Carbide Network vs Sia

Carbide Network is a distributed storage service that links users’ files with independent providers. Its personal offering covers photos, documents and backups, with photo and video auto-sync, an encrypted vault, expiring share links and up to 10x redundancy. Files are encrypted on the user’s device with AES-256-GCM; the service describes its design as zero-knowledge. Encrypted chunks are spread among providers, and users choose between 1 and 10 copies. Users manage their private encryption keys, and Carbide says lost keys cannot be recovered. Business tools include role-based team workspaces, audit logs, retention policies and geographic redundancy across 30+ regions. Developers get API-first, S3-compatible storage, a versioned API and a Swift SDK. The service lists macOS, Windows, iOS and Android apps, as well as API access. Personal storage is billed at $0.002/GB. The network is provided without warranties, and performance depends on the combined behavior of independent participants.

Sia offers encrypted, decentralized cloud storage through a consumer app and tools for developers building storage into applications. Files are encrypted on the user’s device before upload, and Sia says nobody else can read them. The app describes files as redundantly held across independent hosts worldwide, with parallel downloads from multiple hosts. Sia describes its peer-to-peer network as having no central access point or single point of failure. Consumer plans list 50 GB on Free, 500 GB for $7.99 a month on Plus, 5 TB for $14.99 a month on Pro, and 10 TB for $19.99 a month on Unlimited; Unlimited lists 4.99 USD/TB-mo over its included capacity. Separately, the network page lists median prices of $3.53/TB/month for storage at 3X redundancy, $0.03/TB for upload, and $2.25/TB for download. Developers can use storage SDKs for Rust, Go, Python, and JavaScript, or the S3-compatible s3d gateway with rclone, Cyberduck, Nextcloud, and Duplicati. The SDK can connect to an indexer hosted by the user.