What Filen actually does
Filen is an independent German cloud storage provider offering client-side, zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption: files are encrypted on the user's device before upload, and Filen states it holds no ability to decrypt them. It positions itself explicitly as one of the more affordable encrypted storage options in Europe, without the antivirus/VPN/password-manager bundling that larger, security-suite-style competitors use to justify higher prices.
The core product
Every account gets 10GiB free permanently. Paid tiers — Pro I through Pro X — scale from 200GiB up to 10TiB, all including:
- Unlimited bandwidth and unlimited uploads
- Standard file sync
- Password-protected sharing links
- A virtual network-drive mount for mounting Filen storage like a local disk
- Unlimited notes and chats bundled into the same account
Annual billing is available for a discount over the monthly rates shown below. File versioning and secure deletion are also part of the base product rather than reserved for the higher tiers, so someone on the cheapest paid plan gets the same core data-protection guarantees as someone paying for 10TiB — only the storage ceiling changes as you move up.
What's new or notable
Filen's plans are stackable: rather than forcing an upgrade to a bigger fixed tier, users can combine multiple paid plans on a single account, letting storage scale in smaller increments than most competitors allow, with no stated upper limit. That stacking model is a genuinely practical alternative to the more common approach — where a provider forces users into large, fixed jumps between tiers (say, from 500GB straight to 2TB) even when they only need a few hundred extra gigabytes.
Filen has also leaned into being a lean, developer-friendly product: the network-drive client lets Filen storage appear as a normal mounted drive in the operating system's file explorer rather than requiring a separate app window, and the unlimited notes and chat features bundled into every tier (including the free one) give it a bit of lightweight collaboration functionality beyond pure file storage, without positioning itself as a full office suite the way Murena or Google Workspace do.
Who should use Filen
Great fit if…
- You want storage and nothing else — no bundled VPN or antivirus to pay for and ignore.
- Price per gigabyte is your main filter — Filen's tiers are among the cheapest encrypted storage options coming out of the EU.
- You want to test before paying — 10GiB free is enough to actually try real workflows, not just a demo.
Skip it if…
- You want one vendor for storage, VPN and security — Filen doesn't bundle any of that.
- You need enterprise-grade support SLAs — this is a small independent team, not a large support organization.
- You rely heavily on collaborative office documents — Filen's notes and chat are lightweight, not a full spreadsheet/document editor suite.
Pricing in detail
Filen's paid plans are billed monthly by default with an annual option that reduces the effective rate. All tiers include unlimited bandwidth and uploads.
| Plan | Price | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| Free | €0 | 10GiB storage, full encryption, sync, sharing |
| Pro I | 1,99€/month | 200GiB storage |
| Pro II | 3,99€/month | 500GiB storage |
| Pro III | 8,99€/month | 2TiB storage |
| Pro X | 39,99€/month | 10TiB storage |
Where it falls short
- No security-suite features — anyone wanting VPN or antivirus bundled in needs a second product.
- Smaller support footprint — as an independent, self-funded company, response times and documentation are less extensive than bigger competitors.
- Fewer collaboration tools than Nextcloud-based rivals — Murena's Workspace, for example, bundles a fuller office suite alongside storage.
Privacy & data
Filen is operated by Filen Cloud Dienste UG, based in Germany and therefore subject to GDPR and German data-protection law. The company states all encryption and decryption happens client-side, meaning Filen's servers only ever store encrypted blobs it cannot read.
Because Filen is independently owned rather than backed by outside investors with an eventual exit or acquisition in mind, its pricing and product direction are set entirely by the founding team, which cuts both ways: no external pressure to monetize user data or add ad-supported tiers, but also less capital available to expand support staff or accelerate feature development compared to venture-funded competitors.
How we checked this
Pricing verified directly on filen.io/pricing on 2026-09-05, including current monthly rates for all four Pro tiers and the stated 10GiB free-tier allocation.