Proton Drive Review 2025: A Cloud Storage That Respects Your Privacy?

Want to store your documents conveniently in the cloud without losing control of your data? Take a look at Proton Drive: This privacy-focused cloud storage positions itself as a privacy-friendly alternative to Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and similar services. But how good is Proton Drive really?

We thoroughly tested Proton Drive to find out if this cloud storage is as secure as promised – and what else it can do.

Despite its privacy focus, Proton Drive works just like any other cloud storage service. You can upload your files to the cloud and access them through dedicated interfaces in your browser, on your desktop, or through a smartphone app.

It works well overall, though it offers fewer features compared to the big cloud storage providers.

Let's take a closer look at Proton Drive's three interfaces:

You can manage your cloud storage content directly in your browser using the web interface. While it supports all common browsers, Proton mainly recommends those focused on privacy – especially Firefox, Brave, and Tor Browser.

The web interface has a user-friendly layout. The main menu on the left leads to all key features: The "New" button in the top left lets you quickly upload files and create folders.

In "My Files," you'll find all your cloud folders; the "Computer" menu gives you access to local folders on your devices that you've enabled for syncing. There are also sections for photos, shared files, and a trash bin.

Proton Drive now includes its own document editor that lets you edit documents directly in the cloud and work with team members (more on this later).

However, Proton isn't nearly as flexible as Google, Microsoft, or Dropbox: You can only open and edit text documents - and only those created (or converted) with the editor. You need to download all other file types before you can edit them.

Unfortunately, Proton doesn't automatically convert text files, except for .docx files. For example, if you want to edit a .doc file in the document editor, you first need to download it, save it as a .docx file, and upload it again - only then can you preview and convert the document for editing. Pretty inconvenient.

Most files - even common types like PDFs or Docs - don't even show a preview. You can only play videos smaller than 100 MB.

Proton Drive is still far from competing with the comprehensive collaboration platforms of major cloud providers: Despite taking first steps in this direction, the web platform remains primarily focused on organizing files in the cloud, not viewing and editing them.

The Proton Drive desktop app works on Windows and macOS, with the Windows version offering slightly more features. Unfortunately, Proton doesn't provide a Linux client.

The app works as a sync assistant to keep your cloud files available across devices. When installing the desktop app, you set up a sync folder on your device. This lets you access your cloud files directly through your file manager and handle them like local files - moving, editing, and deleting them.

On Windows, you can also sync local folders with the cloud. To do this, open the desktop client and select the folders you want to back up to the cloud in the "My Computer" section. We'll explain the sync options in more detail in the next chapter.

With the Proton Drive mobile app, available for Android and iOS devices, you can access your cloud files on the go. This includes both your primary sync folder and any local folders you've manually set up for syncing.

The app includes a photo backup feature that automatically saves all photos and videos from your device to the cloud. You can choose whether to sync media over WiFi only or also using mobile data. You can also take new photos directly within the app and save them straight to cloud storage. However, there's no dedicated document scanning feature.

You can use all the basic features of the web app on your phone, including the document editor. It does unfortunately have the same limitations: preview is only available for a few documents and media files, and on mobile, you won't even see an error message or compatibility warning - the files simply won't load.

Overall, the mobile app works well, though it could offer more features.

Here's an overview of all platforms supported by Proton Drive:

Reliable syncing is the foundation of any cloud storage: it keeps your files up to date across all your devices. Proton Drive offers two main ways to sync your data:

You can choose different sync settings for the files in your Proton Drive folder. The "on-demand sync" ensures that you only store files on your device that you actually need, while the rest stay in the cloud without taking up local storage space.

There are three storage categories:

Besides online and offline modes, Proton Drive offers very few customization options. For example, it doesn't support selective sync, which would let you choose specific subfolders to sync in Proton Drive. Instead, all files in the main folder are always synced.

You can't adjust technical sync settings like speed limits. The service also doesn't include LAN sync between devices on the same network, which competitors like Dropbox and pCloud offer.

Another missing feature is a backup option for local folders. While you can sync them using the "My Computer" option, this is a standard two-way sync that's not suitable for backups. If you delete files from the cloud, they'll also be removed from your device.

On your smartphone, files are accessed online by default, but you can make files and folders available offline. This saves them on your device so you can use them without an internet connection.

You can also "download" your cloud files to make them available on your device outside of the Proton Drive app.

Here's a comparison of Proton Drive's main sync features with other providers:

For a good user experience, syncing should be fast and run smoothly in the background. Three main factors play a key role:

To ensure a fair comparison, we tested all providers under the same conditions. Each cloud storage had to sync the same test folder containing:

We ran the sync test using a 400 Mbps connection.

Here are the performance test results:

Unfortunately, Proton Drive's sync speeds were much slower than its competitors. The upload speed was terrible and ranked last in our comparison – top performers MEGA and pCloud were nine times faster. Download speeds were average at best. While CPU usage was decent, this doesn't make up for the poor speeds.

If you need fast and smooth synchronization to work on your files across different devices, Proton Drive might not be your best choice right now.

Collaboration isn't a priority for Proton Drive, which makes sense given their focus on user privacy - after all, shared cloud environments pose a bigger security risk. Still, you have some options to share and work on files together.

You can share files and folders in your Proton Drive in two ways:

The settings options are basic. For links, you can set up a password and expiration date. With email sharing, you can choose between viewer and editor permissions. There's no detailed access control or team management dashboard. Also missing is a shared storage space for members of the same Proton package.

Another feature we wish it had is file requests. Many other cloud storage providers let you create a link to an upload portal where recipients (even without an account) can upload files to your cloud storage.

While you can share and manage files with others, Proton Drive isn't really designed for extensive teamwork.

Here's a comparison of Proton Drive's main sharing features:

Proton Drive understands that users want simple and smooth cloud collaboration. At the same time, Proton wants to stick to its core promise: maximum data protection through end-to-end encryption.

The result is Docs in Proton Drive: a document editor built into the cloud storage that offers basic team features without compromising user privacy. All elements and actions in shared documents are end-to-end encrypted, so only authorized people can access the content.

The editor works like a simplified version of Word or Google Docs. You can edit text directly with all basic formatting options, or work in suggestion mode. You can also add tables, checklists, images, links, and code blocks.

It includes a comment feature too: you can highlight text and discuss with your team members in comments. When others are in the document, you can see their cursor movements in real-time and view changes instantly.

Proton's document editor is fast, intuitive, and works pretty well in practice. However, it doesn't make Proton Drive a real alternative to collaboration platforms like Google, Microsoft, or Dropbox because its features are too limited. For now, it only supports basic text documents - no presentations or (comprehensive) spreadsheets. Also, you can't convert just any text document into a Proton document.

Docs in Proton Drive is simply a privacy-focused alternative to Word or Google Docs - nothing more, nothing less.

Here's how Proton Drive's collaboration features compare to other providers:

While you'll have to accept some limits on features and performance, Proton makes no compromises on security and privacy: With end-to-end protection, modern security measures, and high transparency, Proton Drive is one of the safest cloud storage services available.

All files you store in Proton Drive are protected by end-to-end encryption by default. You don't need to pay extra for this, and the E2E encryption isn't limited to specific folders.

In practice, Proton Drive uses modern cryptographic methods like Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC Curve25519) and the OpenPGP standard. Files are encrypted on the client side before they reach Proton's servers. Each user has their own key pair: the public key encrypts the file, while the private key - which stays exclusively with the user - decrypts it.

Digital signatures are also used to detect any file tampering. Large files are split into 4MB blocks, which are encrypted and hashed separately to ensure their integrity.

You can find more details about Proton Drive's and Proton's security and encryption standards on the Proton Drive website and in their security whitepaper.

Proton Drive follows a transparent security approach: All apps and encryption libraries are open source and available on GitHub. Independent experts have also reviewed Proton Drive, most recently by Securitum, a European security auditor. However, the last audit was in 2021, so it's been a few years.

Proton encourages users and other security experts to help find security gaps and issues. Through their bug bounty program, they can report vulnerabilities and earn rewards of up to $10,000.

Proton is based in Switzerland. It's actually a real Swiss company - not just a company with a Swiss mailbox that operates from another country. This means Proton follows Swiss privacy laws, which are relatively strict. For example, data can't be easily shared with foreign authorities.

Proton regularly publishes reports about legal requests. While their transparency report is shorter than those of other providers, this is less important since Proton can't share any sensitive data anyway thanks to end-to-end encryption.

Since 2024, Proton has ISO 27001 certification.

Proton Drive protects you from data loss with version history, letting you restore previous versions of your files when needed. This guards against accidental changes or data loss from malware.

The number of versions and storage time depend on your plan.

Here's a comparison of Proton Drive's main privacy features:

Besides the free plan with 5 GB of storage, there are three paid plans for personal users: Drive Plus with 200 GB, Proton Unlimited with 500 GB, and Proton Duo for two users with a total of 1 TB storage space.

Starting with Proton Unlimited, you also get access to Proton Mail, Proton VPN, and Proton Pass. You can subscribe to all plans monthly or annually (with a discount).

There's also a family plan that offers 3 TB of storage for up to six people. Business plans are available too - both for Proton Drive alone or the complete Proton software suite.

Here's a current overview of Proton Drive's plans:

Proton Drive isn't among the cheaper cloud storage options on the market. While the starter plan with 200 GB is fairly affordable, you'll pay above-average prices if you need more storage space. However, this is partly because you get access to additional Proton products.

If you're already looking for a VPN or password manager, the Proton suite offers good value for money. But if you only need storage, the prices are quite high. Proton could better serve its users by offering standalone Proton Drive plans.

The free storage of 5 GB is average: Some providers offer more (MEGA and Google give you three to four times as much), while others offer less.

Here's our comparison table of monthly cloud storage costs:

Proton Drive shows you don't have to give up privacy and security in the cloud. Unlike cloud storage from well-known tech giants, all data you upload to Proton's cloud is end-to-end encrypted - meaning only you can see it.

This strong focus on security comes at a cost: Proton Drive syncs files noticeably slower than other cloud storage services and lacks many features that competitors offer as standard, such as advanced sharing and collaboration options.

Proton Drive isn't ideal for teamwork yet: While they now have their own document editor for real-time collaboration on text documents with team members, the options are limited compared to the extensive tools from Google, Microsoft, or Dropbox.

Proton Drive is best for users looking for a privacy-focused alternative to popular cloud storage services and are willing to accept slower performance and fewer features.

What do Proton Drive users think about this cloud storage service? We looked at review sites and gathered common feedback for you. Compared to Proton in general and other Proton products, there aren't many user reviews for Proton Drive yet:

Not sure if Proton Drive is the right cloud storage for you? Check out these alternatives:

Here are the best alternatives to Proton Drive: