CloudHQ vs Rclone (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Rclone grades higher than CloudHQ: 2.8 against 2.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
CloudHQ grades higher on ease of use and platforms. Rclone grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
CloudHQ
Real-time sync, migration and backup between cloud storage accounts
Which one is for you
Pick CloudHQ if
- Fits if you need to move or mirror files between two cloud accounts
- Works for people who want cloud backup of Google Workspace data
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: personal use only, throttling possible and 150 MB per file
- Watch out: syncing Salesforce, S3 or SharePoint needs the Business plan
- Pricey if you add people: Business covers 3 users and each extra is $79 a year
- Watch out: prices vary by product, and these are for the sync, migration and backup one
- Skip it if you want a desktop app, since it works from the web
Pick Rclone if
- Fits if you are comfortable in a terminal and want to move files between many providers
- Works for people who want to mount cloud storage as a drive
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a point-and-click app, as it is a command-line program
- Not for you if you need hosting, because it does not store files itself
- Too light for people wanting a polished GUI, since the web interface is labelled experimental
- Watch out: Android is only available as separate builds
- Tight if you want vendor support: it is a free open-source project
How we grade them
| 2.4GPACloudHQFair | 2.8GPARcloneGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPremium is $149 a year for 1 user, $49 billed monthly, around $12 a month on the yearly plan. Business is $399 a year for 3 users, with $79 a year for each extra one. | AFree under the MIT licence, with no paid plans. Anyone can download and run it, and you pay only the storage providers you connect. |
| Free plan and trial | CA free plan for personal use only, with possible throttling and a 150 MB file cap. A 15-day trial of paid plans needs no card. | AThe whole program is free with no caps. You do need an account with a provider, as it hosts nothing. |
| Features | BCloud-to-cloud sync, migration, real-time backup, and mail, contacts and calendar sync. Business accounts such as S3 and SharePoint need the Business plan. | BCopy, sync, bisync, mount as a drive, encryption, compression, hash checks and serving files, across 70+ providers. Nothing in the listing is missing from the job. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. You connect each cloud account and choose what to sync. | DIt is run from the command line and set up with configuration files. The web GUI is labelled experimental. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb plus browser extensions, with Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, S3, SharePoint and Salesforce. No desktop or phone app is listed. | CA program for computers: Mac, Windows and Linux, with Android only as separate builds. Many storage backends but no phone or web app of its own. |
| Best for | syncing and backing up between cloud accounts | syncing and mounting cloud storage from the command line |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: CloudHQ and Rclone. How we grade
Price against what you get
CloudHQ starts at $12.42 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Rclone has no paid plan and scores 2.0.
CloudHQ scores higher, and starts $12.42 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other file storage and sync services on the chart, 13 score higher than CloudHQ for less, and none scores higher than Rclone for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Rclone is open source and end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
- CloudHQ also covers file sharing.
- Rclone also covers file management.
At a glance
| CloudHQ | Rclone | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $149 per year for 1 user, billed annually ($49 billed monthly) | Free |
| Free plan | Free sync and backup of free cloud accounts for personal use; transfers may be throttled and files are limited to 150 MB. | Free and open source under the MIT license; no paid plans. |
| Free trial | 15-day free trial on paid plans | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | cloudHQ LLC | Nick Craig-Wood and contributors |
| Price read from | cloudhq.net | rclone.org |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
CloudHQ
- The free plan is for non-professional use only and may be throttled, with a 150 MB file cap.
- Premium covers one user; Business includes 3 users and charges $79 a year for each one after.
- Syncing business accounts such as Salesforce, Amazon S3 or SharePoint needs the Business plan.
- Pricing varies per product; the figures here are for the sync, migration and backup product.
Rclone
- It is a command-line program; the web GUI is labeled experimental.
- Android is mentioned only as separate builds, not as a main download.
- It does not host storage itself: you need an account with a supported provider.
- The site points third-party developers to the command line and API for GUI and backup front ends.
Key features
CloudHQ
- Cloud-to-cloud sync
- Keeps files in step between accounts on services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive and Box without downloading them locally.
- Migration
- The pricing page suggests monthly billing for a one-off migration and annual billing for continuous sync or backup.
- Real-time backup
- The maker offers real-time backup of cloud accounts as protection against accidental or malicious deletion.
- Email and contacts sync
- Paid plans list Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 mail, contacts and calendars alongside file storage.
- Business account support
- The Business plan adds Salesforce, Amazon S3, Evernote for Business and SharePoint, plus admin integration.
- Gmail and Drive extensions
- A separate catalog of more than 70 Gmail productivity tools is sold alongside the sync service.
Rclone
- Copy, sync and bisync
- One-way sync makes a destination match a source; bisync keeps two directories matching in both directions.
- Wide provider support
- The site says over 70 cloud storage products support it, including S3 object stores, plus SFTP, WebDAV, FTP and HTTP.
- Mount as a disk
- Mounts local, cloud or virtual filesystems as a drive on Windows, macOS, Linux and FreeBSD.
- Crypt, compress and chunk backends
- Virtual backends wrap another remote to encrypt, compress, chunk or merge it.
- Integrity checks
- Checks MD5 or SHA1 hashes and preserves timestamps, and interrupted transfers can be restarted.
- Serve and remote control
- Can serve files over HTTP, WebDAV, FTP, SFTP and DLNA; an experimental web GUI and a remote-control API are listed.
Plans
CloudHQ
Free$0
Sync and backup of free cloud accounts for non-professional use, with possible throttling and a file size cap.
Premium$149
per year for 1 user, billed annually ($49 billed monthly)
Unlimited sync and backup of premium cloud accounts such as Dropbox Plus and Google Workspace Drive.
Business$399
per year for up to 3 users, billed annually ($159 billed monthly)
Adds business accounts such as Salesforce, Amazon S3 and SharePoint, with admin integration; extra users $79 a year.
Rclone
Rclone$0
Free MIT-licensed software; you pay only the storage providers you connect it to.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, CloudHQ or Rclone?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Rclone is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $12.42 a month when paid by the year for CloudHQ. CloudHQ starts at $149 per year for 1 user, billed annually ($49 billed monthly), and Rclone is free.
Which has a free plan, CloudHQ or Rclone?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both CloudHQ and Rclone have a free plan.
Which platforms do CloudHQ and Rclone run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only CloudHQ lists a web app and a browser extension and only Rclone lists macOS, Windows, Linux and Android apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.