The very best cloud storage services play nicely with other apps and online tools, making the experience of viewing and editing files that are stored online feel natural. Especially in business, you want the other software you use to be able to retrieve or access your content, so making sure you use a service that easily integrates with your existing tools is a big deal. Box and Dropbox are particularly strong in this regard.

The range of capabilities of cloud-based storage services is wider than you may realize. Many of them specialize in a specific area. For example, Dropbox focuses on keeping a synced folder accessible everywhere and in sharing folders with colleagues outside your company. Proton Drive emphasizes secure cloud storage. If you mostly store images, you might want a storage service that specializes in hosting photos (two top options are Google Photos with a Google One account and Adobe Lightroom). Some cloud storage providers, such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft, are generalists, giving you not only folder and file syncing, but also media playing, device syncing, and backup. These products even double as collaboration software because they let multiple people edit the same file in real time.

Distinct from but overlapping in some cases with cloud storage are backup services, particularly ones that create online backups. Some of them, such as Acronis Cyber Protect, specialize in data protection and recovery, while others, like IDrive, combine data protection with syncing and sharing capabilities.

Most cloud services do give you some level of backup as a consequence of their intended function. Basically, any files uploaded to a cloud service are also protected from disk failures, since there are copies of them in the cloud. But dedicated backup services sometimes can create a full disk image of your machine so you can restore not just your files, but everything, including system settings and programs. Syncing, by contrast, is about backing up and managing selected files only.

There's a half-joke in the tech world: "There is no cloud. It's just someone else's computer." So, to clear up any confusion, the cloud part of cloud-based storage refers to storing files somewhere other than your computer's hard drive. Usually, it means the service provider's servers.

Having data in the cloud gives you the ability to access your files through the internet. Your data is usually encrypted before making the journey over the internet to the provider's servers, and it remains encrypted while it lives on those servers.

Well-designed services don't upload a brand-new copy of your files whenever you change one little thing. Instead, the file syncing service looks for changes to your files and uploads only them, saving your connection bandwidth.

You can access your cloud files through an app or utility software installed on your computer. Once it's installed, it usually shows a small notification icon and creates your synced folder structure that fits into Windows Explorer or the macOS Finder. You can also get to the files via your web browser. Of course, you need an internet connection for it to work, but if you are temporarily without a connection, that's okay. The service waits until the next time you do have a connection and takes care of business then.

For a deeper explanation, see our explainer on cloud computing.

Many services give you free cloud storage as part of their entry-level account. They usually come with some limitations, however, such as the amount of storage you get or a tight cap on the size of the files you can upload. We encourage you to sign up for the free tier of service first and try out the cloud service for several weeks before you commit to upgrading. This way, you can fully integrate the cloud service into your life for real-world testing. You get a feel for how it works and determine what might go wrong with your setup.

What could possibly go wrong? Human error accounts for a good deal of cloud storage tragedies, but the dropped internet connection is another common troublemaker. Not to mention that every internet service suffers the occasional outage. Ask around (or just look through our review comments), and you'll hear sad stories of how cloud storage can go wrong. One of the benefits of paying for an account is that it usually comes with additional support from the provider, so if anything goes wrong, someone from the company can help you resolve the issue.

There are many other reasons to pay for cloud storage, from getting a lot more space (a terabyte really doesn't cost all that much anymore) to being able to upload huge files. That last benefit is relevant to graphic designers, video editors, and other visual artists who often host enormous files. Other perks of paying for your cloud storage often include increased access to file-version history (meaning you can restore an important business proposal to the version you had before your colleague made a bunch of erroneous changes), more security, and more features for collaboration and teamwork.