Computerworld

MediaFire offers 1TB of cloud storage for $2.50, 50GB for free

Users get the free storage for trying out the service

MediaFire today went live with its Desktop cloud storage service, offering offers users up to 1TB of capacity for just $2.50 a month for newcomers. The service normally charges $5 for 1TB of online capacity, but chopped that price in half for a limited time as part of its initial launch.

MediaFire offers up to 50GB of free space before requiring payment for the full 1TB of capacity, compared with 2GB offered by other popular services.

By comparison, Dropbox offers an initial 2GB of free space; by referring others to the service, users can obtain up to 16GB free capacity.

The Houston-based MediaFire, founded in 2006, said it owns all of its servers and network infrastructure, which allows it to undercut the cost of competitive services such as Dropbox, Carbonite, Google Drive, Apple iCloud and Microsoft OneDrive. It also claims its service is more secure than competitors who rely on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

"Many of our competitors rely on AWS, which is both cost prohibitive, and introduces potential security and privacy vulnerabilities," MediaFire wrote in a blog about its launch. "Now, users can safely store and share all of their photos, videos, and files in the cloud, without having to worry about file size limits."

A look at MediaFire on a MacBook Pro

Last month, Google slashed the price of its cloud service by as much as 80%. The price for 100GB of capacity on Google Drive dropped from $4.99 to $1.99; the price for 1TB of capacity plummeted from $49.99 to $9.99; and the service is now offering 10TB of storage for $99.99.

Dropbox charges $9.99 a month for 100GB.

MediaFire's service has virtually no limits on file sizes for uploads. Users can upload files up to 20GB in size, "when using native 64-bit browsers such as Firefox."

MediaFire Desktop, a free application for OS X and Windows, allows users to upload, store and share content in the cloud, directly from their desktop and mobile devices. The service synchronizes data to a customer's OS X and Windows computers that are also connected via the application.

As with other file-sharing services, MediaFire allows multiple users to collaborate on projects by sharing folders and files and offering controls on who can edit and who can view content. Users can invite others to connect through the service by sending a link through Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloggr or email. There is also embedded-link sharing for online blogging platforms.

The application also has an "Activity Feed" that keeps track of a user's activity on MediaFire, including updates to files made by other users, new files received and system status messages.

The service automatically tracks specific file versions. Files can be organized by date, edit history and type. The service also has an automatic duplicate removal feature.

The company said it is also developing applications for iOS and Android mobile devices to use the service.

What MediaFire's iPad App will look like.

"These will be available over the next few weeks, and will introduce a host of new features, including automatic photo-syncing directly from your Android mobile device," the company wrote in its blog.

The service also offers a tool that allows users to take a screen shot and automatically share it with other users of a file sharing list they create.

Since launching a beta in November, MediaFire claims more than 2 million users have used its Desktop application.

As part of its service's launch, the company also announced upgrades to its beta, including an overhaul of its APIs and Developer Resource Portal, a software development kit (SDK) to enable integration of the service directly into applications.

"Native SDKs will be coming for all major platforms and languages. For more information, or to enroll in our beta development program," the company said.

Lucas Mearian covers consumer data storage, consumerization of IT, mobile device management, renewable energy, telematics/car tech and entertainment tech for Computerworld. Follow Lucas on Twitter at @lucasmearian or subscribe to Lucas's RSS feed. His e-mail address is lmearian@computerworld.com.

See more by Lucas Mearian on Computerworld.com.

Read more about cloud storage in Computerworld's Cloud Storage Topic Center.