pCloud Encryption and Sealed, side by side

Disclosure. Sealed is made by Loopware LLC. We read pCloud’s listing, store page and encryption page on 13 November 2026, and did not install the app.

One folder, or the whole vault

pCloud is a cloud drive first. Its listing offers free storage, photo backup and streaming, and lists zero-knowledge encryption as something you can add (listing). The add-on, pCloud Encryption, turns on a Crypto folder. Files you drop into that folder are encrypted on your device before they are uploaded (encryption page).

The question to ask, then, is what sits outside that folder. The encryption page describes the Crypto folder; it doesn’t say the rest of your pCloud space is encrypted the same way (encryption page). If your photo backup lands in an ordinary folder, the add-on alone doesn’t change that.

In Sealed there is no ordinary folder. Every photo, name and note is sealed, and so are the thumbnails. Sealed encrypts every file with AES-256-GCM before it is saved. Names, notes and the fields of a record are sealed with your vault key too, not just the photos. Thumbnails are encrypted like the photos, and Sealed wipes the decrypted copies it shows in the grid when the vault locks.

Side by side

Where pCloud is ahead

• Storage you own outright. Lifetime storage plans, up to 10 TB (listing). Backup uses your iCloud storage, and when it is full Sealed says so and stops adding new items.
• Media from the cloud. It streams videos and music without downloading them first (listing).
• More than one device. Files sync across all your devices (listing). Sealed runs on iPhone and iPad.
• Big shares. Large files go out by link, even to people without pCloud (listing).

Paying once on both sides

People often look at pCloud because it sells lifetime plans, and a vault with a one-time price meets the same wish. The two buy different things. A lifetime pCloud plan buys space in its cloud (listing); the encryption folder is a separate purchase (store page). Sealed’s one-time price buys the Pro features, while the backup lives in your own iCloud. Sealed Pro Lifetime costs $79.99, paid once, with no subscription and nothing to renew. Backup goes to your own iCloud account, not to a server of ours. Encrypted iCloud backup is free.

Before paying once for anything, ask what happens if the company changes course. Sealed’s answer is a copy you can open without the app. The open copy keeps a copy of your vault in your iCloud Drive, in a folder named Sealed, that opens without the app on any computer, with your recovery key and the Sealed reader. The open copy is free, and you can also save the same folder to Files, a drive or a computer. Our guide to the best one-time purchase photo vault covers the rest, and zero-knowledge encryption explains what client-side encryption protects. For a different free-space offer, see our comparison with a large free cloud.

Where Sealed helps, and where it doesn’t

It helps if you want every item sealed, with nothing left in a plain folder. Names, notes and the fields of a record are sealed with your vault key too, not just the photos. Thumbnails are encrypted like the photos, and Sealed wipes the decrypted copies it shows in the grid when the vault locks.

It helps if you’d rather pay once for features and keep the backup free. Sealed Pro Lifetime costs $79.99, paid once, with no subscription and nothing to renew. Encrypted iCloud backup is free.

It doesn’t sell storage or stream media from a cloud. Backup uses your iCloud storage, and when it is full Sealed says so and stops adding new items.

It doesn’t run on a computer or the web. Sealed runs on iPhone and iPad.

It doesn’t keep videos on the free plan. On the free plan you can add photos. Videos, documents, notes and records need Sealed Pro.