Short answer: Driveless is a streaming cloud drive for Mac, built in Bengaluru for video editors, post-production studios and creators in India. Your whole footage library sits in the cloud, appears in Finder as a normal drive, takes 0 KB on your Mac, and opens in Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve or Final Cut in under a second because only the frames you touch are streamed. It launches in India in January 2027; the waitlist is open at driveless.in.
What problem does Driveless solve?
Video is the one kind of file that never fits. A mirrorless camera shooting 4K fills a terabyte in about fifteen hours. A wedding season fills ten. Editors answer this by buying external SSDs, couriering drives between cities, and keeping three half-complete copies of every project on three different disks, none of which is the backup.
Cloud sync apps do not fix it, because sync means copying. A 2 TB library synced to a 512 GB MacBook is a full disk and a spinning icon. Driveless replaces copying with streaming. The file is in the cloud; the Mac only holds the pieces it is currently reading.
How does Driveless work?
Every file is stored in the cloud in 4 MB blocks. When you double-click a clip, Driveless fetches the first few blocks, hands them to the app, and keeps reading ahead as you play. Blocks you have already touched stay in a cache on your Mac’s SSD, so scrubbing back costs nothing. In an office, an optional studio cache on the local network holds blocks for the whole team, so the cloud is asked once per studio rather than once per editor.
The numbers from the engine, measured in September 2026 on a simulated 300 Mbps Indian fibre line:
| What was measured | Result |
|---|---|
| Opening a 2.69 GB ProRes 422 HQ file | 8 MB fetched, playback in under a second |
| Re-opening the same file | 0 bytes fetched |
| Camera-native 4K H.264 / H.265 on 300 Mbps | plays at 2.17× realtime, so live with headroom |
| ProRes 422 HQ 4K raw stream requirement | about 1,155 Mbps, so it needs the studio cache or proxies |
| Studio cache on office LAN | 3,257 Mbps measured |
The practical rule: 1080p and proxies stream from about 40 Mbps, camera 4K from about 100 Mbps, ProRes 422 and LT on gigabit, and ProRes HQ masters through the studio cache or the automatic cloud proxies. You can test your own line on the homepage.
What can you do with it?
Open any file in any app, straight from the drive, at original quality. Pin a file or folder to keep it fully on the Mac for a flight or a shoot, and let edits sync back later. Share a review link with time-coded notes instead of a transfer link that expires. Keep versions, a 30-day trash and daily snapshots on every plan. Give a freelance editor access to one project without giving them the whole library.
Files are encrypted before they leave the Mac and three copies are kept. India-region storage is available on request on the Team plan and included on the Studio plan, for clients who ask where their footage lives.
Who is Driveless for?
Two kinds of people, and the site has a door for each. Studios and agencies with two to twenty-five editors who are tired of drives on desks, and who want everyone to see the same library at LAN speed. And individual creators — YouTubers, freelance editors, wedding videographers — whose laptops are full and whose external drives are a growing pile.
What does Driveless cost?
Prices are in rupees, with a GST invoice, and UPI works. All prices exclude 18% GST; annual plans get two months free.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | ₹0 | 20 GB, one user, three review links |
| Solo | ₹999 a month (₹699 for life for founding members) | 1 TB, all drive features, review links |
| Team | ₹1,799 per editor a month | 1 TB per editor pooled, studio cache, roles and permissions |
| Studio | ₹2,499 per TB a month + ₹499 a seat | Minimum 5 TB, India-region storage, migration included |
| Archive | ₹599 per TB a month | Cold storage for finished projects, still visible in the drive |
The full breakdown is on the pricing page. The founding price — ₹699 instead of ₹999, locked for as long as the subscription runs — is for the first 5,000 creators who join the waitlist before the January 2027 launch. The first 50 studios get their first three months free.
Who makes Driveless?
Driveless is made by a small team in Bengaluru, India, founded by Ayyan Sawaz Rahman. It is Mac-only at launch and software-only: the studio cache is something you install on a Mac the office already owns, not a box you buy. The company can be reached at [email protected], on WhatsApp at +91 88226 62388, and on LinkedIn, X and Instagram.
What is ready and what is next?
The streaming engine is built and measured. The Mac app, billing, permissions and the security work a studio expects are being finished for the January 2027 India launch. After India has proved the model, US and UK regions follow. Windows is a later decision; a phone app for browsing and reviewing matters more and comes first.
Where Driveless fits
If your footage does not fit on your Mac, and copying it around is how you spend your evenings, Driveless is the drive that makes the copying stop. It launches in India in January 2027. Joining the waitlist costs nothing and locks the founding price.
Frequently asked questions
Is Driveless a cloud storage service or an app?
Both. Driveless stores your library in the cloud and gives you a Mac app that mounts it as a normal drive in Finder. Files stream when you open them instead of downloading in full.
When does Driveless launch and where?
Driveless launches in India in January 2027, for Mac. The waitlist is open now at driveless.in. US and UK regions come after India.
How much does Driveless cost?
There is a free 20 GB plan. Solo is ₹999 a month for 1 TB (₹699 for life for founding members who join before launch). Team is ₹1,799 per editor a month. Studio is ₹2,499 per TB a month plus ₹499 a seat. Prices exclude 18% GST and include a GST invoice.