Google is changing up its cloud storage plans to better compete with iCloud, simplifying its offerings into a single service called Google One and providing better value than it did before.
If you want to store your documents in Google’s “cloud,” storage options now start at $2/month for 100GB of space. There are a host of other options, but most notably you can now get a whopping 2 terabytes (that’s 2,048GB) for $10/month, half as much as it used to cost.
For comparison, Apple offers the exact same price tiers in addition to an entry-level option of 50GB for $1/month. This is a great choice for casual users and something Google still doesn’t offer.
Subscribers to Google’s paid plan will get extra benefits, though: credits for other Google services, discounts on hotels found through Google search, and 24/7 customer support for Google services. (It’s worth noting that Apple Support is free for all users, paying or not.) It’s also introducing a family plan, so one person can share their paid storage allowance with up to five others.
The free 15GB storage associated with Google Drive will remain. For many users, this will be all they ever need.
If you already use Google Drive and a lot of Google apps, this will be a welcome change. However, we don’t think it offers enough to tempt away users of Apple’s own iCloud storage solution. iCloud also offers a family plan, costs the same per gigabyte, and will work more seamlessly with iPhone and iPad.
One exception to that is the considerable free photo storage available from Google. Whereas iCloud uses up your main allowance to store your library from the Photos app, Google offers a completely free 100GB for anything stored in the Google Photos app.
If you’re happy sharing your snaps with the big G, it’s an excellent service and one we think is better than Apple’s effort in several ways. However, privacy-conscious users may decide to stick with iCloud anyway for Apple’s superior approach to protecting your personal data.