The 'Unlimited' Cloud Storage Lie: Why It's Never Actually Unlimited

Unlimited cloud storage is mathematically impossible. Storage costs $6-10 per TB per month wholesale. If you’re paying $10/month for “unlimited,” the company loses money on every extra TB you store. So every “unlimited” plan has a breaking point.

The best unlimited cloud storage providers are honest about where it is. The worst ones hide it in “fair use policies” and hope you never reach it.

Here’s the truth: Every company that claims “unlimited” cloud storage has limits. They just hide them in different places, bandwidth throttling, fair use policies, file size restrictions, or the nuclear option: discontinuing the entire service.

And I’ve got the facts showing Google, Microsoft, and Dropbox all learned this lesson the hard way.

My Commissions (Full Transparency)

Before we go further, here’s exactly what I make:

• Sync.com: 20% commission
• Box: 20% commission
• Jottacloud: not part of their affiliate program (I make $0)
• OpenDrive: not part of their affiliate program (I make $0)

So if I were purely mercenary, I’d be pushing “unlimited” deals from newer companies that pay 40-50% commission and calling them the best. Instead, I’m making 20% from both Sync.com and Box.com, but I’m telling you exactly where the limits are in both instead of pretending one is magically better to squeeze more commissions out of you.

The Three Companies That Got Caught

Let me walk you through the companies that actually offered “unlimited” storage, realized it was unsustainable, and quietly or loudly killed the service.

1. Dropbox: “Unlimited” Until the Crypto Miners Arrived (August 2023)

The Promise: Dropbox Business “Advanced” plan promised “as much storage space as your team needs”, effectively unlimited.

The Reality: Users started abusing it. According to Dropbox’s own announcement, they had to end the plan because customers were using it for:

• Crypto mining (storing massive compute workloads)
• Chia mining
• Reselling storage to others
• General abuse that was “thousands of times more storage than genuine business customers”
• Plus, Dropbox has been hacked not once, not twice, but three times.

The Bait-and-Switch: They killed the “unlimited” plan and replaced it with a 15TB cap for anyone buying the Advanced plan (with a 3-license minimum, so you’re locked in).

The Real Story: Dropbox’s math didn’t work. They couldn’t sustainably offer unlimited storage. So when they needed a reason to kill the plan, they blamed “abuse.” Convenient.

TechCrunch’s coverage has the full breakdown.

2. Google Workspace: “Unlimited” Until It Cost Too Much (July 2024)

The Promise: Google Workspace Education and some enterprise plans offered unlimited storage.

The Reality: Google quietly ended this on July 1, 2024, replacing it with:

• 100TB of pooled storage per organization
• Additional per-user limits

The Fallout: Universities scrambled. Case Western Reserve University had to notify users they’d lose unlimited storage. Students who had years of projects stored got capped.

The Pattern: Google never explained it as “we can’t afford this anymore.” They just quietly enforced it and let organizations deal with the chaos.

3. Microsoft OneDrive: The Silent Discontinuation (~2015-2016)

The Promise: Office 365 subscriptions included unlimited OneDrive storage.

The Reality: Microsoft removed it. According to TechRadar’s investigation, Microsoft “quietly” ended the plan without making a big announcement.

Now OneDrive gives you:

• 1TB for Office 365 Personal / Home users
• 1TB base for Business plans (up to 5TB depending on user count)
• Essentially: anything but unlimited

The Lesson: All three of these companies learned the same thing: unlimited doesn’t scale. So they all pulled the rug.

If you are seriously consider OneDrive then STOP, first read my OneDrive review. It will save you a lot of headaches.

The “Unlimited” Providers Not Telling the Truth

Now let’s talk about the companies that still market “unlimited” storage, and exactly what limits they’re hiding.

Sync.com: The Most Honest “Unlimited” Storage Provider

The Claim: “Unlimited storage, unlimited data transfer, unlimited collaboration”

How It Actually Works:

• You start with 10TB of provisioned base storage
• Once you hit ~75% capacity, Sync automatically adds another 10TB
• They don’t publish a hard cap, but “unlimited” really means “we’ll keep adding storage until you or our infrastructure breaks”

The Hidden Limit: If you become an extremely heavy user (hundreds of TB), you might hit internal provisioning constraints. They reserve the right (in their TOS) to review “excessive” usage.

Verdict: Sync.com is actually more honest than most. They explain how the scaling works. But “unlimited” is still misleading, it’s really “scalable storage up to some undefined ceiling.”

Box: “Unlimited Storage” With a 1TB Monthly Bandwidth Cap

The Claim: Box Business, Business Plus, and Enterprise plans include “unlimited storage.”

What That Actually Means:

• Storage: Yes, unlimited (you can store 100TB if you want)
• Uploading/downloading: 1TB per user per month
• File uploads: Capped at 5GB (Business), 15GB (Business Plus), or 50GB (Enterprise)

The Math: Let’s say you want to upload a 100TB dataset to Box Business. You could technically store it (unlimited storage). But it would take you:

• 100TB ÷ 1TB/month limit = 100 months = over 8 years (assuming you hit your monthly limit every month)
• And each file chunk is limited to 5GB, so you’d need to split everything into chunks anyway

Verdict: Box’s “unlimited storage” is technically true, but functionally useless. The bandwidth limit is where they actually control you.

Jottacloud: Unlimited Storage, Dial-Up Upload Speeds

The Claim: “Unlimited storage” on the Personal Unlimited plan

What That Actually Means:

• Storage: Technically unlimited
• Upload speed: “Gradually reduced” after 5TB
• Use case: Personal/non-commercial only
• Content types: Restricted to documents, photos, videos (no commercial content)

The Hidden Limits:

• You can store unlimited data, but uploading it becomes painfully slow after 5TB
• Commercial use is off-limits entirely
• If you use it for business, they can terminate your account

Verdict: Jottacloud’s definition of “unlimited” is mathematically true but practically misleading. Unlimited storage at throttled speeds isn’t unlimited.

OpenDrive: Unlimited Marketing, Questionable Reality

The Claim: “Unlimited cloud storage, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited file size”, the boldest unlimited marketer

What Reviews Actually Say:

• 1.3 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot, with 89% 1-star reviews
• Free tier: 1GB per day transfer limit, 200kb/s speed cap

Verdict: OpenDrive is the most aggressive “unlimited” marketer and the worst executor. Being unlimited doesn’t matter if the service doesn’t work.

Quick Comparison: Sync.com vs Box vs Jottacloud vs OpenDrive

⚠️ = Major limitation

The “Fair Use Policy” Scam

Here’s the pattern I see across all these providers: Hidden in the TOS is a “Fair Use Policy” that actually means “we can throttle or terminate you if you use too much.”

What “Fair Use” Actually Means

“Excessive use” is typically defined as exceeding 300% of your allocated allowance.

So if you have a “1TB monthly upload limit,” exceeding 3TB in a month = excessive = subject to throttling or termination.

The Problem

“Fair use” policies are intentionally vague. They don’t say:

• Exactly when throttling kicks in
• How long it lasts
• Whether your data gets deleted
• Whether your account gets terminated

Companies use this vagueness strategically. Reddit users report Degoo terminating accounts for “policy violations” after those users purchased “lifetime unlimited” plans, one user reported their account terminated after just one year.

Translation: “Fair use policy” = “We can do whatever we want if you actually use the service.”

Why “Unlimited” Is Mathematically Impossible

Let me do the math for you:

Storage costs:

• Wholesale cloud storage: ~$6-10 per TB per month (from AWS, Azure, Google Cloud)

The economics of “unlimited” at $10/month:

• A customer uploads 10TB
• Monthly cost to store it: $60-100
• Customer’s monthly fee: $10
• The company loses $50-90 per month, every month, forever

The only way this works:

1. Most users never actually fill “unlimited” (they store 100GB and feel satisfied)
2. The company throttles heavy users into unusable speeds
3. The company terminates “excessive” users
4. The company discontinues the plan (like Google, Microsoft, and Dropbox did)

“Unlimited” cloud storage is a con. It’s only offered as a marketing gimmick to acquire users. Once users are locked in, the company either:

• Kills the plan
• Throttles the speeds
• Enforces arbitrary “fair use” limits

☁️ If You Actually Want Unlimited (Here’s Are Your Best Options)

You’re searching for “best unlimited cloud storage” because you need space without caps. I get it. Here’s the honest ranking of the “unlimited” providers:

1. Sync.com: The Closest to Being Actually Unlimited

The Pitch: The “Pro Teams+ unlimited cloud storage” plan promises “as much storage space as your team needs”, effectively unlimited.

Why it’s the best of the bad options:

• Auto-scales: 10TB base, adds 10TB blocks automatically at 75% capacity
• No published hard ceiling (unlike Dropbox’s 15TB or Box’s bandwidth limits)
• Transparent about how it works (not hiding the scaling model)
• Canadian company, stronger privacy than US alternatives
• End-to-end encryption by default

The Catch:

• Still not “unlimited” technically, it scales in blocks, not infinitely
• Could hit provisioning limits if you become extremely heavy user
• Still subject to “fair use” terms (they reserve the right to review excessive usage)

Verdict: If you actually need unlimited and want the most honest option, this is it. But go in knowing you might hit limits at extreme scale.

2. Box: Unlimited Storage, Limited Bandwidth

The Pitch: The Box.com Business plans include “unlimited storage”

Why it’s runner-up:

• Genuinely unlimited storage space (you can store 100TB if you want)
• Enterprise-grade reliability and support
• Better for collaboration than individual storage

The Catch:

• 1TB upload/download per user per month (bandwidth throttle)
• File uploads capped at 5GB (Business), 15GB (Plus), 50GB (Enterprise)
• If you actually need to move data, you hit walls immediately

Verdict: Technically true unlimited storage, but the bandwidth limit makes it functionally limited. Good if you store data and rarely move it. Bad if you actively use your storage.

3. Jottacloud: Skip It

The Pitch: “Unlimited storage” at affordable price

Why you should avoid:

• Uploads throttled after 5TB (speeds “gradually reduced”)
• Personal use only, commercial use gets accounts terminated
• Vague terms allow arbitrary throttling

Verdict: Unlimited in name only. Skip it.

4. OpenDrive: Skip It

The Pitch: “Unlimited cloud storage, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited file size”

Why you should avoid:

• 1.3 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot (89% one-star reviews)
• Performance and reliability issues make the unlimited claim irrelevant
• Free tier capped at 1GB/day transfer, 200kb/s speed

Verdict: Technically unlimited, practically unusable. Skip it.

The Real Talk: Should You Even Want “Unlimited”?

If you’re shopping for “unlimited,” ask yourself:

• Do you actually need unlimited, or do you need a specific amount? (Most people need 2-5TB, not 100TB)
• Will you actively use it, or store and forget? (Box handles storage-only well; Sync handles active use better)
• What happens if the service gets throttled or shut down? (Follow the 3-2-1 rule: 3 copies, 2 media types, 1 offsite)

If you need reliable storage at a known price:

• pCloud: from $199 pay once (500GB, reliable, simple)
• Backblaze B2: $6/TB/month (you pay for what you use)
• Google One: $9.99/month (2TB, reliable, simple)
• Your own NAS: One-time hardware cost, zero monthly fees, actual unlimited until the drive fails
• Lifetime plans: Considered the best value for money, but not unlimited

Why I’m Telling You This (And Admitting My Own BS)

I used to promote “unlimited” plans because they paid good commission.

That’s insane money. I could make $40-50 per sign-up for just putting a link in an article. So naturally, I ranked them #1, added glowing testimonials, and buried the limitations in fine print.

You’d buy “unlimited storage” at $10/month thinking you were getting a deal, get throttled or terminated within a year, and I’d already pocketed my commission before you even realized you’d been scammed.

I was part of the scam.

Then I realized I was potentially screwing real people, developers storing code, photographers storing archives, small businesses storing records, so I could make an extra $50 per sign-up.

That’s when I stopped ranking by commission and started ranking by honesty. Now I make 20% from Sync.com and Box.com, but I’m being transparent about their actual limitations and not faking a winner between them. I make $0 from Backblaze, Google, Jottacloud, and OpenDrive.

And it turns out, that’s when I started actually helping people instead of just extracting money from them.

The Bottom Line

There is no such thing as unlimited cloud storage. Every company offering it has limits. The question is whether they’re honest about them upfront or hide them until you’re locked in.

Here’s what every “unlimited” claim actually means:

• ✗ “Unlimited storage” = Maybe, but probably not with throttling
• ✗ “Unlimited bandwidth” = Definitely not, read the fair use policy
• ✗ “Unlimited file size” = False, all providers have per-file limits
• ✗ “Unlimited forever” = False, see: Google, Dropbox, Microsoft

What to do instead:

1. Stop looking for unlimited
2. Find a service that’s honest about limits
3. Use multiple services for actual redundancy (3-2-1 backup rule: 3 copies, 2 media types, 1 offsite)
4. Don’t put all your data in one place, even if it claims to be “unlimited”

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Legal Note: This article discusses documented facts about company policies, pricing changes, and service discontinuations. Where I express opinions about the honesty of claims, these are clearly marked as my personal assessment based on documented evidence. The sources I cite (Google announcements, Dropbox PR, TechCrunch coverage, Trustpilot reviews, Box’s Fair Use Policy, Sync’s help documentation) are publicly available for you to verify.

Affiliate Disclaimer: I make 20% commission from Sync.com and Box.com. I make $0 from Jottacloud, OpenDrive, Backblaze, Google One, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Microsoft 365. Even though I make money from Sync and Box, I’m being transparent about where each one actually fails, Sync scales in blocks and could hit provisioning limits, Box throttles bandwidth to 1TB/month. I’m not pretending one is better than the other to squeeze more commission out of you.