# Filen

8 Hacker News commenters recommended Filen and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** End-to-end encrypted, German-hosted cloud storage with a generous free tier and a Linux client. Some call it the least bad option.

## Why people recommend it

- Generous free tier, affordable price (3 comments): "Their free tier looks extremely generous to me, and in this case I like the fact that it's from and entirely hosted in Germany." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46232452)) "it runs on every platform including Linux, it's affordable, and end to end encrypted" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47704977)) "which I find very reasonable and, critically, it has a Linux client" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47674813))
- Runs on Linux and every platform (2 comments): "it runs on every platform including Linux, it's affordable, and end to end encrypted" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47704977)) "which I find very reasonable and, critically, it has a Linux client" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47674813))
- End-to-end encrypted (2 comments): "Filen is quite good, is E2E encrypted and currently offering (final round of) lifetime plans for Black Friday." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46129341)) "it runs on every platform including Linux, it's affordable, and end to end encrypted" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47704977))
- German company, hosted in Germany (2 comments): "while that platform has had stability and reliability issues, at least the stored data can't be bullied out of a German-only company" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46980136)) "Their free tier looks extremely generous to me, and in this case I like the fact that it's from and entirely hosted in Germany." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46232452))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Apple iCloud](https://hackerapproved.com/p/icloud.md): 144 recommend
- [Dropbox](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dropbox.md): 140 recommend
- [OneDrive](https://hackerapproved.com/p/onedrive.md): 86 recommend
- [Google Drive](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-drive.md): 66 recommend
- [rsync.net](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rsync-net.md): 34 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://filen.io/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Filen", https://hackerapproved.com/p/filen/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).