MEGA Review 2025: Safer Than Cloud Storage from Google, Microsoft & Co.?

MEGA has a somewhat controversial reputation: The Megaupload successor is often linked to online piracy. However, this is a bit unfair - because like Google Drive or OneDrive, MEGA is simply a cloud storage service where you can store your files in the cloud.

MEGA takes user privacy more seriously than its competitors, Google and Microsoft. This is true at least on paper. Our review reveals why this is the case and how MEGA compares to other cloud storage services.

You can access your MEGA cloud storage in three ways: through the web, desktop, and smartphone app. All three MEGA applications offer a great user experience with their clean and intuitive design, even though the features compared to

Let's take a closer look at these three interfaces:

MEGA's web interface lets you access your cloud storage through your browser. It stands out with its modern design, quick response times, and logical navigation. The only hiccup you might notice is when uploading large amounts of data.

When you open the homepage, you'll see an overview showing how much storage space you've used and how much is still free. Click on "Drive" to access your MEGA cloud storage content. This section is also user-friendly:

While the search feature could be smarter, we don't have many complaints about MEGA's basic web app design: The modern, minimalist interface gives you quick and easy access to your cloud storage files.

Unfortunately, your options for working with files in the cloud are quite limited. While you can open and play photos and videos directly in the browser app, MEGA can't handle documents like Word or Excel files.

Most files don't even have a preview available. You need to double-click to download and open them locally to view or edit them. There's no built-in office suite or simple integrations with Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.

MEGA works well for storing and organizing files in the cloud. However, unlike Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive or Dropbox, you can't edit files directly. While we don't expect this feature, a reliable preview function would be nice to have.

MEGA offers a desktop app for Windows, Mac, and Linux devices. It has two main features:

During app installation, you need to choose a local folder as your MEGA folder. You can then access your cloud storage files directly through this folder in your file manager.

You'll find the main MEGA app in the system tray at the bottom right. The main area always shows current transfers (syncs). Use the buttons in the top right to add new backups and syncs or upload files to your cloud storage.

It's useful that you can jump directly to your cloud storage on the web through the three-dot menu under "Cloud Drive".

You can access your MEGA cloud storage files on your phone too. The MEGA mobile app offers almost all features of the web app (including MEGA Chat) in a mobile-friendly package.

Just tap the plus button to quickly upload new files and folders or create text files. There's also a scan feature: you can take photos of documents that save directly as scans in your cloud drive. The MEGA app gives you everything you'd want from a cloud storage mobile app.

Here's an overview of all platforms where MEGA is available. Linux users will be happy to know that MEGA not only offers a dedicated Linux app but also actively supports it:

One of the biggest benefits of cloud storage services like MEGA is that they sync your files across all your devices, giving you access to the latest versions of your files anywhere, anytime.

MEGA's web interface lets you directly access, manage, and share your cloud-stored files. Any changes you make here update in real-time in your cloud storage and show up right away on all your connected devices.

On your desktop, instead of accessing files directly in the cloud, you work with local copies stored on your computer. Any changes you make, whether locally or in the cloud, sync automatically.

You have two sync options:

MEGA takes a different approach than Google and Microsoft's cloud storage services. There's no central "master folder" where you need to move all files for syncing, and no distinction between "online" and "offline" modes.

Instead, you can select any folder for syncing with MEGA cloud, whether it's on your computer or external drives, without changing its original location. Any changes to these files automatically sync between the cloud and local folders.

MEGA also lets you manually upload files to the cloud without continuous syncing. These files stay independent from local copies: if you delete local files, the cloud version remains untouched.

To upload files, just click the upload icon in the top right of the MEGA app:

Two-way sync on mobile is a recent feature. Changes sync right away: for example, if you delete a file on your phone, it also goes to the trash in the web app.

You can also make files available offline. There are two options:

You can also choose whether syncing should happen only over WiFi or mobile data as well.

MEGA offers more flexibility than other cloud storage services when it comes to managing files in the cloud and locally through selective syncing. You can set up multiple syncs that you can manage independently, and freely choose which folders to sync and which to skip.

Another handy feature: You can add exceptions to exclude specific file types or files containing certain characters from syncing.

In the settings under the "Network" tab, you can limit the download and upload speeds of your transfers. This comes in handy if you have limited data or want to save bandwidth for other tasks.

The only thing we miss is the option to transfer files between devices on the same network via LAN, which is possible with pCloud. Other than that, MEGA's sync features cover pretty much everything you need.

MEGA also includes a cloud backup feature that lets you back up your desktop folders to your cloud storage.

Unlike MEGA's regular sync, backup is a one-way sync. This means changes to desktop files automatically copy to MEGA, but not the other way around. If you delete the backup from your MEGA drive, your local files stay safe.

You can back up any folder on your desktop (and even external hard drives). Unlike Microsoft OneDrive, which only allows backups of selected system folders, MEGA has no such limits.

The comparison table below shows you all the sync features MEGA offers compared to other cloud storage services:

In our cloud storage performance comparison, we focus on two main aspects:

For a fair comparison, we tested all cloud storage services under the exact same conditions. We created a test folder with the same content for each platform - 10,000 files, 10,000 folders, 100 photos (about 500 MB), and one large video (about 500 MB) - and synced it using a PC with a 400 Mbps connection (upload and download).

The results: MEGA took first place with outstanding upload and download speeds. MEGA was the fastest provider in our comparison for uploads, while only Sync.com and pCloud were faster for downloads - though by a significant margin. MEGA's CPU usage was average, but still within an acceptable range.

Here's the complete performance ranking of the providers from our review:

MEGA is known for its strong security standards (more on that soon), not as a teamwork platform. That's why its collaboration features are pretty basic, especially compared to cloud tools from Google, Microsoft, or Dropbox.

Of course, you can share files and folders from your MEGA drive with others. Just right-click on the folder you want to share (or click the three-dot menu in the bottom right). You'll find three options:

MEGA does a good job when it comes to sharing documents and folders, even though user and role management is basic. Here's an overview of MEGA's main sharing features compared to others:

But while other cloud storage services are just getting started when files are shared, that's where MEGA stops: The platform doesn't offer any real collaboration tools.

It wouldn't be fair to compare MEGA with Microsoft OneDrive or Google Drive here. After all, for these cloud giants, storage is just a small part of their much bigger collaboration ecosystem.

We don't expect MEGA to compete at that level - but it would be nice if the platform offered at least something. MEGA doesn't have its own office solution for working on documents together, nor does it provide any suitable third-party integrations.

The only notable collaboration feature is the MEGA chat app, which enables encrypted chats and video calls with other MEGA users. It's included in all plans:

However, if you want to work together on files in your cloud storage, you'll need to look for another solution. Besides Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox also offers solid collaboration tools.

Here's how MEGA's collaboration features compare:

While cloud giants outperform MEGA in collaboration features, MEGA turns the tables when it comes to privacy. Unlike tech giants like Google or Microsoft, who reserve access to your data and raise fundamental privacy concerns, MEGA uses zero-knowledge encryption.

MEGA ensures your data security - even from itself - through end-to-end encryption. This means that files, chats, and other data are encrypted directly on your device before they reach MEGA's servers. Unlike Google or Microsoft, only you have the encryption key, so neither MEGA nor third parties can access your content. This is known as zero-knowledge encryption.

You can find more detailed information about MEGA's encryption in their Security White Paper.

If you care about your data privacy, MEGA is generally a better choice than Microsoft, Google, and similar services. Your cloud files are protected not only from outside access but also from the provider itself.

MEGA protects your files with many other security measures against attacks and data loss. You can secure access to your account with two-factor authentication, and MEGA recommends using Authy, Duo Mobile, Google Authenticator, or Microsoft Authenticator apps.

When sharing files, features like separate encryption key delivery and password-protected links provide extra security.

Also, all MEGA plans include file versioning, so you can restore previous versions of your files. This would be helpful in case of a ransomware attack.

Paying MEGA users get access to a built-in VPN and password manager. While these solutions can't compete with dedicated apps (the VPN only offers twelve server locations), they're nice extras for users who don't want separate programs.

MEGA promotes transparency by making its client applications' source code publicly available. You can find details about security processes and encryption standards in their white paper mentioned earlier.

They also provide a detailed transparency report with information about government requests, copyright complaints, and more.

MEGA doesn't have ISO certifications. In fact, they actively choose not to pursue them. When we asked about this via email, they explained:

"We don't have ISO certifications because we believe they have little practical value. Instead, we publish the source code of all our client software (web, mobile, desktop) so security researchers can check for vulnerabilities, backdoors, or flaws in our encryption implementation. ISO criteria fall far short of this level of transparency."

MEGA claims to follow GDPR rules and states:

When MEGA claims to be "GDPR compliant," they simply mean that their terms of use, privacy policy, deletion policy, and contact information include all the details required by GDPR.

This doesn't automatically mean that businesses can use MEGA without any GDPR concerns. This applies to all cloud storage providers based outside the EU. If you plan to use MEGA for business purposes, you should check if you need additional measures and consider getting legal advice.

Here's a comparison of MEGA's security and privacy features:

MEGA is known for its generous free plan. Every user gets 20 GB of storage space completely free - more than any other cloud storage in our review. However, free plan users have to deal with limited transfer volume. While there's no official limit stated, it seems to be around 4 GB every six hours.

If you want more storage without transfer limits, you'll need to sign up for a paid plan. There are three regular Pro plans for individual users with increasing storage space (2 TB, 8 TB, 16 TB) and a Flexi plan for users who need flexible storage (starting at 3 TB).

The Business plan, which requires at least 3 users, is also flexible: You can choose the number of users, storage space, and transfer volume.

Here's an overview of MEGA's plans:

How does MEGA compare to other cloud storage providers in terms of pricing? It depends on how you look at it. When it comes to cost per TB, MEGA is quite affordable, which is great for users who need lots of storage space. In our comparison of 5 TB plans, MEGA is by far the cheapest option among the providers we reviewed.

However, if you need less than 2 TB of storage, you'll pay more than necessary with MEGA since they don't offer cheaper plans for smaller storage amounts. If 100 GB or 500 GB is enough for you, other providers charge as little as 1/5 of MEGA's price.

Here's a comparison of monthly costs across different providers we reviewed, broken down by storage size and number of users:

MEGA is a solid cloud storage service that stands out with its security and performance. In our performance test, upload and download speeds were excellent. MEGA also offers the most generous free plan on the market with 20 GB of storage space and good value for money when you need lots of storage (2 TB or more).

The provider's zero-knowledge philosophy ensures that only you can access your data - a clear advantage over data collectors like Google or Microsoft. However, you shouldn't blindly trust the provider's security promises, since vulnerabilities in the end-to-end encryption have been discovered in the past.

MEGA isn't great for collaboration: While you can share folders and files, you can't work on them together (unlike Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox). MEGA is only price-competitive if you need lots of storage. If 500 GB or less is enough for you, other cloud services are much cheaper.

Still, if you're looking for a cloud storage with end-to-end encryption and care about performance and flexible storage options, MEGA is a good choice.

What do MEGA customers think about the cloud storage? We checked popular review sites and summarized the feedback for you:

Is MEGA not the right cloud storage for you? Here are some of the best alternatives:

Here are the best alternatives to MEGA: