Permafiles vs PhotoCircle

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.

PhotoCircle is a media-sharing platform for organizing photos, videos, and documents in private Circles. Members can join through a shareable link, QR code, or in-app invitation. Families can use private albums for events, vacations, weddings, birthdays, and other shared occasions; business users can share up to 20 photos or videos through a web link. The free Friends & Family plan supports mobile apps, videos up to one minute, single-item downloads, and bulk uploads of up to 40 media items. PhotoCircle+ costs $1.29 a month and adds web access, search, web slideshows, videos up to four minutes, and bulk uploads of up to 200 items. Professional and business plans include Canva integration. Business includes custom branding, roles and permissions, and 30-day deleted-data recovery; Enterprise includes 90-day recovery, API integration, archiving, reporting, SSO enforcement, and training. Organizations need a paid seat for each employee or representative, while customers and other audience members may be guests. PhotoCircle runs on Android, iOS, and the web. It says it launched as a family photo-sharing tool in 2012 and describes SOC 2 Type II certification and NIST CSF alignment.