Comparison
Encrypted cloud, or a vault with no cloud at all?
Proton Drive is a genuinely good end-to-end-encrypted cloud drive. Sealby answers a different question: what if your private files needed no account, no server, and no provable existence in the first place?
What’s the difference between Sealby and Proton Drive?
Proton Drive is account-based encrypted cloud storage: your (encrypted) files live on Proton’s servers, tied to a Proton identity. Sealby is a local-first vault: files are encrypted on your iPhone, there is no account or server, and vaults are deniable — no one can prove how many exist, or that any do.
Where Proton Drive shines
- Genuine end-to-end encryption from a respected privacy company
- Big storage tiers, sharing links, and apps on every platform
- The right tool when the job is “my files, encrypted, everywhere”
Where it falls short
- Requires a Proton account — your identity is attached to your storage
- Your encrypted data lives on their servers; its existence and size are knowable
- No deniable vaults, no duress PIN — a locked drive still visibly exists
- Cloud-first: not designed as a sealed, local-only vault
The honest verdict
Pick Proton Drive when the job is cloud storage: big capacity, sharing links, cross-platform access. Pick Sealby when the job is secrecy: a vault with no account to subpoena or phish, nothing readable on any server, and contents whose very existence is deniable. Plenty of people sensibly use both.
Common questions
Isn’t end-to-end encryption the same everywhere?
The cryptography is similar; the trust model isn’t. An account-based service knows who you are, that you store data, and roughly how much — and that metadata can be demanded. Sealby has no account and no server, so there is no one to ask and nothing to enumerate.
Can Sealby replace my cloud drive?
No — and it doesn’t try. Sealby is for the subset of files that should be sealed: private photos, documents, notes, phrases. Premium adds encrypted iCloud backup and sync of those vaults, but it’s a vault, not a file-sharing drive.
Related: The security model · Best encrypted vault apps · Notes & documents
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