/mo.
Google Drive Is Live With 5GB Of Free Storage And Google Docs Hookup (TechCrunch) ↗SkyDrive free tier cut from 25 GB to 7 GB (existing users could opt in to keep 25 GB)
Alongside the release of SkyDrive desktop apps for Windows/OS X and new paid storage tiers, Microsoft cut the free allowance for new users from 25 GB to 7 GB. A limited-time "loyalty offer" let any registered user who had already uploaded files to SkyDrive (as of 22 April 2012) opt in to keep 25 GB free permanently.
SkyDrive app for Windows Phone gets 2.0 update, reduces free storage capacity — Engadget ↗Referral bonus doubled to 500 MB per referral; free-account cap raised to 16 GB
Dropbox doubled referral rewards for free accounts from 250 MB to 500 MB per referral and doubled the earnable cap to 16 GB (32 referrals). Pro accounts went to 1 GB per referral capped at 32 GB. The change was applied retroactively to referrals already made. Base free storage stayed at 2 GB.
Dropbox Will Give You 32GB of Free Storage for Referring Friends - Gizmodo ↗Promotional 50 GB free-for-life storage for LG Android device users
LG and Box announced that LG would be the first handset maker to bundle 50 GB of free Box cloud storage on all LG Android devices. Users who signed up for Box through an LG Android device between November 30, 2011 and March 31, 2012 kept the 50 GB for the lifetime of the account. Box ran comparable device-linked 50 GB promotions with Sony Ericsson Xperia and other Android handsets around the same period.
LG-Box Partnership Brings 50GB of Free Lifetime Storage in the Cloud to All LG Android Mobile Devices (PR Newswire) ↗Amazon Cloud Drive launches with 5 GB free
Amazon launched Amazon Cloud Drive (later renamed Amazon Drive) alongside Amazon Cloud Player, giving every customer 5 GB of free storage. Buying an MP3 album upgraded the account to 20 GB; additional paid storage started at $20/year for 20 GB.
Introducing Amazon Cloud Drive, Amazon Cloud Player for Web, and Amazon Cloud Player for Android (Amazon Press Center) ↗Free personal storage raised from 1 GB to 5 GB
Box.net quintupled free personal storage from 1 GB to 5 GB as part of a broader plan overhaul that also moved business plans from 15 GB per user to a flat 500 GB. Box attributed the increase to falling storage costs and the buildout of two enterprise-grade data centers.
Box.net increases storage in its content-management cloud (Computerworld) ↗SkyDrive free storage raised from 5 GB to 25 GB
Microsoft boosted every SkyDrive user's free storage fivefold, from 5 GB to 25 GB, as part of the Windows Live "Wave 3" wave of updates.
25GB of Free Online Storage with Windows Live SkyDrive — Windows Experience Blog ↗Dropbox launches publicly with 2 GB free (Basic)
Dropbox exited private beta and launched to the public at TechCrunch50 with a permanently free 2 GB tier, alongside a paid 50 GB plan at $9.99/month or $99.99/year.
Dropbox launches to the public! - Dropbox Blog ↗Windows Live SkyDrive launches with 500 MB free storage
Microsoft launched Windows Live SkyDrive (formerly Windows Live Folders), the service later renamed OneDrive, offering 500 MB of free web storage for storing and sharing files.
Store your files in "the cloud" with Windows Live SkyDrive — Windows Experience Blog ↗Free tier over time
Each chart plots the free allowance from the provider’s launch to today. Flat lines are stable plans; downward steps are cuts. The full detail behind every step is in the changelog above.
Current free plans at a glance
| Provider | At signup | Max earnable | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Drive | up to 15 GB (15 GB for existing accounts and most new accounts; new accounts in select test regions start at 5 GB until a phone number is linked) | — | Official pricing page ↗ |
| MEGA | 20 GB base (temporarily expandable to ~50 GB via "achievements"/referrals, bonuses expire after 365 days) | — | Official pricing page ↗ |
| pCloud | 2 GB at signup (up to 10 GB total: 7 GB via onboarding tasks, final 3 GB via 3 referrals) | up to 10 GB | Official pricing page ↗ |
| Box | 10 GB (250 MB per-file upload limit) | — | Official pricing page ↗ |
| Icedrive | Not publicly specified — being verified | — | — |
| Microsoft OneDrive | 5 GB (shared across OneDrive files/photos, Outlook.com email attachments, and Microsoft 365 app files; the Outlook.com mailbox itself has a separate 15 GB) | — | Official pricing page ↗ |
| Proton Drive | 5 GB (2 GB default, up to 5 GB after completing 3 setup tasks within 30 days); Proton Mail's up-to-1 GB is a separate pool | up to 5 GB | Official pricing page ↗ |
| Dropbox | 2 GB (up to 18 GB total: 2 GB base + up to 16 GB earnable via referrals at 500 MB each) | up to 18 GB | Official pricing page ↗ |
| Internxt | 1 GB | — | Official pricing page ↗ |
For what each plan is actually good for — upload limits, encryption, sync clients — see the full free cloud storage comparison.
Account inactivity policies
A free plan you never log into is not a backup. These are the published rules for how long an unused free account survives before the provider may close it or delete its contents.
| Provider | Inactivity window | What happens | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Drive | 2 years | A personal Google Account not used or signed into for at least 2 years may be deleted in full along with all of its contents, including Gmail, Google Drive (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, Vids), Calendar, Meet and Google Photos. The earliest… | Inactive Google Account Policy (Google Account Help) ↗ |
| MEGA | Not publicly specified — being verified | — | — |
| pCloud | 12 months | Free (Basic) pCloud accounts with no activity for 12 months are permanently deleted along with all files inside. Simply logging in to my.pcloud.com counts as activity and resets the timer; warning emails are sent before deletion. A separate rule closes and… | pCloud Help Center — 'Account Inactivity in pCloud' ↗ |
| Box | Not publicly specified — being verified | — | — |
| Icedrive | 12 months | Free accounts that remain inactive for 12 consecutive months may be removed from Icedrive's system, including all associated content and data. Icedrive states users are notified prior to deletion and given an opportunity to log in to retain the account. | Terms of Service - Icedrive Legal ↗ |
| Microsoft OneDrive | 2 years (OneDrive support docs and deletion emails); 1 year per Microsoft Services Agreement §4.a.ii | Microsoft's OneDrive support documentation states files may be erased if "You haven't used your OneDrive account in two years," and affected users receive an email/app notification reading "Your files will be erased on [date]" (reportedly up to ~8 months… | Microsoft account activity policy / Microsoft Services Agreement / Why did I get a message saying my files will be erased? ↗ |
| Proton Drive | 12 months | Proton's Terms of Service state that if a free account has been inactive for 12 consecutive months or more, access to the account and all or part of its data may be suspended or deleted, with all associated data permanently removed. Proton sends reminder… | Terms of Service | Proton (last updated 23 June 2026) ↗ |
| Dropbox | 12 months | Dropbox measures inactivity by log-ins and file activity (adding, editing, deleting) anywhere on Dropbox over the past 12 months. Account closure for inactivity affects Dropbox Basic (free) accounts only — paid accounts are exempt. If an account is flagged… | What to do if you got an email about an inactive Dropbox account - Dropbox Help ↗ |
| Internxt | 1 year | Free accounts that go a year without a login are marked inactive and their files are deleted. Internxt's Terms state verbatim: "Users who do not log in to their account for a period of one year will be considered inactive. Users will receive an email… | Internxt - Legal Terms and Conditions of Use ↗ |
rclone, WebDAV and API access
Which free tiers you can actually script against. Backend support is taken from the rclone documentation; WebDAV and API availability from each provider’s own docs.
| Provider | rclone backend | WebDAV | API on free tier | Caveats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Drive | drive | No — Google has never offered a WebDAV endpoint for Drive. The only official programmatic interface is the Google… | Yes | Own client ID strongly advised: "It is strongly recommended to use your own client ID as the default rclone ID is heavily used."… |
| MEGA | mega | Not publicly specified — being verified | Not publicly specified — being verified | Unofficial/reverse-engineered API, stated in the Limitations section: "This backend uses the go-mega go library which is an… |
| pCloud | pcloud | Not publicly specified — being verified | Not publicly specified — being verified | CORRECTION TO A LIKELY SEED ASSUMPTION: rclone does NOT recommend creating your own client ID for pCloud. The config walkthrough… |
| Box | box | Not publicly specified — being verified | Not publicly specified — being verified | Biggest operational gotcha is token expiry, quoted from Box's own docs: "Each refresh_token is valid for one use in 60 days."… |
| Icedrive | None | Not publicly specified — being verified | Not publicly specified — being verified | The only rclone route to Icedrive is the generic webdav backend, and rclone's own forum documents it as unreliable. In… |
| Microsoft OneDrive | onedrive | Not publicly specified — being verified | Not publicly specified — being verified | Own client ID is offered but worded more softly than Google Drive's: "rclone uses a default Client ID when talking to… |
| Proton Drive | protondrive | No — No official WebDAV. Proton offers no WebDAV endpoint or setting; access is via the web app and official… | Unofficial | Explicit beta + reverse-engineering notice at the top of the page: "Due to the fact that Proton Drive doesn't publish its API… |
| Dropbox | dropbox | Not publicly specified — being verified | Not publicly specified — being verified | The page has a dedicated "Get your own Dropbox App ID" section: "When you use rclone with Dropbox in its default configuration… |
| Internxt | internxt | Not publicly specified — being verified | Not publicly specified — being verified | Page opens with a Limitations note before the config walkthrough: "Note: The Internxt backend may not work with all account… |
Use this data
Download the full dataset
Both files are generated from the same source data this page renders, so they can never disagree with what you see above.
Licensed CC BY 4.0 — free to reuse in articles, videos and research with a link back to this page.
Free plans change. We'll tell you when.
We re-check all 9 free tiers every month. Subscribe to get an alert when a free plan changes, plus occasional storage and homelab guides from Mr.PlanB.
Frequently asked questions
Monthly, and within days when a major provider announces a change. Every table on this page carries the date it was last verified.
Official pricing pages, help-centre articles and provider announcements, plus contemporaneous press coverage for older changes whose original pages no longer exist. Every entry links its source.
Yes. The dataset is licensed CC BY 4.0 — reuse it freely in articles, videos and research, with a link back to this page.
We only publish figures we can source. Where a provider does not publicly state a policy, or we have not yet confirmed it against an official page, the cell stays flagged rather than showing a number we guessed.
Because free tiers are the least stable part of any cloud provider's offering. OneDrive went from 15 GB to 5 GB, MEGA's headline 50 GB became a much smaller base allowance, and entire services have shut down with user data in them. A dated history shows you the direction a provider is heading before you commit to it.