Cloud Storage Options (with pricing table)
There are several options for cloud storage with different pricing options and some slight difference in features. Pricing is changing quite a bit. The table below tries to show for a given amount of storage which option is the cheapest amongst the major players.
Note that I ignored the variety of promotions; for example, I received 50GB for free from Box when I installed their iOS client and signed up for an account in January. I did include extra space that the user gets when doing somewhat simple tasks (like inviting friends as DropBox provides).
I also did not include multi-user (cost per user per month) plans, as a lot of them state “custom pricing”.
There are other options out there like MEGA and BRIGHT COVE which I did not include yet in this comparison.
I’ve tried to note where there are other things which might impinge on the amount of storage (for example, the Google drive storage is shared by several applications.
For the color coding, Green is the best price for the amount of storage, Red is the worst.
For those of you that are more organized that I, take note that you can get a total of 44 GB for free by simply by signing up for all of these (5GB from Amazon, 10GB from Box, 2GB from DropBox, 15GB from Google Drive, 5GB from iCloud and 7GB from MS One Drive); but like your car keys, you just gotta remember where you put everything.
Everybody except DropBox offers at least 5GB for free; one would assume DropBox will change that soon. With recent announcements, DropBox also has the most expensive options in several tiers, so one would assume that will change as well.
Amazon and Google come out as the least expensive options the majority of the time.
I included the iOS 8 iCloud Drive pricing that came out of WWDC; with current pricing, Apple’s options suck…with the iOS pricing (which is not on a price sheet yet, but on presentations) they are actually competitive.
If you see any errors or changes, add a comment. This is from public pricing sheets (except for Amazon’s, which I had to login to find, and iOS8 pricing, which is only from WWDC presentations) as of July 6, 2014.
Long table after the break.
| Amazon Cloud Drive | Box | DropBox | Google Drive | iCloud (Apple) | One Drive (Microsoft) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| URL used | Amazon Pricing (need to be logged in) | Box Pricing | Dropbox Pricing | Google Drive Pricing | Apple iCloud Pricing iOS8 pricing from WWDC | Microsoft One Drive Pricing |
| Notes | addl 5GB for "send to Kindle" files | shared between Google Drive, Gmail, and Google+ Photos. | shared with iCloud device backups | |||
| 2GB | FREE | FREE | FREE | FREE | FREE | FREE |
| 3GB | FREE | FREE | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) or FREE (up to 16GB by inviting friends) | FREE | FREE | FREE |
| 4GB | FREE | FREE | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) or FREE (up to 16GB by inviting friends) | FREE | FREE | FREE |
| 5GB | FREE | FREE | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) or FREE (up to 16GB by inviting friends) | FREE | FREE | FREE |
| 6GB | $10/year (up to 20GB) | FREE | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) or FREE (up to 16GB by inviting friends) | FREE | $20/year (up to 10GB); with iOS8, $12/year ($0.99/month up to 20GB) | FREE |
| 7GB | $10/year (up to 20GB) | FREE | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) or FREE (up to 16GB by inviting friends) | FREE | $20/year (up to 10GB); with iOS8, $12/year ($0.99/month up to 20GB) | FREE |
| 8GB | $10/year (up to 20GB) | FREE | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) or FREE (up to 16GB by inviting friends) | FREE | $20/year (up to 10GB); with iOS8, $12/year ($0.99/month up to 20GB) | $25/year (add 50GB) or FREE (+3GB for adding photo roll and/or +5GB for inviting friends) |
| 9GB | $10/year (up to 20GB) | FREE | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) or FREE (up to 16GB by inviting friends) | FREE | $20/year (up to 10GB); with iOS8, $12/year ($0.99/month up to 20GB) | $25/year (add 50GB) or FREE (+3GB for adding photo roll and/or +5GB for inviting friends) |
| 10GB | $10/year (up to 20GB) | FREE | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) or FREE (up to 16GB by inviting friends) | FREE | $20/year (up to 10GB); with iOS8, $12/year ($0.99/month up to 20GB) | $25/year (add 50GB) or FREE (+3GB for adding photo roll and/or +5GB for inviting friends) |
| 11GB | $10/year (up to 20GB) | $60/year ($5/month up to 100GB) | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) or FREE (up to 16GB by inviting friends) | FREE | $40/year (up to 20GB); with iOS8, $12/year ($0.99/month up to 20GB) | $25/year (add 50GB) or FREE (+3GB for adding photo roll and/or +5GB for inviting friends) |
| 12GB | $10/year (up to 20GB) | $60/year ($5/month up to 100GB) | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) or FREE (up to 16GB by inviting friends) | FREE | $40/year (up to 20GB); with iOS8, $12/year ($0.99/month up to 20GB) | $25/year (add 50GB) or FREE (+3GB for adding photo roll and/or +5GB for inviting friends) |
| 13GB | $10/year (up to 20GB) | $60/year ($5/month up to 100GB) | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) or FREE (up to 16GB by inviting friends) | FREE | $40/year (up to 20GB); with iOS8, $12/year ($0.99/month up to 20GB) | $25/year (add 50GB) or FREE (+3GB for adding photo roll and/or +5GB for inviting friends) |
| 14GB | $10/year (up to 20GB) | $60/year ($5/month up to 100GB) | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) or FREE (up to 16GB by inviting friends) | FREE | $40/year (up to 20GB); with iOS8, $12/year ($0.99/month up to 20GB) | $25/year (add 50GB) or FREE (+3GB for adding photo roll and/or +5GB for inviting friends) |
| 15GB | $10/year (up to 20GB) | $60/year ($5/month up to 100GB) | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) or FREE (up to 16GB by inviting friends) | FREE | $40/year (up to 20GB); with iOS8, $12/year ($0.99/month up to 20GB) | $25/year (add 50GB) or FREE (+3GB for adding photo roll and/or +5GB for inviting friends) |
| 16GB | $10/year (up to 20GB) | $60/year ($5/month up to 100GB) | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) or FREE (up to 16GB by inviting friends) | $24/year ($1.99/month up to 100GB) | $40/year (up to 20GB); with iOS8, $12/year ($0.99/month up to 20GB) | $25/year (add 50GB) |
| 17GB | $10/year (up to 20GB) | $60/year ($5/month up to 100GB) | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) | $24/year ($1.99/month up to 100GB) | $40/year (up to 20GB); with iOS8, $12/year ($0.99/month up to 20GB) | $25/year (add 50GB) |
| 18GB | $10/year (up to 20GB) | $60/year ($5/month up to 100GB) | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) | $24/year ($1.99/month up to 100GB) | $40/year (up to 20GB); with iOS8, $12/year ($0.99/month up to 20GB) | $25/year (add 50GB) |
| 19GB | $10/year (up to 20GB) | $60/year ($5/month up to 100GB) | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) | $24/year ($1.99/month up to 100GB) | $40/year (up to 20GB); with iOS8, $12/year ($0.99/month up to 20GB) | $25/year (add 50GB) |
| 20GB | $10/year (up to 20GB) | $60/year ($5/month up to 100GB) | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) | $24/year ($1.99/month up to 100GB) | $40/year (up to 20GB); with iOS8, $12/year ($0.99/month up to 20GB) | $25/year (add 50GB) |
| 21GB - 50GB | $25/year (up to 50GB) | $60/year ($5/month up to 100GB) | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) | $24/year ($1.99/month up to 100GB) | $100/year (up to 50GB); with iOS8, $48/year ($3.99/month up to 200GB) | $25/year (add 50GB) |
| 51GB - 57GB | $50/year (up to 100GB) | $60/year ($5/month up to 100GB) | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) | $24/year ($1.99/month up to 100GB) | with iOS8, $48/year ($3.99/month up to 200GB) | $25/year (add 50GB) |
| 58GB - 100GB | $50/year (up to 100GB) | $60/year ($5/month up to 100GB) | $120/year ($9.99/month up to 100GB) | $24/year ($1.99/month up to 100GB) | with iOS8, $48/year ($3.99/month up to 200GB) | $50/year (add 100GB) |
| 101GB - 200GB | $100/year (up to 200GB) | no current single user offering | no current single user offering | $120/year ($9.99 per month for up to 1TB) | with iOS8, $48/year ($3.99/month up to 200GB) | $100/year (add 200GB) |
| 201GB - 500GB | $250/year (up to 500GB) | no current single user offering | no current single user offering | $120/year ($9.99 per month for up to 1TB) | no current single user offering | no current single user offering |
| 500GB - 1TB | $500/year (up to 1TB) | no current single user offering | no current single user offering | $120/year ($9.99 per month for up to 1TB) | no current single user offering | no current single user offering |
| > 1TB | no current single user offering | no current single user offering | no current single user offering | $1200/year ($99.99/month up to 10TB) $2400/year ($199.99 per month up to 20TB) $3600/year ($299.99 per month up to 30TB) | no current single user offering | no current single user offering |
