[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":175},["ShallowReactive",2],{"vs-pcloud":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"competitor":114,"date":117,"description":118,"draft":119,"extension":120,"features":121,"meta":169,"navigation":124,"path":170,"seo":171,"stem":172,"verdict":173,"__hash__":174},"vs\u002Fvs\u002Fpcloud.md","Hoodik vs pCloud: A pCloud Alternative With Encryption Included",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":105},"minimark",[9,13,18,21,24,27,30,34,37,40,43,47,50,53,56,59,62,66,69,72,75,78,89,93,96,99],[10,11,12],"p",{},"pCloud gets recommended constantly in encrypted storage roundups, and the recommendation usually skips the part that matters: pCloud's encryption is a separate product you buy on top, and it only covers one folder.",[14,15,17],"h2",{"id":16},"crypto-is-an-add-on-not-the-product","Crypto Is an Add-On, Not the Product",[10,19,20],{},"A standard pCloud account encrypts your files server-side with keys pCloud holds. That is the same arrangement Dropbox and Google Drive use, and it means pCloud can decrypt your files.",[10,22,23],{},"pCloud Encryption, previously pCloud Crypto, is the zero-knowledge layer. It costs roughly $49.99 per year or around $150 as a one-time purchase, on top of whatever you pay for storage. Buying it creates a special Crypto folder in your account. Files you move into that folder are encrypted on your device, and pCloud genuinely cannot read them. Files anywhere else in your account are unchanged.",[10,25,26],{},"So the honest description of a fully paid pCloud setup is: a storage account pCloud can read, containing one folder it cannot. Whether that is a problem depends entirely on whether you remember to put the right things in the right folder, every time, on every device.",[10,28,29],{},"Hoodik has one mode. Every file is encrypted on your device before upload, with a key wrapped for your account, and the server stores ciphertext. File and folder names are encrypted too. There is no protected folder because there is no unprotected one, and no separate line on the invoice.",[14,31,33],{"id":32},"the-crypto-folder-costs-you-search","The Crypto Folder Costs You Search",[10,35,36],{},"This is the part people discover after they have paid. pCloud's search does not work inside the Crypto folder. Neither do previews, nor thumbnails, nor in-browser playback. The server cannot read those files, so the features that depend on reading them stop.",[10,38,39],{},"That is not a pCloud bug. It is the straightforward consequence of encrypting client-side without building the rest of the system around it, and it is why so many pCloud users end up leaving most of their files outside the Crypto folder.",[10,41,42],{},"Hoodik solves this instead of accepting it. Search terms are broken into tokens by a BERT tokenizer running on the client, each token is hashed with SHA256, and only the hashes go to the server. The server matches hashes against hashes and returns results. You search your entire encrypted library from any device, and the server never learns your query or what it matched. Thumbnails are generated and encrypted on the client, then decrypted for display. The encrypted files are the searchable ones.",[14,44,46],{"id":45},"where-pcloud-wins","Where pCloud Wins",[10,48,49],{},"Lifetime plans. Pay once, keep the storage. Around $199 for 500 GB or $399 for 2 TB, with periodic sales below that. If pCloud stays in business for a decade, the arithmetic is very good, and Hoodik Cloud has no comparable offer.",[10,51,52],{},"Bulk price. For terabytes of media you do not need encrypted, pCloud is far cheaper per gigabyte than a dedicated Hoodik Cloud instance.",[10,54,55],{},"pCloud Drive. A virtual drive that mounts on Windows, macOS, and Linux, so cloud storage behaves like a local disk without consuming disk space. Hoodik has no desktop sync client and no Windows app.",[10,57,58],{},"Media handling. Built-in video and audio players, streaming, and playlists. This works because the server reads the file, which is exactly the trade pCloud is making, and it works well.",[10,60,61],{},"The free tier is 10 GB against Hoodik Cloud's 14-day trial.",[14,63,65],{"id":64},"where-hoodik-wins","Where Hoodik Wins",[10,67,68],{},"Encryption you cannot forget to apply, included in the price, covering the whole account and its metadata. No folder discipline, no second subscription.",[10,70,71],{},"Encrypted files that still behave like files: searchable, thumbnailed, previewable, shareable with Reader, Editor, and Co-owner roles, and shareable by public link with a password and an expiry. pCloud's Crypto folder loses most of that.",[10,73,74],{},"Cryptography from this decade. File keys are wrapped with a hybrid of X25519 and ML-KEM-768, the key exchange NIST standardized for the post-quantum era, so traffic captured today does not become readable later. Login uses OPAQUE, so your password never reaches the server.",[10,76,77],{},"Code you can read. pCloud is closed source. Its Crypto Challenge went unbroken, which is worth something, but a bounty is not an audit and it is not source. Hoodik's server is source-available Rust; you can read the encryption path, compile it, and run it.",[10,79,80,81,88],{},"An exit. Run Hoodik on your own hardware, or on ",[82,83,87],"a",{"href":84,"rel":85},"https:\u002F\u002Fhoodik.cloud",[86],"nofollow","Hoodik Cloud"," and export the entire instance to your own server whenever you want. pCloud is pCloud, and a lifetime plan is a bet on one company's longevity.",[14,90,92],{"id":91},"who-should-use-which","Who Should Use Which",[10,94,95],{},"If most of what you store is media, you want a virtual drive on your desktop, and a one-time payment appeals to you, pCloud is a good product at a good price. Buy the Encryption add-on for the handful of folders that need it and accept that they will not be searchable.",[10,97,98],{},"If the encrypted part is the point, Hoodik is the better shape. Everything is encrypted, everything stays usable, and the bill is one line.",[10,100,101,104],{},[82,102,87],{"href":84,"rel":103},[86]," is €9\u002Fmonth for 100 GB or €19\u002Fmonth for 500 GB, in the EU or US, with a 14-day trial. Per gigabyte it costs more than pCloud, because it provisions a dedicated instance with its own database and storage bucket rather than space on a shared system. Self-hosting is free and the storage limit is your disk.",{"title":106,"searchDepth":107,"depth":107,"links":108},"",2,[109,110,111,112,113],{"id":16,"depth":107,"text":17},{"id":32,"depth":107,"text":33},{"id":45,"depth":107,"text":46},{"id":64,"depth":107,"text":65},{"id":91,"depth":107,"text":92},{"name":115,"website":116},"pCloud","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.pcloud.com","2026-07-29","pCloud sells zero-knowledge as a paid add-on covering one folder. Hoodik is a pCloud alternative that encrypts everything by default and stays searchable.",false,"md",[122,127,129,132,135,138,141,143,146,148,151,154,157,161,165],{"name":123,"hoodik":124,"competitor":125,"note":126},"E2E Encryption",true,"partial","pCloud's zero-knowledge encryption requires the pCloud Encryption add-on (around $49.99\u002Fyear or $150 lifetime) and applies only to files placed in the Crypto folder. Everything else is encrypted with keys pCloud holds.",{"name":128,"hoodik":124,"competitor":119},"E2E Encryption Included in Base Price",{"name":130,"hoodik":124,"competitor":119,"note":131},"E2E Encryption Covers Whole Account","Files outside the Crypto folder are readable by pCloud.",{"name":133,"hoodik":124,"competitor":119,"note":134},"Search Works on Encrypted Files","pCloud cannot search inside the Crypto folder, because the server cannot read it. Hoodik hashes search tokens on the client and matches hashes server-side, so encrypted files stay searchable.",{"name":136,"hoodik":124,"competitor":119,"note":137},"Post-Quantum Key Exchange","Hoodik wraps every file key with a hybrid of X25519 and ML-KEM-768, the post-quantum KEM standardized by NIST.",{"name":139,"hoodik":124,"competitor":119,"note":140},"Password Never Sent to Server","Hoodik authenticates with OPAQUE, so the password never leaves your device in any form.",{"name":142,"hoodik":124,"competitor":119},"Server & Web Client Source Available",{"name":144,"hoodik":145,"competitor":124},"Managed Hosting","Hoodik Cloud, from €9\u002Fmo",{"name":147,"hoodik":124,"competitor":119},"Self-Hosted Option",{"name":149,"hoodik":119,"competitor":124,"note":150},"Lifetime Plans","pCloud's one-time-payment plans are its signature offer and Hoodik has nothing comparable.",{"name":152,"hoodik":119,"competitor":124,"note":153},"Desktop Sync Client","pCloud Drive mounts as a virtual drive on Windows, macOS, and Linux.",{"name":155,"hoodik":125,"competitor":124,"note":156},"Media Streaming","pCloud streams video and audio directly, which requires the server to read the file. Hoodik previews and plays media after client-side decryption.",{"name":158,"hoodik":159,"competitor":160},"Free Tier","Unlimited self-hosted","10 GB",{"name":162,"hoodik":163,"competitor":164},"Pricing","Free self-hosted · Cloud from €9\u002Fmo","~$49.99\u002Fyr for 500 GB, plus ~$49.99\u002Fyr for encryption",{"name":166,"hoodik":167,"competitor":168},"Jurisdiction","Your choice","Switzerland, with EU or US data centers",{},"\u002Fvs\u002Fpcloud",{"title":5,"description":118},"vs\u002Fpcloud","Pick pCloud for lifetime plans and cheap bulk media storage you do not need encrypted. Pick Hoodik if you want zero-knowledge encryption on everything, included, and searchable.","_VVBYxJ8FR4A5l_9kTsNG6pnp3YMxhXd2ioUpvum5bg",1785479168352]