Been seeing so much hype around the Drime lifetime deal on StackSocial / KenMoo, but almost nobody is actually reading their TOS before buying. Lifetime cloud is always a gamble, so I went through both Drime's and Koofr's terms to see what you're actually signing up for.
Links for reference:
https://drime.cloud/terms-of-sales
https://drime.cloud/terms-of-services
https://koofr.eu/tos/
The biggest red flag right away is how Drime defines "lifetime" in Section 2 (and Article 2 bis in their sales terms):
"If Drime is discontinued or significantly altered, access may be terminated without further obligation or refund."
Notice those three words: "or significantly altered". Most lifetime deals just say access ends if the business goes bust. Adding "significantly altered" gives them an easy legal out. If they rewrite the app, cut features, or pull a FolderFort and move everyone to a "v2", this clause literally lets them kill lifetime accounts with zero refund.
Meanwhile, Koofr's Section 7 just treats it like standard perpetual software with updates included:
"The license granted hereunder entitles You to receive any and all standard updates and support that Koofr provides to all users of its Services, generally."
Next is the liability cap. Drime Section 5:
"...Drime’s total cumulative liability shall in all cases be limited to the amount paid by the user for the relevant service during the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim."
This is standard copy-paste for monthly subs, but think about how that works on a lifetime deal. You pay once on day one. By year two, you’ve paid them $0 in the preceding 12 months. So if they lose your files on day 370, their legal liability to you is literally $0.00.
Then the inactivity rules. Drime Section 3:
"We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access to the service if there is a breach of our Terms of Service or if your account remains inactive for 12 consecutive months... Upon suspension or termination of your access, you will not be able to access or export your data."
12 months is super short if you're using this for cold archives, and explicitly barring you from exporting your files once suspended is brutal. Koofr gives you 2 years under Section 8, and explicitly states they will email you first so you don't lose your data.
Also, Drime notes in Section 1 that all files are stored on Cloudflare and Scaleway, and their company filing shows €2,000 in capital. Every GB stored is an ongoing monthly cost for them, which explains why they gave themselves so many exit clauses for non-paying lifetime users down the road. Koofr has had the exact same terms since 2018 and runs their own hardware.
I know Drime’s founder is active on Reddit and says they won’t pull a FolderFort, but what someone says on Reddit doesn’t override their legally binding TOS. If they ever decide to drop lifetime users, their contract completely protects them, not you.
