File Downloads Hosting

Cloud Drives For File Downloads Hosting

• If you already pay for a cloud drive, like Google Drive, Office 365, Proton Drive, Dropbox, Mediafire, or Mega, just use that if you're an individual modder. They're unlikely to completely cancel a paying customer even if they realize you're using it for download sharing.
• We all use free Mediafire or Mega cloud drives to distribute our mods
  • That tends to work fine because each person has their own account and for each modder there's a limited audience so not too much of a risk of going over the transfer limit (but I've seen it happen)
  • You can pay $6-12/month to Mediafire or Mega and get more space and more transfer limit
  • But it still leaves the problem that Mediafire and Mega aren't really intended to be used for downloads the way we use them
• See Drives for more info on Cloud Drive options

List of Cloud Drives

Mini Overview 2025:

• Proton Drive
  • Features: Gold standard end-to-end encryption service
  • Would be ideal for file distribution except for price, limited storage, and probably bandwidth limits, but it is a great service for personal use
  • Owned by Proton AG (Non-profit majority controlled by Proton Foundation), operated out of Switzerland, servers in Switzerland, Germany, and Norway, no data stored in China or Hong Kong
• Mediafire
  • Black Friday $50/year 1TB deal last year and I'm quite happy with it
  • Owned by Mediafire LLC, operated out of US, servers in US, no data stored in China or Hong Kong
• FileN.IO
  • 10 GB Free, unlimited bandwidth, end-to-end encryption.
  • 11.99 EUR/year 100GB starter plan, 29.99EUR 100GB lifetime plan
  • MJQT recommends Filen.io
  • They look really solid from what I can tell
  • Owned by Filen Cloud Dienste UG, operated out of Germany, servers in Germany, no user data stored in China or Hong Kong
• pCloud
  • Great pricing, been around a while, seems legit
  • 2 TB $100/year, 10 TB $200/year
  • Lifetime plans also available: 2 TB $399 on sale, 10 TB $1190 on sale
  • Owned by pCloud International AG, operated out of Bulgaria with Swiss HQ, servers in US and Europe, no user data stored in China or Hong Kong
• Terabox
  • 1 TB free and 2tb premium is $4/month (requires downloaders to sign up)
  • Owned by Flextech Inc., operated out of Japan, servers in Japan (maybe others), non-Chinese user data not stored in China or Hong Kong
• OneDrive
  • Owned by Microsoft, operated out of global locations, servers in North America, Europe, Asia, South America, Middle East, and China, non-Chinese user data not stored in China or Hong Kong
• Google Drive
  • 15 GB free ($3/month for 100 GB)
  • Owned by Google LLC, operated out of US, servers in US, Europe, Asia, South America, and other regions/countries, non-Chinese user data not stored in China but may be stored in Hong Kong which is China-controlled
• Dropbox
  • Owned by Dropbox Inc., operated out of US, servers in US, Germany, Australia, Japan, no user data stored in China or Hong Kong
• iDrive
  • Paid plans only
  • Owned by iDrive Inc, operated out of US, servers in US, Canada, Europe, no user data stored in China or Hong Kong

Notes:

• This list also happens to be ordered by my personal preference for service quality, features, and pricing
• Ownership, operation, and server details collected with multiple AI (Grok, ChatGPT, Duck.AI) which provided sources but there may still be errors or missing nuance

Cloud Drive Sharing Tests

1 GB file uploaded the same to all of these cloud drives. Looking for login required, download speed, and other conveniences such as ads, nags, delays, etc.

OneDrive:
https://1drv.ms/u/c/7c33bf76052faca5/ESmNVjgXxldNp7PoxdBf188B1TxPgw7aISTOhmU_g_nQKQ?e=9E4gyF
- No login required
- 50MB/sec

Proton Drive:
https://drive.proton.me/urls/EBT665VNFR#OMoyMkSMOLtm
- No login required
- 15-20MB/sec

Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bjwo9Aa4WCwti6frhR-P7dv6L1Ug00QI/view?usp=drive_link
- Login required
- 80MB/sec+

MediaFire:
https://www.mediafire.com/file_premium/aqq5l6x9zk97dpa/BES_Blancpain_Endurance_Series_2012.zip/file
- No login required, immediate download
- 35MB/sec with slow down to 10MB/sec by the end

Mega:
https://mega.nz/file/Sg0F1RLL#2elygUPYlv_lyVQs0dpbKryCfcclTxvTg2IXuecAUeY
- No login required
- 70MB/sec+

Filen:
https://app.filen.io/#/d/37454213-f559-4568-a863-06b22428c248%234976466639714163746d4c664833624b7731712d4734455f783244306b784375
- No login required
- Started at 36MB/sec then down to 2MB/sec

Dropbox:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/m41uew20idvonramyardd/BES-Blancpain-Endurance-Series-2012.zip?rlkey=0tq1kckszm3q4p93c56bint14&st=grpje2mq&dl=0
- No login required although a little nag to sign up
- 60MB/sec+

pCloud:
https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=XZx7ds5ZhXdJIHE1lKXByTTY4qDcMjn9Mgcy
- No login required
- 35MB/sec

Terabox:
https://1024terabox.com/s/1VVfYAQmDgqGOefWULhmIAg
- FAIL: Login required, Terabox desktop app required to download even when logged in

Shared Web Hosting For File Downloads Hosting

• Shared Web Hosting is one cheap option, if you're willing to pay, as you can use the webspace for downloads instead of a website
  • Often very cheap pricing and generous storage and traffic limits
  • Pay hosting often says "unlimited" storage and traffic but it's usually always limited in some way in the terms
  • But it's still often quite a bit of space and transfer, ready to go for HTTPS downloads, and cheap
  • IONOS Web Hosting Offers "unlimited" storage and traffic. Not very intuitive but once you get ftp setup and understand your web address it's easy.
  • Inmotion Hosting Offers "unlimited" storage and traffic, too. I've used Inmotion before for dedicated servers and they were fine.
  • DreamHost Shared Unlimited plan is cheap and has "unlimited" storage and traffic
  • Popular but not unlimited:
    • GoDaddy has cheap hosting which isn't unlimited but for a single modder it's an option.
    • SiteGround - Cheap, limited storage, unlimited traffic
    • Hostinger Web Hosting - Cheap prices, generous but not unlimited storage
    • BlueHost Web Hosting - Cheap-ish prices, fair but not unlimited storage
  • Tom's Guide - The best unlimited web hosting in 2024 - Find articles like this for the latest best deals
  • Gotchas
    • Limits in Terms
      • Search Terms for "limits", "transfer", "traffic", "visits", "inodes" to find our what their limits really are
    • Web hosts often limit storage by limiting "inodes"
      • You can still host a tonne of files, like tens of thousands, maybe a hundred thousand, maybe 600,000 (as limited on Hostinger's Business Plan), but it's something to be aware of.
      • Beware web hosting "apps" you can install. I installed MediaWiki at IONOS and it took up a huge portion of my inodes limit