Best Proton Drive Alternative in 2026

Proton Drive vs EasySend: Honest Side-by-Side

Proton's Key Handling vs EasySend's Key Handling

This is the part most Proton-vs-anything comparisons get wrong, so it deserves a careful walkthrough. Proton Drive uses OpenPGP. When you create a Proton account, the client generates a user keypair on your device. The private key is then symmetrically encrypted with a key derived from your account password and stored on Proton servers. Files are encrypted with a per-file symmetric key, that key is wrapped with your public key, and the wrapped key sits next to the ciphertext. To read a file, the client downloads your encrypted private key, decrypts it with your password, unwraps the file key and decrypts the file.

This is genuinely zero-knowledge from Proton's perspective: they hold an encrypted blob (your private key) that they cannot decrypt without your password. But it does mean the encrypted private key lives on their server, so a server breach plus a weak password is a viable attack. Proton mitigates with strong KDF parameters and 2FA.

EasySend's model never puts any key on the server, encrypted or otherwise. You pick a per-upload passphrase, the browser derives an AES-256-GCM key via PBKDF2 with high iterations, encrypts the file in memory and uploads ciphertext. The passphrase never goes anywhere. The server holds ciphertext plus a salt. Decryption happens entirely in the recipient's browser when they enter the passphrase. There is no encrypted private key on our infrastructure because there is no user identity at all.

The Proton model is stronger for long-term storage because you can decrypt any of your files with a single account password. EasySend's model is stronger for individual transfers because there is no central key bundle to attack and no account to phish. Different threat models, both legitimate.

Threat Model: When Each Wins

EasySend wins these threats. Server-side key compromise: impossible because we hold no keys. Phishing your account: there is no account to phish. Mass credential stuffing: there are no credentials. Per-file leak via folder-wide compromise: each upload uses its own passphrase, so no single compromise unlocks more than one file.

Proton wins these threats. Loss of your passphrase: Proton has account recovery options, EasySend has none because we cannot recover what we never had. Long-term encrypted storage across many files: Proton's single-account model is more usable than per-file passphrase juggling. Swiss jurisdiction: Proton is Swiss-incorporated, EasySend is not. Side-channel via JavaScript supply chain: both are equally exposed but Proton runs more audited code paths and publishes more transparency reports.

Neither tool defeats: compromised recipient device, screen recording after decryption, social engineering of the passphrase, court-ordered handover by the recipient or a hostile recipient. Both are honest about this.

What Proton Drive Genuinely Does Better

• Default-on encryption. You cannot turn encryption off on Proton Drive. EasySend lets you upload unencrypted because the use case is often "share this PDF with my client right now," which does not always need crypto. If you want encryption to be the only path, Proton wins.
• True cloud storage. Proton Drive holds files indefinitely with sync clients on every platform. EasySend Premium keeps files for 30 days (or permanently with the right tier), but it is not built to be your primary drive.
• Swiss jurisdiction and FADP coverage. Same point as Tresorit. Proton is Swiss-incorporated and not subject to the US CLOUD Act.
• Ecosystem. If you already pay for Proton Mail and Proton VPN, Drive is bundled at no extra cost on Proton Unlimited. EasySend does not bundle anything.
• Auditable open source. Proton publishes Drive client code. EasySend does not currently publish source.

What EasySend Does Better

• No account. Recipients open a URL. Senders do not sign in. This is the single biggest behavioral difference.
• Public developer API. Proton has no Drive API for general use. EasySend has a free public REST endpoint with no auth that you can call from any language.
• Faster ad-hoc workflow. Proton Drive requires uploading to your drive, navigating to the file, generating a share link, optionally setting a password. EasySend is drag, drop, copy.
• No bundled-app pressure. Proton's pricing assumes you want Mail and VPN too. If you only want file sharing, you are overpaying for Drive Plus.
• Per-file key isolation. Compromising one EasySend upload's passphrase reveals exactly that file. A Proton account compromise reveals everything in the account.

Pricing in Real Numbers

Proton Drive Free is 5 GB but shared with Proton Mail and Calendar, so practical Drive storage is often closer to 3 GB. Drive Plus is $4.99/month for 200 GB (verified 2026-06-03). Proton Unlimited is $9.99/month and bundles Mail, VPN, Drive (500 GB) and Pass. EasySend Free has no storage cap on uploads (it is per-file: 1 GB) but files expire in 3 days. EasySend Premium is $1.99/month for 30-day storage and 10 GB per file.

If you want cheap long-term encrypted storage, Proton Drive Plus is the right tool. If you want to send files to clients five times a week without paying for Mail and VPN you do not use, EasySend is the right tool. See EasySend pricing for details.

Sharing Workflow Compared

On Proton Drive, sharing a file looks like this: open the Drive web app, sign in, drag your file into a folder, wait for upload and encryption, click the file, select Share, choose link or email, optionally set a password and expiry, copy the link. On a fast connection this is about 90 seconds. The link still requires the recipient to load the Proton Drive viewer.

On EasySend, the same workflow: open easysend.co in a browser, drag the file onto the page, optionally toggle encryption and set a passphrase, copy the link that appears. Under 15 seconds on the same file. The recipient opens the link and the file downloads through a lightweight viewer with no Proton branding or account requirement.

Migration: Moving Files Off Proton Drive

Proton's web client supports zip download of folders. Pull your files out, then upload to EasySend via the browser or the free API. Because EasySend has no concept of accounts, there is nothing to set up on the recipient side. If you used Proton's password-protected shared links, you can replicate the password by enabling EasySend encryption with the same passphrase, which gives you strictly stronger protection (client-side AES-256-GCM rather than Proton's link-password gate).

Related Pages

For other privacy-first options, see Tresorit (Swiss zero-knowledge with enterprise compliance) or MEGA (large free tier, complex key handling). If you want the fastest unencrypted transfer, see Dropbox Transfer. If you are a developer who needs an API, jump directly to EasySend developer API.

Frequently Asked Questions