Google One’s cheapest paid tier is 100 GB and the free tier is 15 GB shared across Drive, Gmail, and Photos, which means a heavy inbox month can push your file sync into a “storage full” dialog you cannot dismiss. Windows and macOS users pile on a second complaint: Drive for desktop mounts a virtual drive that consumes real RAM and locks files during sync in ways OneDrive and Dropbox do not. If either problem finally pushed you to shop, these Google Drive alternatives for desktop cover the same “keep folders in the cloud, sync to my laptop, share a link” job on Windows, macOS, and Linux with bigger free tiers, real encryption, or a self-hosted escape hatch.
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Free plan | Starting price/mo | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dropbox | The polished baseline | 2 GB | About 12 USD | Smart Sync and rock-solid selective sync |
| Microsoft OneDrive | Windows and Office users | 5 GB | About 2 USD (100 GB) | Files On-Demand tied into Explorer |
| MEGA | Big free storage with encryption | 20 GB | About 5 USD | End-to-end encrypted from the client |
| pCloud | One-time lifetime pricing | 10 GB | About 5 USD (or lifetime) | Buy 2 TB once, own it forever |
| Proton Drive | Privacy-first sync | 5 GB | About 5 USD | Swiss jurisdiction, zero-access encryption |
| Sync.com | Compliance-friendly file sync | 5 GB | About 6 USD (2 TB) | HIPAA, PIPEDA, GDPR options at low tiers |
| Nextcloud | Self-hosted control | Self-hosted free | About 5 USD (managed) | Runs on your own hardware or a managed host |
Why people leave Google Drive on desktop
Three complaints repeat across r/DataHoarder, r/gsuite, and the Google One community forum.
The 15 GB free tier is a joint bank account.
Gmail attachments, Google Photos, and Drive all draw from the same pool. Once your Gmail passes 8 GB, Drive uploads start failing. Users hit this at random when a big attachment lands.
The desktop client is heavy.
Drive for desktop replaced File Stream and Backup and Sync. It runs as a virtual filesystem, uses hundreds of megabytes of RAM at idle, and can prevent shutdown while sync completes. Task Manager threads about it show up monthly.
Files are readable to Google.
Google’s terms give it broad rights to scan files for policy violations and to hand them to law enforcement under valid requests. If your data leans sensitive, that is a real problem, and no client-side setting fixes it.
The alternatives
Dropbox, best for the polished baseline
Dropbox is the reference implementation for cloud sync. Smart Sync places placeholders on your disk and streams files on demand. Selective Sync excludes folders from a machine. The macOS and Windows clients are the best in the field.
Where it falls short. The free tier is 2 GB. The Plus plan is 12 USD per month for 2 TB, which is more than any of the challengers below.
Pricing.
- Free: 2 GB across three devices.
- Paid: Plus at about 12 USD per month for 2 TB.
- vs Google Drive: better client behaviour, smaller free tier, higher paid price.
Migrating from Google Drive. Install Dropbox Desktop, sign in, drop your Drive folder into the Dropbox folder. Everything else follows once sync catches up. Dropbox’s own Migration Assistant can move a company folder without a copy step.
Download: Dropbox
Bottom line: Pick Dropbox if you already trusted it, and you can afford the price for the client polish.
Microsoft OneDrive, best for Windows and Office
Microsoft OneDrive is baked into Windows 11 File Explorer, works with Office autosave, and includes a full Microsoft 365 subscription at the Personal tier. Files On-Demand behaves cleanly, and the Personal Vault gives you a MFA-locked folder for the risky files.
Where it falls short. It is a Microsoft product. Everything wants your Microsoft account, and cross-tenant sharing in the business tiers is a permissioning maze.
Pricing.
- Free: 5 GB.
- Paid: OneDrive Standalone at about 2 USD per month for 100 GB, Microsoft 365 Personal at about 10 USD for 1 TB plus Office.
- vs Google Drive: cheaper at the 100 GB tier, better native integration on Windows.
Migrating from Google Drive. Use Google Takeout to export your Drive as a Zip, then drop the extracted folder into OneDrive on Windows. Mover.io, a Microsoft-owned tool, will do the transfer server-side for larger jobs.
Download: Microsoft OneDrive
Bottom line: Pick OneDrive if you live in Windows and Office and want the deepest native integration for the least money.
MEGA, best for a big free tier with encryption
MEGA starts at 20 GB free, encrypts files client-side, and gives you a desktop client that mounts a folder like Dropbox. The company’s history is dramatic, but the crypto has been audited and the client is a real product.
Where it falls short. Bandwidth throttling on the free tier hits during heavy downloads. The apps have historically leaked memory on macOS.
Pricing.
- Free: 20 GB across all devices.
- Paid: Pro I at about 5 USD per month for 2 TB.
- vs Google Drive: much larger free tier and real encryption, less polished on macOS.
Migrating from Google Drive. Use MEGA’s Google Drive importer under Import to Cloud in the web app. Files copy server-to-server, no local download step.
Download: MEGA Desktop
Bottom line: Pick MEGA when the free tier alone would cover your needs and you want the encryption on top.
pCloud, best for a one-time payment
pCloud is the only major provider still offering a one-time lifetime purchase. Buy 2 TB once for around 400 USD and the storage is yours for the life of the company. The desktop client mounts a virtual drive and behaves like OneDrive’s Files On-Demand.
Where it falls short. End-to-end encryption is an add-on (Crypto), not the default. The lifetime plan is a bet on pCloud’s longevity.
Pricing.
- Free: 10 GB.
- Paid: Premium at about 5 USD per month for 500 GB, or the lifetime 2 TB plan.
- vs Google Drive: cheaper over five years if you take the lifetime tier, weaker default encryption.
Migrating from Google Drive. pCloud’s Backup feature accepts a Google account credential and pulls the Drive contents on a schedule.
Download: pCloud Drive
Bottom line: Pick pCloud when the lifetime plan math works out and you do not need encryption by default.
Proton Drive, best for privacy
Proton Drive completes the Proton privacy suite alongside Mail, VPN, and Calendar. All files are zero-access encrypted by design, meaning Proton cannot read them. Desktop clients for Windows and macOS shipped in 2024 and Linux is in beta.
Where it falls short. The Linux client is younger than the competition. Sharing links to non-Proton users is available but less flexible than Google Drive’s.
Pricing.
- Free: 5 GB.
- Paid: Drive Plus at about 5 USD per month for 200 GB, Unlimited at about 13 USD for 500 GB plus Mail, VPN, and Calendar.
- vs Google Drive: real privacy, smaller free tier, better bundling if you use the whole Proton suite.
Migrating from Google Drive. Proton has an Easy Switch tool for Mail. For Drive, download from Google via Takeout, then upload via the Proton Drive desktop client.
Download: Proton Drive
Bottom line: Pick Proton Drive when you want the whole Proton stack and privacy is not a nice-to-have.
Sync.com, best for compliance
Sync.com built its business on privacy-and-compliance file sync. HIPAA at the Solo Business tier, PIPEDA and GDPR built in, zero-access encryption on every file. The desktop client is a fixed-folder sync in the Dropbox style rather than a virtual drive.
Where it falls short. The free tier is small at 5 GB, and the web interface for previewing files is basic.
Pricing.
- Free: 5 GB.
- Paid: Solo Basic at about 6 USD per month for 2 TB.
- vs Google Drive: better compliance story and cheaper 2 TB tier, less feature-rich web app.
Migrating from Google Drive. There is no importer. Download from Takeout, drop into the Sync folder, and let it upload.
Download: Sync.com Desktop
Bottom line: Pick Sync.com when a compliance auditor is going to look at where your files live.
Nextcloud, best for self-hosted control
Nextcloud is the open-source route. Install the server on a NAS or a small VPS, install the desktop client on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and get Drive-style sync with no third-party in the middle. The plugin ecosystem adds calendars, chat, office suites, and photo galleries.
Where it falls short. You are the IT department. Backups, TLS certificates, updates, and offsite copies are your problem.
Pricing.
- Free: self-hosted with no seat limits.
- Paid: managed hosting via Hetzner or IONOS from about 5 USD per month; Nextcloud Enterprise for larger teams.
- vs Google Drive: full control at the cost of maintenance, no free public cloud tier.
Migrating from Google Drive. Nextcloud’s External Storage app can mount Google Drive as a source, then you copy folders into a native Nextcloud folder over time.
Download: Nextcloud Desktop Client
Bottom line: Pick Nextcloud when the goal is “no third-party sees my files” and you already run a NAS or a small server.
How to choose
Pick Dropbox if the client polish is worth the price and you have already built habits around it. Pick OneDrive if you live in Windows and Office and want the cheapest 100 GB you can buy. Pick MEGA if 20 GB free with encryption covers most of what you need. Pick pCloud if you want to write one cheque and be done. Pick Proton Drive if you already use Proton Mail or VPN and want to close the loop. Pick Sync.com when compliance is going to matter to somebody who signs your invoices. Pick Nextcloud if a NAS is already humming in your basement.
Stay on Google Drive if the entire family shares the same Google Workspace and the collaboration lives inside Google Docs. Nothing replaces the Docs-Drive tie-in without pain.
FAQ
What is the best free Google Drive alternative?
MEGA at 20 GB and pCloud at 10 GB are the two largest free tiers among the desktop-capable providers. MEGA adds client-side encryption on the free plan.
Which cloud storage encrypts files by default?
Proton Drive and Sync.com use zero-access encryption on every plan. MEGA encrypts by default too. Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive encrypt in transit and at rest but keep the keys.
Can I keep my Google Drive files while trying an alternative?
Yes. Nothing about installing another client disables Google Drive. Turn off Google Drive’s desktop sync, keep the web app, and use the new tool for new files until you have moved everything over.
What is the closest experience to Google Drive on Windows?
OneDrive. It is built into File Explorer and its Files On-Demand behaves the closest to Drive’s virtual mount, at a lower price at the 100 GB tier.
Can I self-host Google Drive?
Not the Google product. Nextcloud is the closest self-hosted equivalent, and it has desktop clients for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
