Dropbox public folder alternative

pCloud is one of several popular cloud storage services that enable you to store and share your files online “in the cloud.” What does that mean? It means that you can store and back up your files online for easy access from anywhere — your home computer, your work computer, or your mobile device. Your files are stored on pCloud’s servers and can be synchronized, or automatically kept up-to-date, on all of your devices.

What is pcloud doing that no other company is?

The difference from other clouds is that pCloud DOES NOT take space on your computer. pCloud Drive acts as a virtual HDD, which allows users to access and work with content in the cloud, without using any local space.

What is significant about the public folders and why did Dropbox disable this?

With public folder feature, dropbox allowed their users to host a static site in a very easy way, instead of buying hosting, using FTP and so on.

With public folder every file inside has direct download link. You can embed images or simply create direct links to your files (put signatures in forums, pictures)

Public files are so simple; it works like a file server, but without having to run a file server on your home computer. Things in the public folder are viewable; things outside are not.

Dropbox disabled these feature with no official reasons, rumors say it’s because massive bandwidth usage and copyright issues.

Recently, pCloud announced two new features that should give consumers even more reason to check out this Swiss provider. First up is a new public folder, which works much like the one used by archrival Dropbox (pCloud is one of our top Dropbox alternatives) and should facilitate and speed up sharing and collaboration.

pCloud subscribers will now be able to hotlink directly to and from this new public folder, allowing them to basically host static websites, images and even videos directly from their cloud storage. It’s a pretty nifty feature and will likely prove a boon to SMB owners or freelancers that want a quick and dirty fix to get content out to the wider world.

On top of that, pCloud fans will from now on be able to sign up for life to their favorite storage service. Rather than pay monthly or per year, you now have the option of paying a massively discounted fee and be able to make use of the 500GB and 2TB plans forever. As pCloud is a stable company that is likely to be around for a long time, this seems like a great way to get indefinite storage.