FamilyAlbum vs Permafiles

FamilyAlbum is a private service for sharing family photos and videos, designed to help parents share children’s moments with loved ones. Uploads are arranged automatically into albums by month. Only family members invited by the user can view an album; they can comment, respond to reactions and communicate there, while album owners can check whether relatives viewed photos. The free plan includes unlimited photo and video storage and 11 free prints per family member each month. Users can follow suggested ideas for monthly photobooks or create their own. FamilyAlbum is available on Android, iOS and the web, with no desktop app listed. Paid plans begin at $2.99 a month: Premium One costs $2.99 a month, Premium Family is $5.99 a month or 59 USD per year, and Premium Family Pro is $10.99 a month or 109 USD per year. Premium plans add features such as computer uploads, longer or higher-quality video uploads, bulk downloads, search and TV casting. FamilyAlbum says transfers are encrypted and that it does not sell user data to third parties.

Permafiles is managed cloud storage built on the open-source Nextcloud platform, for files, photos, and folders. Users can share family photos and set permissions controlling who may access, edit, or download them. Shared links can also have passwords and expiration dates. Nextcloud Office supports online editing of documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, while Nextcloud Talk provides calls with up to 10 people. The Nextcloud Mail app can connect to Gmail and other email services through IMAP and SMTP. Sync clients are listed for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, with web access as well. Security measures described include HTTPS/TLS, two-factor authentication, brute-force and antivirus protection, and optional end-to-end encryption for supported folders and use cases. Permafiles says its server infrastructure is hosted in Germany, while customer file data is stored with third-party S3-compatible storage in the United Kingdom. It also says it makes daily offsite backups and can restore a complete server failure within a couple of hours. The free plan includes 5 GB. Paid plans range from £1.99 per month for 64 GB to £27.99 per month for 3 TB.