The best cloud storage services of 2024: Expert tested

Google Drive used to be just storage. But then Google took its online office suite, Google Docs, and pasted them together into Google One. If you’re a little confused because there’s also Google Workplace, you’re in good company. Google Workspace Individual is meant for small business owners, while Google One is a consumer subscription plan that gives you more storage across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos, 

Now, just having a Google account gives you 15GB of free storage and an excellent office suite. It’s good enough that many businesses and Chromebook users now use it as their complete cloud-based office. If you buy a Chromebook and are a new Google One customer, you will get 100GB of free cloud storage for a year. With both kinds of free storage, it’s shared shared across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos

Google Drive comes with clients for most operating systems, except, oddly enough, Linux. Google promised long ago that there would be a Linux client, but they never kept that problem. There is, however, an excellent third-party Linux commercial client, Insync. This program costs $30 for an individual lifetime subscription and $50 for teams. If you use the GNOME desktop, you can use its file manager Nautilus to work with Google Drive. 

Need more storage? No problem. Under the name Google One, Google Drive storage prices start at $2 per month or $20 a year for 100GB. Or, for $3 a month or $30 a year, you get 200GB. At the higher end, for 2TB, you pay $10 per month or $100 annually. You can share your storage with up to five other people using any of  these plans. 

You can also use the Google One app on both Android and iOS devices to automatically back up your smartphones. This includes your device data, multimedia messages, and photos/videos in their original quality.

One of Google Drive’s best features is its integration with Google Search. So, for example, if you’ve lost track of a file but remember a couple of words in it, it’s easy to find. I use this feature almost every day.