Cloud storage and upload limits by plan in browser and cloud video tools

Three different limits, not one

Cloud video tools meter you in three separate ways, and a plan can be generous on one and tight on another. Storage is how many gigabytes the vendor keeps for you. A per-file upload cap is the largest single file you can send. A time allowance, such as Descript's media minutes or Riverside's recording hours, counts how much footage you add each month regardless of its size.

FlexClip adds a fourth distinction. Its Cloud Space holds the videos, photos and audio you upload, while Video Hosting Space holds exported videos that you share by link. [5] The two are sized separately, so a plan with 30 GB of Cloud Space can still show 100 GB of hosting. [4]

The figures below are what each vendor's own pages stated on 30 October 2026. Where a page did not state a limit, we say so rather than fill the gap.

Storage, upload caps and time allowances by plan

Not stated means the official page we read did not give the figure. Prices change; re-check the linked page before you buy. [1][2][3][4][6][7][8][10][12]

Worked example: a weekly one-hour interview show

Assume a 60-minute, two-person show recorded in 1080p at 30 fps, with one video file per person and one finished export each week. We use YouTube's recommended upload bitrate for 1080p at 24 to 30 fps, 8 Mbps, as a conservative stand-in for file size. [9] Many cameras and recorders write at higher bitrates, so treat these numbers as a floor.

The arithmetic: 8 megabits per second times 3,600 seconds is 28,800 megabits, divided by 8 is 3,600 MB, or 3.6 GB per hour of video. Two camera files plus one export is 3 x 3.6 = 10.8 GB per episode. Over 52 episodes that is about 562 GB a year, or roughly 47 GB a month if nothing is deleted.

At 4K the picture changes fast. YouTube's 4K reference for 24 to 30 fps is 35 to 45 Mbps, which works out to about 15.8 to 20.3 GB per hour, so the same show would need roughly 47 to 61 GB per episode. [9]

Per-file caps and time allowances can bite first

Descript Free caps each upload at 1 GB. At 8 Mbps a file reaches 1 GB in about 1,000 seconds, or 16.7 minutes, so a full hour of 1080p from a camera will not go up as one file on Free. [1] Hobbyist's 10 GB cap allows about 2.8 hours at 8 Mbps but only about 30 minutes at 45 Mbps 4K, which is why long 4K takes may need Creator's 20 GB or Business's 50 GB.

Descript's media minutes count time spent uploading or recording media, they reset each billing cycle and unused minutes do not roll over. [2] If you record the weekly show in a Descript Room, the help article says a session uses media minutes for its total length, not once per participant, so 4.33 hour-long sessions a month use about 260 of Hobbyist's 600 minutes. [2] Uploads are measured in time rather than per file, so importing two 60-minute camera files per episode instead uses about 120 minutes, or about 520 of the 600 minutes a month.

Riverside's pricing page is internally inconsistent. Its plan table lists 5 hours a month of separate audio and video tracks on Pro, which would leave less than 45 minutes of slack for 4.33 one-hour sessions, while its FAQ says recording itself is unlimited and that the cap applies to separate track downloads: 15 hours on Pro, 20 on Grow and 25 on Webinar. [7] Two 60-minute tracks a week is about 8.7 track-hours a month, inside the FAQ's Pro figure but not the table's, so ask Riverside which limit applies before committing. Separately, Riverside lists 15 hours of external uploads a month on Pro, Grow and Webinar, and unlimited on Business. [8]

What happens when you hit the cap

This is the least documented part of every plan. Here is what the pages we read actually say.

• Descript: when you hit your monthly limit you can buy a Top up from the Usage tab in App Settings; Top ups are shared across the Drive and do not change your plan. [2] We did not find a stated behaviour for a full storage quota.
• FlexClip: only premium accounts have Cloud Space, and synced files are kept for 3 months after a subscription ends; FlexClip advises backing up or resubscribing. [3] Behaviour at a full quota was not stated.
• CapCut: Standard is listed at about 100 GB and Pro up to 1 TB; the help page did not say what happens when storage is full. [6] CapCut's privacy policy says files you actively upload and store in Cloud Space are deleted at your request, without giving a retention period. [11]
• Riverside: the pricing FAQ says that once you hit the separate-track download cap you cannot download new separate tracks until the next billing cycle; it does not say what happens to stored recordings if you downgrade. [7]
• Screen Studio: recordings and projects stay on your Mac, and projects up to 20 GB can be downloaded as a single file; only shared videos are uploaded. [10]

Who should pay for more storage, and who should not

Pay for the larger cloud tier if several people edit the same footage from different machines, or if the tool's AI features only work on media stored in its cloud. That is the real value of 1 TB on Descript Creator or CapCut Pro.

Skip it if you edit alone on one computer. A desktop editor such as Filmora keeps footage on your own drives and its cloud allowance is 1 GB or 10 GB, so the right budget line there is an external drive and a backup copy, not a cloud tier. [12]

Either way, clear finished projects out of the cloud tool once the export is archived. At 10.8 GB a week, deleting raw files after each episode keeps a 100 GB plan workable indefinitely.

Checklist before you pick a plan

• Measure one real file: note its size and length, and divide to get GB per hour for your camera or recorder.
• Multiply by files per episode and episodes per month; compare with the storage column above.
• Compare your longest single file with the plan's per-file upload cap.
• Count monthly recording or media hours separately from storage.
• Decide where finished masters live (local drive, NAS or general cloud storage) so the editor's cloud is a working space, not your archive.
• Before cancelling or downgrading, download anything you need; FlexClip keeps Cloud Space files for 3 months after expiry, and other vendors did not state a window. [3]

Sources & verification

Product details and prices can change. Check the linked provider before buying.

1. Descript: Pricing Accessed 30 Oct 2026
2. Descript Help: Track and understand your media minutes and AI credits Accessed 30 Oct 2026
3. FlexClip Help: Cloud space limits Accessed 30 Oct 2026
4. FlexClip Help: Video editor plan benefits Accessed 30 Oct 2026
5. FlexClip Help: Difference between Cloud Space and storage space Accessed 30 Oct 2026
6. CapCut Help: CapCut Standard vs Pro Accessed 30 Oct 2026
7. Riverside: Pricing Accessed 30 Oct 2026
8. Riverside Help: What are the limits for uploading external files? Accessed 30 Oct 2026
9. YouTube Help: Recommended upload encoding settings Accessed 30 Oct 2026
10. Screen Studio: Official site Accessed 30 Oct 2026
11. CapCut: Privacy Policy Accessed 30 Oct 2026
12. Wondershare Filmora: Buy video editor (Windows) Accessed 30 Oct 2026