FolderFort: Honest Review of 1TB Lifetime Cloud Storage for $69,99

I recently found myself in need of a Google Drive alternative. Their storage options jump from 200GB to 2TB with nothing in between, which didn’t suit my needs. I was looking for a substantial amount of storage at a lower cost.

During my search, I came across FolderFort, a new cloud storage service that appeared in my phone’s news feed. They were offering 1TB of lifetime storage for $69.99 on StackSocial. Given that the product was relatively unknown and their website appeared to be new, I suspected this might be part of a marketing strategy to attract initial customers through online publicity. Despite some reservations, I decided to purchase the service and test it out. If this whole thing disappeared in a few months, I wouldn’t really lose much, so that was my reasoning for trying it out.

This review details my experience with FolderFort and highlights some important considerations for potential users.

Overview of FolderFort

FolderFort claims to be a new player in the cloud storage market, having started in April 2024. It offers super cheap storage space, with 1TB available for a lifetime price of $69.99. The service features:

• A simple interface
• Multiple server locations
• Good support (according to their claims)

Pricing

Here’s the regular pricing if you’re not getting the lifetime deal:

• 1GB: Free
• 150GB: $14.99/year
• 250GB: $24.99/year
• 500GB: $49.99/year
• 1TB: $89.99/year
• 2TB: $159.99/year
• 10TB: $499.99/year

FolderFort vs Google Drive

Google Drive is the king of cloud storage, offering seamless integration with all Google services and apps. It’s great for casual users, especially if you’re already in the Google ecosystem. However, at $120/year for 2TB, it’s more expensive than FolderFort’s one-time $69.99 deal for 1TB. If you’re after long-term value with decent features, FolderFort gives you the storage at a fraction of the price. But if you need a polished, fully-featured experience and you’re willing to pay for it, Google Drive is tough to beat.

In terms of storage capacity and pricing:

• FolderFort: 1TB lifetime storage for $69.99
• Google Drive: 2TB for $10/month (billed annually), totaling $120/year
• Dropbox: 2TB for $10/month (billed annually), totaling $120/year

FolderFort is significantly cheaper in the long run, especially considering it’s a one-time payment. However, it’s important to note that it lacks the maturity and many features that Google Drive offers.

FolderFort also prioritizes security, using BackBlaze for file encryption. Honestly, I have no idea what BackBlaze is, but if I hear “file encryption,” I’m sold!

FolderFort vs Dropbox

Dropbox is a well-established cloud service, and it shows. It’s got a clean interface, robust syncing, and tons of integrations. The downside? It’s significantly more expensive than FolderFort, especially long-term.

At $120/year for 2TB, Dropbox’s pricing makes FolderFort’s $69.99 for 1TB a no-brainer if you’re looking for a basic storage solution.

However, Dropbox’s premium features like file versioning and collaboration tools make it a better choice for businesses or teams.

Registration Process

The registration process was straightforward:

1. Buy it on StackSocial
2. Get a redeemable code
3. Register on FolderFort’s website
4. Use the code

One confusing aspect was having to choose a server, either EU or USA. Initially, I picked the EU server, but it wouldn’t let me register. After trying again with the same issue, I chose the American server, and it worked.

Folderfort Login Process

Logging in also prompts you to pick a server, which can be confusing. As of writing this review, two more servers have been added during the login process, making it even less intuitive and more confusing.

I’ve tried logging in to the “North American Server 2” but it said my password doesn’t work. I figured that this is just another thing they didn’t work through, so I went back and tried logging in to “North American Server 1” and lo and behold, I automatically logged in. Guys, you really have to work on this.

Uploading Experience

I tried uploading 50 folders of my BJJ instructional videos, which revealed some issues:

• Some files failed to upload without explanation
• When I clicked on the settings tab, the “uploading files” window disappeared, though the uploads continues, this left me confused about which files had been successfully uploaded

I reached out to their support team, and they advised me to upload fewer files at once. I started uploading 10 folders at a time, and it kind of worked, but I still had to reupload a few files because they wouldn’t upload for some reason (again, no explanation). This is something they need to improve.

While uploading from my office, I reached crazy upload speeds and could upload 1GB files in less than a minute. At home, with a weaker network, it took longer.

Features and Limitations

A nice feature of FolderFort is the ability to create workspaces inside your storage. You can invite users and share these workspaces with them, and these users get an additional 1GB for free (I guess to upload to my space?).

However, there are some significant limitations:

• No mobile app, only a web interface
• No other notable features
• Can’t select multiple folders at once for deletion
• Not possible to pause and resume your uploads

If you’ve uploaded 50 folders (like I did) and you’d like to remove them all—no chance. You have to go and delete them one by one, then they’ll be placed in the trash folder (and still take up space), and you have to go there and delete them one by one, AGAIN. Super frustrating.

Sharing Files

After uploading 45 folders over the course of a few days (splitting them into 5-10 folders per upload), I decided to share my whole library with a friend so we could discuss some of the uploaded material. Unfortunately, it’s not as straightforward as it seems. There are two ways to go about this:

• Create a separate Workspace, share it with your friend, and add your files to that space
• Share the folder(s) directly with your friend

I knew there were workspaces, so I made sure I uploaded all the files intending to transfer them to a shared workspace. Unfortunately, that’s not possible. You get an empty workspace with no way to transfer your existing files between workspaces. This means I would have to upload everything all over again.

Since my whole drive has one purpose – storing my BJJ instructionals – I decided to share my entire drive by creating a new folder and sharing access to it. But this brings us back to our previous point: you can’t select everything at once, so you’ll have to essentially drag and drop every 👏 single 👏 folder 👏.

Sharing is easy: right click a folder or file and click “Share” or “Get Link”, it opens the same window. I’ve tried sharing it with a friend, but it seems that you can only share files between Folderfort users

I’ve used the shareable link instead and sent that. One small problem is that you can’t sort the files the way you like, it just won’t work:

Support and Community

Their support team is active on Reddit, as seen in this thread. I did bring up my issues with them in a private message, and while they replied, they offered no solution and subsequently ignored me.

I didn’t reach out to their support team otherwise, so I can’t say anything good or bad. It’s already a good sign that they take their social media alerts seriously. If anyone mentions FolderFort, they come running!

Company Research

After looking at their About Us page, I searched for their owner but couldn’t find a trace of him anywhere. He’s a ghost. No picture, no LinkedIn, no nothing. Their LinkedIn profile has no employees, which is a red flag.

Some interesting tidbits:

• According to a post published in April, they’ve launched in April 2024 and the owner is “Dave Buell”
• Their GTM/HotJar tag shows the first time they’ve been used was April 2024
• According to Ahrefs, they’ve had their first page crawled on March 1st and their first keyword on July 8th
• According to Whois data, their domain was registered with GoDaddy on February 20, 2024

Two domains are being redirected to folderfort.com: jbpotter.com and securedatainc.com. I didn’t bother looking into them, but I think these are two domains that were bought and redirected because they seem random and unrelated. If there’s an SEO specialist behind this, fire him (or hire me, hehe), because this is not done well.

FolderFort Alternatives

There are plenty of cloud storage alternatives to FolderFort if you’re not feeling it. Services like pCloud and OneDrive offer similar features, with pCloud even giving you a lifetime plan, too. However, pCloud’s lifetime plan is pricier, and OneDrive is pretty much locked into the Microsoft ecosystem. If you want a cheaper, no-frills option with decent storage, FolderFort is a solid choice, but be aware it’s still growing, and you might want to explore the competition if you need a more polished experience.

Conclusion

FolderFort is a new player in the cloud storage market, not even a few months old (as of writing). Like any young service, it’s currently experiencing some growing pains and needs time to mature.

The Good:

• If you manage to snatch the temporary 1TB for $69.99 lifetime deal, you get a boatload of storage space for very little money.
• The interface looks neat and clean
• The registration process is straightforward
• Their support is active on Reddit every day

The Bad:

• There is no mobile app
• The interface, while simple, is not always intuitive
• Some features are confusing, like the disappearing upload bar and the server selection during login
• No ability to pause uploads or mass-delete folders
• Sharing files is not as straightforward as it seems

Despite these issues, FolderFort shows great potential. As they work through their initial challenges and add more features, it could become an excellent alternative to more established cloud storage services. However, potential users should be aware of its current limitations and approach with realistic expectations.

I have concerns about the fact that their owner is nowhere to be found; it says on their About page that Dave Buell is the owner, but there’s no digital trace of that person (smells like a russian spy to me /s).

Overall, if you’re willing to be patient with a developing service and can benefit from the generous storage offer, FolderFort could be a great deal. Just be prepared for some bumps along the way as they continue to refine and improve their product.