expandrive vs mountain duck vs cloudmounter
by sumit paul · last updated
expandrive, mountain duck and cloudmounter all put cloud storage in finder on mac and in explorer on windows. expandrive leans toward streaming drives and teams (file provider on mac, a cli, a linux server edition). mountain duck gives you a choice between a live network drive and an offline synced folder, with cryptomator encryption. cloudmounter offers built-in client-side encryption and a wide service list. all the facts below come from each app's own site.
side by side
| expandrive | mountain duck | cloudmounter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| platforms | mac, windows; server edition for windows server and linux | mac, windows | mac (12.4 or later), windows |
| consumer clouds | google drive, dropbox, box | google drive, dropbox, box | google drive, dropbox, box, mega, pcloud |
| object storage | s3, backblaze b2, wasabi, google cloud storage, idrive e2 | s3, backblaze b2, wasabi, google cloud storage, azure | s3, backblaze, openstack |
| servers | sftp, ftp, webdav, nextcloud, sharepoint | sftp, ftp, webdav, smb, nextcloud, owncloud, openstack swift, sharepoint | sftp, ftp, webdav |
| how it mounts on mac | apple's file provider api; no kernel extension | network volume, local cache sync, or file provider (integrated mode) | drives in finder; the site doesn't say which mechanism |
| opening files | streams on demand, cached for re-open | depends on the mode you pick | works with files in the cloud without filling your disk, per its site |
| offline | selected files in an offline cache | smart sync and integrated modes | mac yes, windows coming soon |
| encryption | encrypted transport | cryptomator vaults | client-side aes-256 (mac) |
| extras | exfs cli, web admin console, free for personal use | built on cyberduck; spotlight search of remote files | transfers between clouds without downloading |
expandrive
expandrive says it uses the same file provider api apple built for icloud and dropbox, so there's no kernel extension and no reboot, and mounted clouds appear in finder and in ~/Library/CloudStorage. files stream on demand and are cached locally for fast re-opening; you can keep selected files available offline. it's a universal app for apple silicon and intel. beyond the desktop app there's a scriptable cli, a server edition that runs as a system service on windows server and linux, and a web console for pushing the same drives to every machine on a license. it's the most team-oriented of the three, and its site says it's free for personal use.
mountain duck
mountain duck is the mounting sibling of cyberduck and shares its protocol support, which makes it the broadest of the three for servers (smb, owncloud, openstack swift). the useful difference is its connect modes. online mode gives you a network volume where changes upload as soon as an app saves. smart synchronization copies files to a local cache and syncs in the background, so they work offline. integrated mode, new in mountain duck 5, uses file provider on mac and cloud files on windows, with no device driver. it supports cryptomator vaults for client-side encryption, so the storage provider only sees encrypted data.
cloudmounter
cloudmounter, from electronic team, mounts each account as a drive in finder or explorer and lists the widest set of consumer clouds here, including mega and pcloud. its standout is built-in client-side aes-256 encryption on mac: files are encrypted before they leave your computer. it also lists offline access on mac and transfers between clouds without downloading to your computer. it supports macos 12.4 and later, which helps if your mac can't run the newest macos.
which one to pick
- you manage drives for a team or need linux: expandrive.
- you connect to servers over smb or sftp and want offline sync for some of them: mountain duck.
- you want one-click client-side encryption, or use mega or pcloud: cloudmounter.
- you want it free and don't mind terminal: none of these; use rclone.
whichever you lean toward, the honest test is to mount your own storage and open the files you actually work with before you commit.
where feather drive fits
feather drive isn't a fourth contender on the same terms. it covers google drive and dropbox only, on mac only, and needs macos 26 or later. all three apps above connect more services, and two of them do windows. what it does is narrower: when an app reads a file, it fetches only the byte ranges the app asks for, so a large video opens in about a second and takes no space on your mac. in our test a 1.22 GB video opened in 1.7 s, against 1 min 44 s in google drive for desktop, which downloaded the whole file first. we haven't run the same test against expandrive, mountain duck or cloudmounter, so we don't claim a speed difference with them.
its other limits: it only sees files you put in it (google's drive.file permission and a dropbox app folder), not your whole drive; opening files needs an internet connection; and it's a paid app with a 3-day free trial. it has optional end-to-end encryption, described on the security page. it fits if your files live in google drive or dropbox, they're big (video, raw photos, archives), and you're on a current mac.
related
- cloudmounter alternatives for mac
- how to mount google drive on a mac with rclone
- how to use google drive in finder on a mac
- how to use dropbox in finder without filling your disk
common questions
which is better, expandrive or cloudmounter?
expandrive suits people who want a file provider drive with a cli, a linux server edition and team admin tools. cloudmounter suits people who want built-in client-side encryption and its particular list of services, such as mega and pcloud.
which works offline?
all three can on mac. mountain duck has a smart synchronization mode, expandrive can keep selected files in an offline cache, and cloudmounter lists offline access on mac (with windows marked as coming soon).
do any of them need a kernel extension?
expandrive says it doesn't, because it uses apple's file provider api. mountain duck 5's integrated mode says it needs no device driver. cloudmounter's site doesn't say how it mounts.
which one encrypts files before upload?
cloudmounter has client-side aes-256 encryption on mac. mountain duck opens cryptomator vaults. expandrive's site talks about encrypted transport rather than client-side encryption.