Cloud services can cover far more than file storage: businesses may use hosted tools for productivity, communications, accounting, ecommerce, education, or infrastructure. But the accessible source for the article titled “Storage, servers and more: We found 24 cloud services for your business” does not verify its 24 individual services. Rather than guess at that list, this guide explains how to identify the services your business needs and compare them on criteria that matter.
Which cloud services does your business need?
Start with the work you need to get done, not with a provider’s product catalogue. Cloud services are hosted tools or infrastructure that your business accesses over a network. Depending on your operations, the relevant categories might include:
- Storage and file sharing: keep business files online and let authorized people access or collaborate on them.
- Productivity: support everyday tasks such as documents, spreadsheets, and team work.
- Communications: provide hosted services for business calling or messaging.
- Accounting and ecommerce: handle financial workflows or online sales.
- Education and app automation: deliver online learning or connect processes and applications.
- Servers and infrastructure: provide hosted computing resources for applications or systems.
These are examples of business cloud categories, not a verified inventory of the 24 services in the ZDNet roundup. A related ZDNet France small-business guide discusses several adjacent software categories, but it does not establish which services appeared in that separate article. The linked US roundup could not be opened, so its full list, original publication date, and intended geography remain unverified.
Make a shortlist by mapping each service to a specific business need, the people who will use it, and the systems or data it must work with. Different categories solve different problems; the available evidence does not support a single ranking across storage, communications, accounting, ecommerce, education, productivity, and infrastructure.
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- Entry-level NAS Personal Storage：UGREEN NAS DH2300 is your first and best NAS made easy. It is designed for beginners who want a simple, private way to store videos, photos and personal files, which is intuitive for users moving from cloud storage or external drives and move away from scattered date across devices. This entry-level NAS 2-bay perfect for personal entertainment, photo storage, and easy data backup (doesn't support Docker or virtual machines).
- Set Your Devices Free, Expand Your Digital World: This unified storage hub supports massive capacity up to 64TB.*Storage drives not included. Stop Deleting, Start Storing. You can store 22 million 3MB images, or 2 million 30MB songs, or 43K 1.5GB movies or 67 million 1MB documents! UGREEN NAS is a better way to free up storage across all your devices such as phones, computers, tablets and also does automatic backups across devices regardless of the operating system—Window, iOS, Android or macOS.
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- Let AI Better Organize Your Memories: UGREEN NAS uses AI to tag faces, locations, texts, and objects—so you can effortlessly find any photo by searching for who or what's in it in seconds. It also automatically finds and deletes similar or duplicate photo, backs up live photos and allows you to share them with your friends or family with just one tap. Everything stays effortlessly organized, powered by intelligent tagging and recognition.
How should a small business compare cloud storage?
For storage, compare more than the headline capacity. Microsoft’s business-storage guide recommends considering the amount of data you have, expected growth, and how many people need regular access, alongside security, collaboration, usability, administrative controls, support, and total cost. It is vendor guidance, not an independent ranking of providers. See Microsoft’s guide to cloud storage for small businesses.
- Capacity and growth: estimate current storage use and how quickly it is likely to increase. Check how the account handles capacity changes.
- Users and access: identify how many people need routine access, and whether the service offers controls suited to your team.
- Security: review the provider’s documented security features and how they fit your organization’s requirements.
- Sharing and collaboration: confirm that the way employees need to share and work on files is supported.
- Administration and support: check what business-account controls and support options are available.
- Usability and total cost: consider whether employees can use the service effectively and compare the complete cost for your expected use, not capacity alone.
What should you check before choosing a business cloud account?
Before committing, read the provider’s current documentation for the region and account type you intend to use. Confirm current pricing, included capacity, feature availability, administrative options, support, and how the service handles your business data. These details can vary by provider, plan, geography, and date; historical prices in a related 2019 ZDNet France guide, updated in 2026, do not establish what a service costs now.
Rank #2
- Value NAS with RAID for centralized storage and backup for all your devices. Check out the LS 700 for enhanced features, cloud capabilities, macOS 26, and up to 7x faster performance than the LS 200.
- Connect the LinkStation to your router and enjoy shared network storage for your devices. The NAS is compatible with Windows and macOS*, and Buffalo's US-based support is on-hand 24/7 for installation walkthroughs. *Only for macOS 15 (Sequoia) and earlier. For macOS 26, check out our LS 700 series.
- Subscription-Free Personal Cloud – Store, back up, and manage all your videos, music, and photos and access them anytime without paying any monthly fees.
- Storage Purpose-Built for Data Security – A NAS designed to keep your data safe, the LS200 features a closed system to reduce vulnerabilities from 3rd party apps and SSL encryption for secure file transfers.
- Back Up Multiple Computers & Devices – NAS Navigator management utility and PC backup software included. NAS Navigator 2 for macOS 15 and earlier. You can set up automated backups of data on your computers.
Also decide how the service fits into your continuity plan. Cloud storage can help keep files accessible, but it should not automatically be treated as a complete backup for every system. Microsoft’s guide cautions that cloud storage is not a true backup solution for all systems. Check what is actually protected, how recovery works, and whether other systems or data need a separate backup approach.
Finally, compare services within their own category. The right questions for hosted servers are not identical to those for file storage or communications, and the available sources do not establish a universal scoring method across them. Choose criteria based on the job the service must perform, then verify the provider’s current terms before buying.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- 【Advanced Home Data & Media Hub】For advanced home users who need phone backup, file storage, and centralized data management. Centralize family photos, 4K videos, movies, computer backups, and personal files in one place while running multiple apps for home entertainment and everyday data management. Suitable for households with growing digital libraries and multiple NAS use cases.
- 【Built for Creators, Media Servers & Advanced Apps】Powered by the Intel N100 Quad-Core CPU, 8GB DDR5 RAM, 2.5GbE networking, and dual M.2 NVMe slots, DXP2800 handles large files and heavier workloads with ease. Run Docker, virtual machines, and media server applications compatible with Plex—ideal for content creators, tech enthusiasts, and advanced home users managing 4K videos, RAW photos, personal media libraries, and multiple NAS apps.
- 【Up to 80TB for Growing Digital Libraries】 Supports up to 80TB of storage using two HDD bays and two M.2 NVMe SSD slots for family photos, movies, RAW photos, 4K videos, work files, and device backups. AI photo management supports recognition of people, objects, scenes, and locations, album organization, and duplicate photo detection. HDDs and SSDs are not included.
- 【AI-powered Home Surveillance】Turn DXP2800 into a centralized home surveillance hub by connecting compatible network cameras and storing recordings locally on your NAS. AI-powered features include Face Recognition, People Detection, and Pet Detection, helping advanced home users review important events more efficiently while managing home surveillance and personal data in one place.
- 【One data Center Across Your Devices】Keep files from desktops, laptops, phones, tablets, and other devices together instead of scattered across cloud accounts and external drives. Access, back up, organize, and share data across Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, web browsers, and compatible smart TVs—ideal for creators and advanced home users working across multiple devices.
Rank #4
- Value NAS with RAID for centralized storage and backup for all your devices. Check out the LS 700 for enhanced features, cloud capabilities, macOS 26, and up to 7x faster performance than the LS 200.
- Connect the LinkStation to your router and enjoy shared network storage for your devices. The NAS is compatible with Windows and macOS*, and Buffalo's US-based support is on-hand 24/7 for installation walkthroughs. *Only for macOS 15 (Sequoia) and earlier. For macOS 26, check out our LS 700 series.
- Subscription-Free Personal Cloud – Store, back up, and manage all your videos, music, and photos and access them anytime without paying any monthly fees.
- Storage Purpose-Built for Data Security – A NAS designed to keep your data safe, the LS200 features a closed system to reduce vulnerabilities from 3rd party apps and SSL encryption for secure file transfers.
- Back Up Multiple Computers & Devices – NAS Navigator management utility and PC backup software included. NAS Navigator 2 for macOS 15 and earlier. You can set up automated backups of data on your computers.
Rank #3
- Creator-Grade Hardware Built for Speed: Powered by an Intel Core i3-1315U 6-core CPU and 8GB DDR5 RAM, the F6-425 Pro network attached storage is engineered for content creators and media teams. Dual 10GbE ports deliver up to 2090 MB/s via SMB Multichannel, while three M.2 NVMe slots with Hyper Cache keep your disk array at peak performance
- TOS 7 AI OS with OpenClaw Ready: TOS 7 is a groundbreaking AI-native NAS operating system integrating the OpenClaw AI agent at the system core. This AI NAS replaces menu navigation with natural language commands, processes AI tasks locally by default, and opens 500+ APIs for custom workflows - all within a redesigned interface with 50+ new features
- TB4 Bridge Connection for High-Speed PC-to-NAS Access: Supports TB4 Bridge for a direct point-to-point connection between your PC/Mac and NAS, delivering approximately 10-20Gbps transfer bandwidth without a network switch. Enables smooth 4K/8K video editing, large project files, and collaborative workflows
- Online Office Editing, Global Search & TNAS Mobile: TOS 7 supports online editing of Word, Excel, and PPT without downloading, plus global search that instantly locates any file across all volumes - 10x faster than before. The all-new TNAS Mobile app lets you manage and share files from your phone. This NAS enclosure has never been more productive
- Flexible TRAID/TRAID+ Storage & Online Expansion: Beyond traditional RAID 0/1/5/6/10, the exclusive TRAID/TRAID+ technology on this NAS storage supports mixed-capacity drives and enables online array expansion without interrupting services or migrating data
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
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