# pCloud Business — Cloud Storage & File Sharing

pCloud Business by pCloud International AG holds a panel rating of 2.5/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 3/5), as of 2026-11-01. Provenance: UK / wider Europe; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: pCloud International AG (https://www.pcloud.com/business.html)
- Category: [Cloud Storage & File Sharing](https://whats-best.ai/software/cloud-storage.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): UK / wider Europe
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/cloud-storage/pcloud
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/cloud-storage/pcloud/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/cloud-storage/pcloud/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-11-06 · evaluated 2026-11-01 · oldest source captured 2026-11-01

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: pCloud International AG
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026
- Data hosting: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026
- Free plan: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026

## The panel's verdict

pCloud Business, from pCloud International AG, scores strongest on pricing transparency, sync and access, and sharing and collaboration, all running 5 to 6: Business is published as 3 users / 3 TB at 9.99 EUR per user and Business Pro at 14.98 EUR per user with 6 TB, with the 25% discount scope, 30-day trial and 14-day money-back spelled out. Those rest on unlimited file size upload, a virtual drive that keeps files off the local disk, password-protected links, file requests and six built-in editors. Scoring runs lowest on sovereignty at 3 to 5 — the default data region unstated, no public information found on subprocessors or a data processing agreement — with administration and governance and portability and integrations at 4 to 5 and no public information on provisioning, retention, legal hold or remote wipe. Encryption and security spans 4 to 6, its lower scores citing undocumented key custody; the captured pages give different recovery figures — 180 days of file versioning on the business pages, up to 30 days on the pricing page. Persona-weighted totals span 4.5 to 5.6, with no flagged splits flagged.

**Speaks for it:**
- Unlimited file size upload plus a desktop virtual drive that works without taking up local storage.
- Both business tiers published with exact per-user prices — 9.99 EUR for Business, 14.98 EUR for Business Pro — plus a 30-day trial, 14-day money-back and no setup fees.
- A documented API over HTTP/JSON and a binary protocol, with OAuth 2.0 and SDKs in five languages, giving a programmatic path in and out.
- Client-side encryption that locks files before they leave the device is included in the business plan, with 180-day file versioning stated on the business pages.
- Sharing covers shared folders, password-protected links, file requests, branded links, comments with approvals and real-time co-editing in six built-in editors.

**Held against it:**
- We found no public information on who holds the encryption keys, what happens when a key is lost, two-factor authentication or single sign-on.
- The captured pages give different recovery figures — 180 days of file versioning on the business pages, up to 30 days ago on the pricing page.
- We found no public information on link expiry, download limits, a no-download view, watermarking or a per-share access log.
- We found no public information on directory or SCIM provisioning, retention policies, legal hold, remote wipe or transferring a leaver's files.
- The vendor's own pages do not state the entity's jurisdiction or the default data region for new accounts, and we found no public information on subprocessors or a data processing agreement.

**Best for:**
- You move very large files — raw footage, CAD or BIM models, media libraries — and need unlimited-size uploads with a virtual drive that keeps local disks free.
- You want both business tiers priced publicly before committing, with a 30-day trial and 14-day money-back to test them.
- Your team's daily work is external sharing and in-browser co-editing — file requests, branded links and the six built-in editors.
- You have developers who can use the documented API and SDKs to script a migration in and, later, an exit.

**Avoid if:**
- Your sign-off requires documented governance — directory or SCIM provisioning, retention policies, legal hold, remote wipe — where administration and governance scores run 4 to 5.
- Your procurement must see a subprocessor list, a data processing agreement and a confirmed default data region before contracting — sovereignty scores span 3 to 5.
- You need key custody, two-factor authentication and single sign-on answered before relying on the client-side encryption claim — encryption and security spans 4 to 6.
- You need fewer than the three users the published tiers start at.

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price, or the judge found no public information on that criterion.

| Criterion | The IT Lead | The Data Protection Officer | The Architecture Practice Partner | The Tax Adviser | The Agency Producer | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Sync, clients & file access | 2.5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Sharing & external collaboration | 3/5 | 3/5 | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 3/5 | 2.5/5 |
| Encryption, key custody & recovery | 3/5 | 3/5 | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 3/5 | 2.5/5 |
| Administration, audit & governance | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 |
| Export, API & self-hosting | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 |
| European sovereignty | 2.5/5 | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 | 1.5/5 |
| Pricing transparency | 3/5 | 3/5 | 2.5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| **Weighted verdict** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** | **3/5** | **2.5/5** |

### The judges

- **The IT Lead** (v1.0): Runs IT with one colleague for a 180-person machine builder with three sites and a sales office in Poland. Is retiring the old file server and wants every account provisioned from Entra ID, team folders that stay with the company when someone leaves, an audit log they can hand to the auditor, a lost laptop wiped remotely, and a way back to the last clean state if ransomware ever encrypts a share.
- **The Data Protection Officer** (v1.0): External data protection officer for a hospital group, two care providers and a payroll bureau, where the files are patient letters and salary statements. Reads who holds the keys before the feature page, asks whether end-to-end encryption survives a share link and the office editor, and wants the subprocessor list, the storage location and the contracting entity in writing before a single folder moves.
- **The Architecture Practice Partner** (v1.0): Partner in a 25-person architecture practice in Hamburg whose CAD and BIM models run to several gigabytes each, worked on from the office, from home and on the building site. Needs files on demand so laptops do not fill up, sync that sends only what changed, a drive letter the CAD software accepts, phones that open plans offline in a basement, and structural engineers who can pick up a folder without an account.
- **The Tax Adviser** (v1.0): Runs a tax practice with eleven staff and 400 clients, bound by professional secrecy under §203 StGB. Receives receipts, payslips and annual accounts from clients who will not install anything, and sends back drafts that must not end up in a forwarded email. Needs upload links, shares with expiry and passwords, a record of who downloaded what, and a provider that cannot read the files it stores.
- **The Agency Producer** (v1.0): Producer at a 30-person video and design agency in Cologne that sends cuts, layouts and raw footage to customers every day and collects their feedback. Wants review links that play in the browser, comments on the file, transfers of 100 GB that do not stall, freelancers added for one project and removed after it, connections to Slack and the project tool, and a storage bill that does not jump when one shoot fills a terabyte.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has seen "end-to-end encrypted" on a service that switches it off for shared folders, "hosted in Germany" on storage whose accounts and support run from the US, and "lifetime" plans from a company two years old. Reads that a product is "GDPR-compliant" and asks who holds the keys, whether ten years of folders, versions and shares can be exported in a form another provider imports — and what leaving would cost.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: not determined.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting location | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting options | Not determined | — | — |
| Open source | Not determined | — | — |
| Data processing agreement | Not determined | — | — |
| Transfer impact assessment | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Compliance**
- Additional certifications: EU · GDPR · ISO 27001 · ISO 9001 [S17]
- GDPR ISO: yes · yes [S1]
- GDPR ISO: yes · yes [S17]
- ISO 9001: yes · EU Data Center · ISO 27001 · ISO 9001 [S1]

**Hosting**
- API hosts: eapi.pcloud.com · api.pcloud.com [S6]
- Data centers: United States · Europe [S6]
- Data centers: 2 [S17]
- EU data center: 2 [S1]

**Integrations**
- Sdks: C · Java · Javascript · Php · Swift [S6]

**Legal**
- Entity: pCloud International AG [S1]
- Entity: pCloud International AG [S17]
- Entity: pCloud International AG [S7]

**Pricing**
- Business plan: Business · 3 · EUR · 3 · month (annual toggle shown) · 9.99 · 29.97 [S1]
- Business pro discount terms: new Business Pro accounts only; excludes existing accounts, renewals, plan changes, seat additions, reactivations [S1]
- Business pro plan: Business Pro · 3 · EUR · 6 · month (annual toggle shown) · 14.98 · 25 · 59.94 · 44.94 [S1]
- Family plan: pCloud Family Plan · 5 [S7]
- Lifetime upgrade: FAQ raises upgrading to a larger Lifetime Plan later [S7]
- Money back: 14 [S1]
- No hidden fees: yes · yes [S7]
- No setup fees: no · yes · 14 [S1]
- Pass promo: Limited-time extended offer for a Lifetime pCloud Pass [S13]
- Pcloud pass discount: 50 [S16]
- Premium 500gb lifetime: Premium 500 GB · lifetime one-time payment · 279 · 219 [S7]
- Premium plus 2tb lifetime: Premium Plus 2 TB · lifetime one-time payment · 709 · 499 [S7]
- Trial: free trial · 30 [S1]
- Trial final price: 30 · no [S1]

**Product**
- Access levels: yes [S1]
- Activity logs: yes [S1]
- API binary protocol: Binary protocol - useful when performance is required [S6]
- API http json protocol: HTTP / JSON protocol - useful for most web and mobile applications [S6]
- API method categories: General, Folder, File, Auth, Streaming, Archiving, Sharing, Public Links, Thumbnails, Upload Links, Revisions, Newsletter, Trash, Collection, OAuth 2.0, Transfer [S6]
- Auth not required all methods: no [S6]
- Branding: yes [S17]
- Branding links: yes [S1]
- Business plan features: pCloud Encryption · Teams and access control · Secure file sharing · 180 days file versioning [S1]
- Business pro extra features: Priority support · 2 TB storage per user [S1]
- Client side encryption: yes [S17]
- Collaboration: yes · yes · yes · yes [S7]
- Comments approvals: yes [S1]
- Comments approvals: yes [S17]
- Custom quotas: yes [S1]
- Desktop drive: yes [S17]
- Drive desktop: yes [S1]
- Encryption client side: Client-side encryption locks files before they leave the device [S1]
- Enhanced search: yes [S1]
- Enhanced search: yes [S17]
- Extended file history: 180 [S1]
- File access by id or path: full path (discouraged) · fileid/folderid [S6]
- File management: yes · 30 · yes [S7]
- File versioning: 180 [S1]
- File versioning: 180 [S17]
- Ids 64bit required: yes [S6]
- Large file upload: yes [S17]
- Media player: yes · yes [S7]
- Mobile app: yes [S1]
- Mobile app: yes [S17]
- Oauth2 supported: yes [S6]
- Pcloud docs: documents · spreadsheets · presentations · PDFs · text · markdown · 6 · yes [S7]
- Pcloud pass: pCloud Pass password manager [S2]
- Pcloud pass: yes [S8]
- Pcloud pass: pCloud Pass password manager with autofill, password generation, autosave [S13]
- Pcloud pass: pCloud Pass password manager with autofill, password generation, autosave of passwords and credit card details [S15]
- Pcloud pass features: Autofill · Password generator · Save passwords and credit card details [S16]
- Pcloud pass promo: 50% off limited-time offer for Lifetime pCloud Pass [S8]
- Pcloud pass promo: Extended limited-time offer for pCloud Pass Lifetime [S16]
- Pcloud photos: pCloud Photos: instant photo/video access, timeline and map view, opt-in AI grouping [S7]
- Pdocs editors: 6 · yes [S1]
- Premium plus shared traffic: 2 · 4 [S7]
- Premium shared traffic: 500 · 1000 [S7]
- Root folder id: 0 [S6]
- Sdk automatic host selection: yes [S6]
- Shared folders: yes [S1]
- Shared folders: yes [S17]
- Storage quota distribution: yes [S17]
- Sync access: yes · yes · yes · yes [S7]
- Team scaling: Team scaling supported [S1]
- Team scaling: yes [S17]
- Teams: yes [S1]
- Teams: yes [S17]
- Teams access control: yes [S17]
- Third party backup: yes [S7]
- Trust claim: 24+ million · over a decade [S7]
- Unlimited file upload: yes [S1]

## Questions

### Is pCloud Business European?

Yes, though not from the EU. whats-best.ai classifies pCloud Business as UK / wider Europe.

### Where does pCloud Business store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026.

### Does pCloud Business have a free plan?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026.

### What are the best alternatives to pCloud Business?

As of 1 Nov 2026, the panel rates [Nextcloud Files (Nextcloud Hub) (4/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/cloud-storage/nextcloud-files), [Tresorit (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/cloud-storage/tresorit) and [Proton Drive (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/cloud-storage/proton-drive) highest among the other 13 Cloud Storage & File Sharing products evaluated. The highest-rated European alternative is [Nextcloud Files (Nextcloud Hub)](https://whats-best.ai/software/cloud-storage/nextcloud-files) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [pCloud Business alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/cloud-storage/pcloud/alternatives).

## What this page leaves out

- 108 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 31 legal facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 30 compliance facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 22 pricing facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 15 data facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 12 hosting facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 3 support facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 integrations facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 3 sovereignty dimensions could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and are shown as unknown.
- 6 of the readings below were written against an earlier fact sheet — a fact has been corrected, added or pulled since. Until the panel next runs on this product you are reading the older judgement.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor homepage (business plans with pricing): https://www.pcloud.com/business.html (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S2] Company homepage: https://www.pcloud.com/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S3] Features page (client-side encryption): https://www.pcloud.com/encrypted-cloud-storage.html (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S4] Security / trust page: https://www.pcloud.com/features/security (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S5] Features page (data regions): https://www.pcloud.com/data-regions.html (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S6] API documentation: https://docs.pcloud.com/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S7] Pricing page: https://www.pcloud.com/cloud-storage-pricing-plans.html (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S8] Company page: https://www.pcloud.com/company/about (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S9] Privacy policy: https://www.pcloud.com/privacy_policy.html (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S10] Terms of service: https://www.pcloud.com/terms_and_conditions.html (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S11] Security / trust page (GDPR compliance): https://www.pcloud.com/gdpr (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S12] Sync, clients & file access — found from sitemap: https://www.pcloud.com/features/synchronization (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S13] Sync, clients & file access — found from sitemap: https://www.pcloud.com/features/unlimited-capabilities (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S14] Sharing & external collaboration — found from sitemap: https://www.pcloud.com/features/file-sharing (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S15] Encryption, key custody & recovery — found from sitemap: https://www.pcloud.com/encrypted-cloud-storage (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S16] Encryption, key custody & recovery — found from sitemap: https://www.pcloud.com/de/features/security (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S17] Administration, audit & governance — found from sitemap: https://www.pcloud.com/business (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S18] Administration, audit & governance — found from sitemap: https://www.pcloud.com/business_agreement (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S19] Export, API & self-hosting — found from sitemap: https://www.pcloud.com/how-to-install-pcloud-drive-linux (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S20] Terms of service — found from the homepage: https://www.pcloud.com/terms_and_conditions (checked 2026-11-01)

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "pCloud Business — Cloud Storage & File Sharing", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-11-06. https://whats-best.ai/software/cloud-storage/pcloud

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/1218?target=page