Google rebranded its online storage subscription program to Google One Monday and lowered prices, but Amazon still has the best deal for 1 terabyte of storage.
Users of Google Drive's online backup program will still go to drive.google.com to access their files. If they use under 15 GB, Google Drive is still free. The subscription offering, for heavier users, will be called One.
In a blog post, Google said the new One subscription accounts now come with access to e-mail and phone customer help.
Google's new price for 2 terabytes of storage is $9.99 monthly, down from $19.99 monthly. Google also introduced several lower priced tiers, including 100 GB for $1.99 monthly or $2.99 for 200 GB. The changes will be rolled out in the coming weeks.
But consumers looking for just 1 TB of storage at the lowest price might want to shop with Amazon, which offers it for $59.99 yearly. That's lower than the $99 yearly prices from Dropbox and Microsoft OneDrive. Neither Apple's iCloud nor Google offer just 1 TB of storage, but a more hefty 2 TB.
Google still offers 15 GB of free storage before moving people to a paid account. The new One name will offer bonuses to subscribers "like credits on Google Play or deals on select hotels found in Google Search," said Google in the blog post.
Online storage in the digital age has become a fact of life for mobile consumers, who are shooting more photos and videos, in higher resolution, than ever before, on devices that max out of room often.
While physical hard drives are more economical—small external drives from companies like Western Digital and Seagate sell for around $65— they tend to eventually fail. Online storage is considered a safer backup bet, and consumers can access the files from anymore, whether on mobile, desktop or laptop.
Here's how the rivals compare:
- Amazon: $59.99 yearly for 1 TB, or $119 for 2 TB.
- Google One: $99 yearly for 2 TB.
- Dropbox: $99 yearly for 1 TB
- Microsoft: $99 yearly for 1 TB
- Apple iCloud: $120 yearly for 2 TB.
Explore further: Google combines cloud storage for Gmail, Drive, Google+ services