Ed: Amazon announced in July 2022 that it would be shutting down Amazon Drive to focus on Amazon Photos, its dedicated photo and video cloud storage service. You will no longer be able to upload any files to the service at the end of January 2023 and 11 months later, all files will be deleted and the service will be retired.
Amazon Drive (opens in a new tab) is a reminder that if an app or service is needed, Amazon will try to fill that need, from shopping to smart speakers, from streaming video to e-books, it's all covered... and that includes cloud storage.
The main focus is on photos and videos, though you can add any type of file in a snap (if you know how). While there are better cloud storage services out there, Amazon Drive might be right for you if you want to get the most out of your Prime membership.
Features of Amazon Drive
Amazon Drive has gone through several different incarnations over the years, and what's left for now is a bit hazy. It seems that Amazon wants to keep the Amazon Photos service running, for your photos and videos, and only kept some of the Amazon Drive features after the fact.
Amazon Photos is actually a pretty nifty service, which does a pretty good job of backing up your photos and videos from your smartphone, tablet, or computer, and organizing them online. If you're a Prime subscriber, you get unlimited storage and a few extras like facial recognition (the service will automatically bundle photos of your sister, brother, and distant cousin). Amazon Photos is a handy tool that many have on their smartphones or tablets, which automatically backs up and syncs photos and videos in the background so users don't need to keep up with changes.
There's no real two-way sync, file versioning, or full backups for your devices. In fact, you don't get many of the features that competing services offer: features like selective sync, scheduled backups, or an online office suite you can use in your browser. Again, the focus seems to be on media backups.
Amazon Drive actually has a link to Amazon Photos right in the main navigation bar, and if you jump in you get a few extras: smarter search, photo editing, and more. If you're going to use Amazon Drive, it's probably because of Amazon Photos (and we wouldn't be surprised if Amazon Drive is eventually phased out).
Users looking to store documents in the cloud will be disappointed by the lack of file versioning, a feature of Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive. The inability to edit files online also has its own limitations. The service is best thought of as a digital photo library, with the ability to archive files in the Amazon Drive section of the cloud service.
Amazon drive interface
As we said, there are some confusing aspects of Amazon Drive, including the fact that the software you download to your computer is called Amazon Photos, which suggests that it only deals with your photo library, but actually the tool will protect any folder or archive. regardless of its type. It now also includes the ability to sync, Dropbox-style, providing a way to automatically secure new files without any additional effort from the user.
We like how you can pick any file or folder on your computer and choose to download it, and how you can back up at any given time, as well as keep specific folders monitored, and apps in general, the desktop, and the web interface are all sufficiently adjusted. In our tests, file transfers were a bit slow compared to some key competitors like Microsoft OneDrive and iCloud Drive. This shouldn't be much of a problem if you plan to leave the desktop client running in the background, but if you need quick access to a large file stored in the cloud, you might end up waiting a little longer than expected.
Although the interface stands out for its ease of use, it is a bit stripped down in terms of functions. You can only stream video files under 20 minutes directly from the web, for example, which puts it immediately behind most of its competitors. Also, you can't really see your files in the desktop app - it's more of a download tool. Unlike iCloud Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Google Drive, the Amazon Photos desktop client doesn't take up space in your computer's native file management system, which can disrupt some workflows.
Anyone trying to open a file using the desktop client will be redirected to the browser portal for a preview, which is a bit of a hassle compared to other cloud storage services.
Many users may be fine with just the web interface - you can run one-time downloads from here, but there is no automatic folder download. Searching through your files, as well as performing simple operations like moving and renaming, is simple. There's also the ability to share files and folders, but like many of Amazon Drive's features, it's all a bit basic.
While Amazon's two cloud storage solutions, Photos and Drive, occupy the single Amazon Photos software for the desktop, the mobile apps see them as separate. The Amazon Drive app is very basic and really only shows files stored in the cloud, with an option to download more. In the case of the iOS (and iPadOS) version, the app has only been updated five times in the last four years.
The Amazon Photos app, which we're pleased to see updated much more frequently, is only useful for viewing photos uploaded to your account – there are no files here. You can choose which photos to upload or allow automatic background syncing, as you like, and there's a limited amount of control over mobile data usage. The app can rely on your device's biometric (fingerprint or facial) security, but it would be nice to see a separate pin for accessing the Amazon Photos app.
Amazon Drive Security
Amazon Drive offers two-factor authentication (if you choose to enable it on your Amazon account), but security isn't a strong point here. There's no end-to-end encryption, no encryption at rest, and it's a very open method of managing shared links (you can't password-protect the link or limit it to access from a particular account).
It's fine for some vacation photos then, but you really don't want to put any important work documents or sensitive files in here, just in case. You'll find plenty of cloud storage options with much better security measures, whether it's end-to-end encryption or password-protected links.
Amazon Drive Pricing
The price of Amazon Drive is a bit hard to understand: with a Prime subscription (starting at €12,99 or €7,99 per month) you get unlimited photo storage space for free (or rather as part of the cost of Prime ), plus 5 GB of space for your videos and other types of files. If you're not a Prime subscriber, that 5 GB is the initial limit for everyone, for any type of file, for free.
Upgrading your storage allotment costs the same for Prime and non-Prime members, but remember that Prime members get unlimited photo storage and are therefore less likely to need such bulky storage plans. There are 100GB, 1TB, and 2TB plans for €1,99 ($1,49), €6,99 ($7,99), and €11,99 ($15,99) per month respectively, which is a little more expensive than other cloud storage units from Google, Apple and Microsoft. There are discounts for annual subscriptions, as is the case with most other providers, and there are larger plans available with annual subscription, costing between €179,97 (€239,97) per year for 3TB and €1799,70 .2399,70 (€30) per year for XNUMXTB.
Amazon Drive Verdict
Amazon Drive is a rather strange service in many ways: it seems almost half-abandoned by Amazon, but it will do a respectable job of backing up files and folders to your local computer, and can even do it automatically for some folders. It can't match the advanced features of other services, but it does a good job.
Amazon Drive's Amazon Photos component is much more impressive, especially if you subscribe to Amazon Prime, which gives you unlimited space in the cloud for all your photos. Even Amazon Photos can't match the services of Google and Apple, so we suggest this is only for people who are already heavily invested in the Amazon ecosystem.
We have listed the best free cloud storage services.
Amazon Drive: Price Comparison
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