Filen vs Proton Drive Comparison

• 100 GiB, Starter for 1 year: €11.99 billed yearly
• 200 GiB, Pro I for 1 year: €19.99 billed yearly
• 500 GiB, Pro II for 1 year: €39.99 billed yearly
• 2 TiB, Pro III for 1 year: €89.99 billed yearly
• 10 TiB, Pro X for 1 year: €399.99 billed yearly

• 200 GB, Drive Plus for 12 months: $47.88 every 12 months
• 500 GB, Proton Unlimited for 12 months: $119.88 every 12 months
• 2 TB for up to 2 users, Proton Duo for 12 months: $179.88 every 12 months
• 3 TB for up to 6 users, Proton Family for 12 months: $287.88 every 12 months

Filen says files are encrypted on your device with AES-256-GCM, each file with its own key, and that file names, folder names and file metadata are encrypted with a key derived from your password. The web app at app.filen.io receives its encryption code from Filen each time it loads and keeps your keys in the browser's local storage. Filen still sees your email address, IP address, how much storage you use and payment references.

File contents, file and folder names and thumbnail previews are encrypted on your device with keys generated there (OpenPGP, Curve25519). Proton can see creation and modification times, permissions, the username that uploaded each file and the size of the encrypted file. The web app receives its encryption code from Proton's servers every time it loads.

Penetration tests of the web app (September to October 2021), the Android app with its API (July to August 2022) and the iOS app (August to September 2022); no Drive audit report for the Windows or macOS apps is published

Filen Cloud Dienste UG (haftungsbeschränkt) is registered at the District Court of Recklinghausen, Germany, and its terms are governed by German law. Filen says all its servers are its own hardware in colocation data centers in Germany; payment data passes through PayPal, Stripe and Coinbase, which also process it in the US.

Operated by Proton AG, Route de la Galaise 32, 1228 Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva. Proton says it owns its server hardware in Switzerland and Germany; the Drive security page does not say which of the two countries holds Drive files. Proton discloses data only on a binding order from Swiss authorities.

A small German company represented by Jan Lenczyk, officially founded in May 2021. Filen says it has no outside investors and grew on sales of its earlier lifetime plans; its roadmap lists a planned change of legal form from UG to GmbH.

Proton AG's primary shareholder is the non-profit Proton Foundation, based in Geneva. Proton states it has no venture capital investors.

Up to 100 versions per file, kept for as long as the file itself exists; versions count toward your storage and can be turned off. Deleted files stay in the trash for up to 30 days.

Free plan: up to 10 versions of each file, kept for up to 7 days. Paid plans: up to 200 versions of each file, kept for up to 10 years, with adjustable settings.