Megaupload vs Rapidshare

Megaupload, established on 2005, is a Hong Kong-based online company for uploading and downloading computer files over the internet. The company’s key person is Kim Schmitz, a popular German hacker, who has been convicted of computer fraud, embezzlement, and insider trading.

Basically, Megaupload is an internet company that provides file hosting services. It offers free services, which allow users to upload files of up to 2048 Mb of storage space. This free service does not allow users to download files over the file size of 1 Gb. 200 Gbs of file storage is given to free registered users.

Registered users for the free Megaupload service are provided with 200 Gbs of file storage, which is quite adequate for most people. For premium users (registered and paying clients), the file storage space offered by Megaupload is unlimited. For every successful upload of files, the user is given a URL to allow other people to download the file over the internet.

Files that are uploaded anonymously will expire after 21 days, when no downloads occur within that timeframe. However, for free accounts, it will take up to 90 days before uploaded files expire, and premium accounts users will certainly have the best deal, as there will be no expiration as long as the individual maintains the premium membership.

Over a year after Megaupload’s establishment, Rapidshare started to operate its own file hosting services. Rapidshare is the direct and fiercest competitor of Megaupload. It also has free and premium services available. Their free services naturally have limitations and restrictions. Rapidshare is operated from Switzerland, but the company is German-owned. It is led by Bobby Chang, as the company’s CEO and COO.

At the time of this writing, Rapidshare is still operating two websites ‘“ the “rapidshare.de” and “rapidshare.com”. The former, using the German top-level domain, is the original website and the latter is the new and improved website. The original website will permanently cease to operate on March 1, 2010. The files there won’t be available for download anymore by that time and all users that go to that site will be redirected to “rapidshare.com”.

The style of Megaupload and Rapidshare’s services is fairly similar, with few distinctive differences. Rapidshare has a download limit of 25 Gb at certain times, even for premium users. Rapidshare stated that the reason for this is to save traffic. Megaupload, on the other hand, does not implement such restrictions.

However, Rapidshare has more users, and therefore, more files available. It is even (Alexa) ranked way above Megaupload, where it’s ranked 30 against Megaupload’s 83. The debate of which is faster can go back and forth, as it can also be subjective.

Both companies provide download managers, and give very similar privileges to their paying clients.

Summary:

1. Megaupload was first on the scene, established in 2005, over a year earlier than Rapidshare.

2. Interestingly enough, the German-owned Rapidshare is led by Bobby Chang, while the Hong Kong-based Megaupload is led by the popular, and formerly convicted German hacker, Kim Schmitz.

3. Rapidshare has a 25 Gb download limit at certain times for traffic saving purposes, while Megaupload does not subject its users to this type of limitation.

4. Rapidshare has more users and files available than Megaupload. Rapidshare’s (Alexa) rankings are higher as well.

5. Both Megaupload and Rapidshare’s basic services are fairly similar.

6. Currently, Rapidshare has two websites in operation.

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