Storj Review
End to end encrypted cloud storage using peer to peer blockchain technology. It could very well be the future of cloud storage, content delivery networks and backup. A future where only you have access to your data and it is spread out over a peer to peer network that is made up of hard drive space rented from other users on the network. Storj has made that future available today, but they do have room to grow as far as friendly end user applications. Storj certainly appears to be leading in the race with a usable distributed cloud storage network.
Price: $0.00 25GB free for first 12 months. Storage $0.015/Month Bandwidth $0.05/GB/Downloaded
Pros:
- Distributed cloud storage.
- End to end encryption.
- Open source software
- Can rent out extra drive space for Storj tokens.
Cons:
- Web interface not as robust as could be.
- Need to use third party tools to access. Filezilla, unofficial apps.
- Would be nice to have official Storj apps.
- Would be nice to have more data if you are renting your hard drive space to them.
Getting Started
Getting started with Storj is not much different than signing up for most other cloud storage services, by visiting the Storj website and signing up. Once you are signed up there is very little you can do on the Storj website. You can create buckets to store your files and folders but you cannot actually use the website to upload any files or folders.
The Great
There are a lot of very cool things about Storj. The fact that it is a distributed cloud storage service that uses end users extra drive space to store peoples data is neat. There is no one data center that stores all your data it is spread out across the Storj network in small parts, fully encrypted so the only person that has access to your files is you.
The fact that you can easily participate in the Storj network not only as a user but also rent out your extra hard drive space to the Storj network and be paid in Storj tokens is great. You might not get rich, but if you have extra hard drive space and leave your computer on all the time anyway why not make a little off of that extra space. Unlike Bitcoin mining, renting your extra hard drive space to Storj is not going to drive your power bill through the roof.
Storj also lets new users get 25GB of space for free for a year. It lets you try out the service and how it will work for you. You will need to find a client that will help you use that free space and there are Android clients as well as Storj has been added as an option in FileZilla, the free FTP software. Just watch out that they don’t install anything extra, FileZilla has in the past been bundled with some rather shady (meaning really crappy ) software in the past.
The Not So Great
Storj is still young, and the lack of any official desktop or mobile apps makes it look amateurish. It is not Dropbox, and I don’t know if they really want to be. They want to be more like Amazon S3, cloud storage for enterprise. While that is a great space to want to disrupt it can leave the average consumer like you and me out. Consumers want easy to use and Storj is not really there. They might get there but it might be more a result of enterprise solutions wanting something easy for their employees to push Storj to be more like Dropbox than Amazon S3.
No official desktop app is a real pain. Sure FileZilla has it built in but the idea of having to fire up FileZilla anytime I want to transfer files up to Storj, not going to happen. Even if they could get some developers like ExpanDrive to integrate Storj into their software that would certainly improve usability.
No official mobile apps is the same problem. The best Android app I tried was AllStorj, and it is good, but an official app would make Storj look less like an amateur, working out of their basement operation and more like a real business out to take on Amazon, Microsoft and Google.
Overall
Storj is young but from what I have seen are the most advanced service in this space. They have a working product using a peer to peer network that people can use to safely store their files. It really is amazing what they have created, but is it ready for everyday use? For the average computer user it might not be there yet but for those in business that need lots of private encrypted storage Storj might be exactly what they want to integrate into their next project.
Storj Token
If you rent out your drive you are paid in Storj tokens. If you want you can then exchange Storj tokens for other cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and many others. If you want to exchange your Storj tokens you might want to look at Changelly or one of these exchanges.