Citadel vs Proton Drive

Proton Drive and Citadel do different jobs.

Proton Drive keeps the key with you. Citadel changes what is stored so a key is not the deciding factor.

What is Proton Drive for?

Privacy-focused cloud storage with end-to-end, zero-knowledge encryption so the provider cannot read your files.

What is Citadel for?

Protecting and archiving high-value information: board papers, IP, legal files, financial records, source code and private keys. It is a vault, not a workspace.

Do you need both?

Usually, yes. Most organisations keep Proton Drive for everyday work and move their crown-jewel data into Citadel, where there is no sharing surface at all.

An honest comparison.

Proton Drive is a capable product and we are not going to pretend otherwise. It is designed for productivity, and it is good at it.

Citadel is designed for containment. It has no sharing, no links, no guests and no sync client, because every one of those is a route out. Those absences would be flaws in a collaboration tool. In a vault they are the point.

Where the protection differs.

Mainstream platforms protect data with encryption and access controls: an algorithm, a key and a permission model. That is a reasonable design, and it rests on the key staying secret.

Citadel adds Secured2's physics-based Quantum-Secure® protection. Files are reduced, separated into fragments with no independent meaning, and distributed, so no single location holds a complete, readable file.

Proton Drive and Citadel side by side

How they compare
Protection modelProton Drive: zero-knowledge encryption. Citadel: keyless, physics-based reduction, separation and distribution.
Single point of failureProton Drive: your key. Citadel: no master key reconstructs a file on its own.
Harvest now, decrypt laterProton Drive: ciphertext could be stored for future attack. Citadel: fragments carry no independent meaning.
SharingProton Drive: available. Citadel: none by design.
AudienceProton Drive: privacy-conscious individuals and teams. Citadel: organisations protecting crown-jewel data.

Questions people ask

Is zero-knowledge encryption not enough?
It is a genuinely strong model, and it still concentrates everything in one secret. Citadel removes that dependency.
Is Citadel privacy-focused too?
Yes. There is no sharing surface, activity is private to your account, and no location holds a readable file.
Which should I choose?
If you need private everyday storage, Proton Drive is a fine choice. If you are protecting information whose exposure would be material, use a vault.

Keep reading

Citadel by Secured2

Keep working where you work. Vault what you cannot lose.

Citadel sits alongside the tools your teams already use, and takes responsibility for the files that must never leak.

See pricing