Dropbox alternative Cubby now in open beta

Remember Cubby? A file hosting and synchronization solution that is offering features that the majority of services do not offer? Cubby looks like any other solution at first glance: you get 5 Gigabytes of online storage that you can use to synchronize your devices with. That's three more than Dropbox is offering, and since Cubby has a similar invite system as Dropbox, expandable free of charge. Each referral gives you 1 Gigabyte of extra space up to a total of 25 Gigabytes for free users. Referring users on the other hand can only be done by email invites currently, as you do not get a direct referral link that you can post all over forums, sites and other online places.

But space is just one thing, what about features? Cubby offers several features that make it a viable option. First, you can simply select any folder on your drive to synchronize it with your personal online storage space or other devices. That's excellent if you do not want to move all the files that you want to synchronize to a root folder (either manually or through trickery using symbolic links). Just right-click any folder on your system and select to sync it with Cubby.

Cubby furthermore supports direct device to device synchronizations bypassing the cloud at all. Maybe you have some files and folders that you prefer not to host in the cloud. Using the option you can simply transfer them between computers directly, provided that both computers are online during the transfer. You have full control over all the syncing and can decide the synchronization on a per-folder basis. Want to make sure your important work documents are always synced with your laptop, and that your family photos are synced with the cloud and shared with the computers of other family members? That's where Cubby excels.

There is more. Cubby offers unlimited versioning to restore a previous file version, public and private sharing of files, a desktop app for Windows PCs and Apple Macintosh systems, and mobile apps for Apple and Android devices.

Cubby today reached a new development milestone. The file synchronization and hosting service has entered the open beta phase, which means that anyone can now head over to the website and sign up for an account. Just head over to the site and download one of the clients from the website to get started.

Cubby: what's new

• The operators of the service have launched a new website to celebrate the development milestone.
• The web interface now displays image thumbnails of photos and images that you have uploaded in addition to the standard file listing view mode.

• You now get a visual representation of the live sync status that visualizes the devices the data is synced with. An option to pause the process is now also available.

• Support for logmein and join.me accounts. If you already use a LogMeIn product but not Cubby, you can use the account to log in to Cubby without having to register an account.
• The web interface now features action buttons, which provide one-click access to important features.
• A community driven idea site where users can post, comment and vote for features.

Have you tried Cubby yet? If so, what is your opinion of the service?

Advertisement