SugarSync, a gladiator in the long, hard battle that is hosted cloud storage, has decided to go mercenary. The company announced today that they will offer a “paid-only” service model, doing away with their free storage tiers. Current customers can still access their files and will be offered considerable discounts on the service – up to 75% in some cases.

“We have decided to no longer offer free storage forever,” said CEO Mike Grossman. “SugarSync is unlike other companies in the space because we do a lot more than just offer basic file storage. Instead, we offer a premium service that provides prosumers and small businesses with unprecedented control and flexibility over their data through our unique multisync capabilities.”

That basically means they want more business clients. Competitors like Box and Dropbox – not to mention Google Drive – are clearly taking the oxygen out of the casual cloud market, which is why SugarSync is, in a way, pivoting.

Free accounts will close on February 8, 2014 while users can still sign up for a 90-day 5GB trial or a 30-day trial with up to 60GB of storage. However, instead of letting you keep your free storage, SugarSync will attempt to monetize customers as soon as possible.

“There are many companies in this space that are giving away free storage, however, most of these companies will not be viable. We are already in a solid financial position and this shift will further strengthen our business,” said Grossman. In a world where dozens of gigabytes for free is now the norm, this is definitely an interesting maneuver by a major player.

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