Google Drive slashes paid storage prices, turning up the heat on rival Dropbox
Google on Thursday announced drastic price reductions for its paid Drive subscriptions, with 100 gigabytes of cloud storage now costing just $1.99 a month, and 1 terabyte of data available for $9.99 per month, significantly undercutting the prices of rival Dropbox.
Google Drive already offered lower pricing than Dropbox, but the difference between the two services is now even greater: For individual Dropbox users, 100 gigabytes of cloud data runs $8.25 per month when billed annually, or $9.99 per month on a month-by-month basis. A 200-gigabyte Dropbox account runs $16.60 per month billed annually, while 500 gigabytes is $41.60.
Previously, Google charged $4.99 per month for 100 gigabytes and $49.99 per month for one terabyte, but with both now slashed to $1.99 and $9.99 per month, respectively, they are significantly cheaper. The search giant also offers storage levels of 10 terabytes and higher starting at $99.99 per month.
Google Drive also offers 15 gigabytes of complimentary cloud storage for free. That's a higher amount than Dropbox's starting 2 gigabytes, though that number can be increased through various methods, including referrals.
Dropbox is the current leader in the cloud file storage business, serving as the default storage and sharing platform for many. The service is available cross-platform, with dedicated applications available for Apple's OS X and iOS, as well as Microsoft Windows and Google's Android.
Dropbox was allegedly offered a nine-figure buyout by Apple as part of a personal pitch from late CEO Steve Jobs in 2009. That offer was rejected, and Apple ultimately went on to introduce its own iCloud service in 2011 which takes a different approach, focusing on seamlessly syncing data in the background rather than dealing with traditional file structures as Dropbox, Google Drive and others do.
Like Dropbox, Google Drive also has its own application for Apple's iOS, as well as an OS X desktop client. The service is also integrated with third-party applications such as VLC.
Other cloud storage solutions compatible with Apple's platforms include Box, Microsoft's newly rebranded OneDrive, and SugarSync. A Box personal account comes with 10 gigabytes for free, OneDrive includes 7 gigabytes of free storage, and SugarSync recently transitioned to a paid-only model.
Google Drive already offered lower pricing than Dropbox, but the difference between the two services is now even greater: For individual Dropbox users, 100 gigabytes of cloud data runs $8.25 per month when billed annually, or $9.99 per month on a month-by-month basis. A 200-gigabyte Dropbox account runs $16.60 per month billed annually, while 500 gigabytes is $41.60.
Previously, Google charged $4.99 per month for 100 gigabytes and $49.99 per month for one terabyte, but with both now slashed to $1.99 and $9.99 per month, respectively, they are significantly cheaper. The search giant also offers storage levels of 10 terabytes and higher starting at $99.99 per month.
Google Drive also offers 15 gigabytes of complimentary cloud storage for free. That's a higher amount than Dropbox's starting 2 gigabytes, though that number can be increased through various methods, including referrals.
Dropbox is the current leader in the cloud file storage business, serving as the default storage and sharing platform for many. The service is available cross-platform, with dedicated applications available for Apple's OS X and iOS, as well as Microsoft Windows and Google's Android.
Dropbox was allegedly offered a nine-figure buyout by Apple as part of a personal pitch from late CEO Steve Jobs in 2009. That offer was rejected, and Apple ultimately went on to introduce its own iCloud service in 2011 which takes a different approach, focusing on seamlessly syncing data in the background rather than dealing with traditional file structures as Dropbox, Google Drive and others do.
Like Dropbox, Google Drive also has its own application for Apple's iOS, as well as an OS X desktop client. The service is also integrated with third-party applications such as VLC.
Other cloud storage solutions compatible with Apple's platforms include Box, Microsoft's newly rebranded OneDrive, and SugarSync. A Box personal account comes with 10 gigabytes for free, OneDrive includes 7 gigabytes of free storage, and SugarSync recently transitioned to a paid-only model.
Comments
Steve tried to convince Dropbox that file storage was a feature and not a standalone product. Dropbox is going to learn that lesson the hard way as storage goes towards free over time
I would not be surprised if Apple doubles free iCloud storage to 10GB at WWDC
Not sure if dropbox will be able to hold on to their lead once the big boys like google and microsoft really starts to go after that market. It's only a matter of time before google starts to offer a free 100gb and at that point what will dropbox do? Microsoft, will not go that far but their pricing will be a lot more competitive than dropbox, that's for sure. Dropbox does not have other business that can help them support their cloud so they will suffer and lose their first mover advantage in the long run.
Even if implemented as a feature, must be multi-platform. Being platform-agnostic is the key of success of DropBox.
Even if implemented as a feature, must be multi-platform. Being platform-agnostic is the key of success of DropBox.
iCloud will never be multiplatform. It would in no way benefit's Apple's model, which is to increase the value of hardware through software features and ecosystem. iCloud is deeply integrated into all iOS devices (and OSX), the point of which is to make syncing of data seamless and configuration free. There's no way they can just "add" iCloud to Android, as an app, as it's a core part of iOS. And even if they could, it would be pointless. Apple doesn't make money through cloud services and selling your data. It does so through hardware sales. Google's business model, on the other hand, is advertising- which is completely dependant on being platform agnostic.
I would not be surprised if Apple doubles free iCloud storage to 10GB at WWDC
Meh. Unless it's at least 25GB free, with the option to purchase up to a TB, I would find it uninteresting and unimpressive.
I’ve been wondering something recently.
Go back to 1994. 1GB drives were huge. Basically the largest available, right?
Fast forward to 2004. 1TB drives had just come out. 1000x larger.
And now in 2014, we have… 4TB. Where are our Petabyte drives? What happened here? I mean, even 10TB seems like a meaningful thought, but nothing. Nada.
So Google being able to offer up this amount of storage seems insane. Think of the sheer number of drives! Think of the amount of physical space required! And I guess they assume the service will be used for at least a year per person, because terabyte drives are still $100.
Apple should compete here. Google Drive is where everyone is going. Apple has better security so I prefer it when I need my information to be secure.
Google wants to scan your data so they can take your ideas and make money off of them before you can. That is in addition to advertising.
However, Dropbox's 2GB free storage is starting got look pretty stingy in 2014.
Any evidence of this ever happening? Where does this stuff come from?
I wouldn't use Google Drive if it came with 100TB of free storage... As if I want them digging through that much of my data?
So if a 1TB drive costs $100, that's $100x3 = $300.
Over a 5 yr life of the drive, the racks, mounts, processors, hardware, facilities, bandwidth, etc probably cost at least as much, say $300/TB.
That's $600/TB over 5 yrs.
$10/month x 5 yrs = $600
Is this a break even effort for ecosystem growth?
Yeah but what are Google's "no peek" prices? What's that? Oh, they don't offer that option. Oh, right.
It comes from this.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/254638/should_you_worry_about_google_drive_privacy_.html
Any evidence of this ever happening? Where does this stuff come from?
I don't know. Ask Apple about Android.
They probably have triple redundancy on their data. 2 hot drives and 1 cold.
So if a 1TB drive costs $100, that's $100x3 = $300.
Over a 5 yr life of the drive, the racks, mounts, processors, hardware, facilities, bandwidth, etc probably cost at least as much, say $300/TB.
That's $600/TB over 5 yrs.
$10/month x 5 yrs = $600
Is this a break even effort for ecosystem growth?
1TB drives are much less than 100.00. Furthermore Google would be buying drives at wholesale prices.