Compare Online File Storage: Rapidshare vs Megaupload vs Hotfile
If you are an avid web surfer like me, you may have stumbled upon
file sharing sites such as Rapidshare, Megaupload, and Hotfile. How
exactly do these uploading sites work and why should you use them? These
popular online file storage sites offer more than just an online backup
for your files. They also offer rewards. Yes, you can make money off of file storage.
While these 3 uploading sites offer similar services, they do vary. Let's compare the 3 biggest file hosting sites vs each other and see which of these is right right you. All 3 sites offer free online storage but it is always to upgrade to their premium plans for several reasons.
Rapidshare
Rapidshare is the biggest name in online file storage. They have been around since the beginning. They offer a maximum upload limit of 200 MB for free users and 2 GB for "Premium" members. In the month of March 2010, Rapidshare discontinued their rewards program for premium members. This effectively stopped premium members from redeeming their earned points to receive gifts and cash. The sudden removal of the rewards program has forced many people to search for better file storage alternatives.
Despite the removal of the rewards program, if you frequent sites that prompts a Rapidshare link, it may be a good idea to purchase a premium account if you want to bypass the waiting period for free downloads. A premium account will also allow you to download multiple files at once from the Rapidshare servers.
Megaupload
Megaupload is another very popular file hosting site. Naturally, former Rapidshare members will migrate to Megaupload and for good reasons. Free members can download and upload files up to 1024 MB. Premium members are allowed access to files that are larger. With Megaupload, you earn 1 reward point per download but there are a few limitations. You must have a premium account to get paid. You must be logged in while uploading (prevent scamming). No manipulating results in any way. Only downloads from select countries are counted. You must follow the TOS. This means no spamming, porn, warez, etc. And last, files over 100 MB are not counted.
Megaupload allows you to earn points with Megavideo. Basically, you earn 1 point per each completed view. This can help you earn rewards faster than you normally would. In the past, Megaupload would allow you to redeem 1 year premium membership + $100 with 100000 rewards point. Now, in order to earn money, you must reach at least 500000 points which will net you a lifetime platinum membership + $500. This can take a very, VERY long time.
If you are looking to make money with Megaupload, expect to put in a lot of work just to reach the minimum payout. If you already have lots of popular files you can easily promote, then Megaupload may be an option for you. It is a legit company and many people have gotten paid by them.
Hotfile
Hotfile is the new file hosting site. Hotfile allows a 2 GB upload
limit. Their affiliate program, like all uploading sites require a
premium account in order to get paid. However Hotfile differs from
Megaupload in they way they reward it's premium users. They offer a tier
system and pay per 1000 download. This ranges from $2 to $15 per 1000
downloads. The tier order is Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold. And Platinum.
In order to raise your rank, you must focus on referring people to join
Hotfile and work on your ratio. Hotfile is straightforward and easy to use!
Ratio is considered when ranking is decided. In order to raise your ratio, you must focus on promoting files you wish to upload. The clear benefit of Hotfile over Megaupload is the payment threshold. The minimum payout is only $15 and Hotfile offers quick and easy payment ever Mondays through Paypal. Hotfile is also cheaper than Megaupload. 1 year of premium membership at Megaupload is $59.99 and only $55 at Hotfile. Currently only Megaupload offer lifetime premium accounts.
Besides unlimited bandwidth for download, upload, and storage. Hotfile also gives you up to 1.2 TB of hotlink bandwidth. This means you can host files for direct download without you visitors having to go to a landing page. Many people have been paid through Hotfile and it is not as difficult to reach compared to Megaupload.
Besides the opportunity to earn with these uploading sites, having unlimited file hosting for $55 per year is a great alternative to buying external hard drives. A clear benefit to hosting your files online is having access to the anywhere you have internet access. If you want a virtual hard drive and earn money at the same time, I recommend joining Hotfile today!
After you join Hotfile and become a premium member, go to "affiliate" and click "join Affiliate program". Enter your Paypal email and you are now able to earn money for each download your file gets! Its easy!
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Comments
True, Rapidshare allows for searching but that's a double edge sword. Files get flagged all the time on rapidshare due to copyright.
rapidshares' new pricing policy sucks. o.k if u think you're going to download like a robot, a steady amount every day, but crap if you do nothing then all of a sudden need to get 20+ gig in one go. Your account gets 'upgraded' then its a mystery as to whether it gets downgraded again. Mine never seems to. I keep having to go in and manually set it back to small so it doesnt munch stupid amount of credits per day while i do nothing. Hotfile seems good choice for me atm. Buy account, forget about it. I dont download a lot. Far from it. Just big and infrequent. Dont wanna have to keep fannying about with 'rapids' and auto upgrading / downgrading blah blah blah.
Simon,
From what you're saying, rapidshare is beginning to work like Godaddy and their sneaky automatic payment methods. Businesses like these that use underhanded tactics are what's killing the web. Hotfile has been very good to me so far. The website is easy to navigate and they tell you in plain English what you are getting into.
Free accounts are easy to understand. Premium account holders get their own virtual cloud storage. Want to make some cash? Promote your files and share them. Simple!
i have used HotFile but sorry to say they scammed me
i used there affiliate and started earning
it was fine when my earnings were between 200$ but they removed my account when i cross 500$ per month
later on i used MegaShare.com and now i crossed 1K and things going well
i love if you review MegaShare.com
Sorry to hear that you had a bad experience. What did you do that made them remove you? If you have been earning $200 a month, then you must have gotten paid out. They pay weekly. Did you violate their terms of service? I find it hard to believe you were legitimate in your account since many people across the web have been using them with good results.
I will look into megashare.
I've been with rapidshare forever. But since they've changed the system, nobody wants to upload to rapidshare anymore. There's no point of getting your file downloaded by others. Hotfile is on the go. I hate it, but unless RS won't bring back the point earning back, I will no longer pay for the service.
I started out with a RS account some monthes ago after moving from P2P networks. With all the search engines and forums available, its no problem finding what I want. Like others I hooked up with HotFile after RS changed their TOS. Bought 6 months, and as long as HF doesnt change anything fundamental they will be my preferred choice.
Can only recommend them. Have no experiennce with their reward system though, so bad luck for the guy that didnt get cashed out from efforts. On the other hand, maybe he broke some of the rules in the TOC about pirated uploads and got caught? Cant say.
BingoK1ng,
Their reward system is pretty straight forward but I only wish there was a clearer definition as to getting promoted. That's the only thing kind of shaddy. They say getting promoted requires high dl/ to upload ratio and referrals is a factor also. It's not too hard reaching their $15 payout threshold if you know what people want.
Like I said, I just wish the ranking was clearer.
Tried hotfile and was ok (didn't get scammed like @above), but focusing on megashare now earnt $1000 last month so much much better than hotfile!
I looked into megashare and I got a mixed bag. Megashare works like adsense or rather, Hubpages. You earn 70% of the ad revenue. In theory, you can go a full month without getting paid if there is no click. Another thing I'm cautious about is earning in the dark. Megashare doesn't tell you how much you've earned. Hotfile does. I like logging in everyday and seeing how much money I made. I'll look into them a bit more. Ohh and someone at DP mentioned their earnings screen shot was payment "proof" of their own staff. I can't confirm this but it seems kind of odd.
With Megaupload there are many premium link generators so that you don't have to purchase a premium account to down load a few files. http://premium.megauploadlinkgenerator.com
I've always been wary of survey sites and that link requires one in order to get access. I will try it once i encounter a megaupload link.
Well I got premium Rapidshare and Hotfile account each got pros and cons.
For RS
pros - more files especially older files
cons - expensive, files taken down quickly
For HF
pros - cheaper, files taken down later, more newer files
cons - not many older files, speed not as consistent as rs
Thank you jazzman, I've noticed a slight speed decrease depending on what time of the day I am downloading. It isn't a big deal. I hope a few server tweaks can fix this.
long time I had Rs... but now., too expensive , so Hotfile is my choice !
It's funny, everyone here is almost in the same boat... we all hate rapidshare now and want to move to hotfile since their insane policy change that will bankrupt them in 1 year when all the files expire.
In my case I also signed up for a great promo rate from a top usenet company but found that usenets aren't what they once were like 5 years ago. Any software is basically full of viruses, the xxx files are .wmv with a link you need to go to in order to watch the licensed video and few official scene releases go to newsgroups these days.
In the past newsgroups were hands down the best source of all warez. Anything new would be placed there first and copied to other mediums like torrents and file websites. Then came along the ISPs that banned them since 95% the traffic was being generated by 5% of people using it. After that it seemed like most groups release content through torrents and now that's been moving to file hosting sites.
Anyway, long story short Hotfile is the way to go.. mostly because they are widely used and have excellent policies that supports uploaders - which is a must for a filesharing site to grow. Also with google you can basically find any file you need. These days I can get far more content, and even files not on usenet since its dying anyway. It's an easy choice - switching to hotfile like everyone else.
Kosai,
Rapidshare has also been the target of anti-pirate organizations in court.
I never used newsgroups. I believe the big one was Usenext? I can't talk about illegally downloaded software but I can say I've switch to Linux and never worry about virus anymore.
You are right about everything. I've noticed a sharp decline of torrents. File hosting sites is the way to go right now. Hotfile has appealed to many big credible sites. For example crackberry.com hosts their leaked OS releases on Hotfile. It only helps to legitimize them.
Though I am a Hotfile user, I am fair. The moment they do something shady to me, I will maintain my integrity and pull or modify this article.
Using Megavideo was tempting for me but I've read many stories about people getting their videos taken down and banned.
I don't like the fact that ISP's are watching our internet usage. My friend got hit with a few "warnings" to stop downloading videos. He had to delete those videos but it's always on his mind whenever he's online. "They" are watching and they do know. As long as you keep the threshold low, you don't get flagged.
HotFile AVOID DO NOT PAY ONE PENNY.
Hotfile was a good downloading service, their Premium account worth the money. That has all changed, because they have deleted all their "worthwhile" content, pretty much every file has now been removed.
splitting hairs, what are you talking about. I have gotten many payouts from them. They only delete content when someone reports that it violates their TOS.
Can you check FileSonic? It offers higher rewards than HotFile, up to 35$/1000 downloads.
Also, do you need a hotfile premium account to receive money from your files?
Thanks for the heads up Andrei. I will check it out. Yes, you need a "premium account" to get your money. It seems odd that you have to pay to get money. You really have to be getting good amounts of downloads for this to be worthwhile but a good idea for beginners is to let your cash "bank" up. That is, let it build up, and get a premium account when you want to be paid out. They are still paying out, on time.
Were you able to find out about FileSonic? Wanted to see if it was legit and if you were able to find out about the pros and cons of it. Thanks
Vinner. Sorry I have not tried FileSonic yet. I'm still getting payouts from Hotfile. I've been too busy with other ventures though if anyone out there has tried it, feel free to leave a comment. Not a ticket for spammers though. You tend to come across tons of them when you talk about this sort of subject. Anyways, I want to thank you for keeping up with this article. Most people that try online file storage to make money usually give up before they start of they simply don't have the patience. Check out the other hub on "Easy Principles On Making Money With Hotfile" if you haven't already.
Does anybody know if megaupload is still offering rewards. For months their rewards have been under renovation and nobody seems to know if they will ever work again.
if you haven't read the news lately,
megaupload been wiped by FBI / US' DoJ / SOPA / PIPA
they were very good. love it, now it's gone :( time to find new hosts that offer lifetime membership
Yes, I've been following SOPA/PIPA and all the criminals that support it. This country is turning into a police state and they want to control YOUR internet. Absolutely disgusting. I sent emails to my state reps. I urge everyone to do what they can in support of a free internet. Thanks. Sorry about your lifetime membership. My well wishes go out to you.
Johny 22 months ago
I would go for Rapidshare, you can find all files you want from rapidshare