It was in 2014 that Google updated its storage plans in response to price drops from rival Dropbox. The company is yet again at it to make the prices even more competitive. It’s adding a new tier and dropping prices as part of its “Google One” rollout. That’s not all, though. Google promises enhanced support and more benefits down the line for One subscribers.
Google storage plans apply to multiple services across Google’s cloud. For example, adding more storage to your account gives you more space for Gmail, Google Photos, and general file storage in Drive. This could be a little confusing as the old storage plans show up as part of Drive. Google One will be marketed as an overall Google subscription, and storage space is just part of the deal.
The base 15GB of free storage remains for all users, as does the $1.99 per month upgrade that comes with 100GB of space in Google’s cloud. There’s a new plan in Google One with 200GB of storage for $2.99 per month. That fills the gap between the 100GB and old 1TB plan. That 1TB tier is going away, though. You now get 2TB for the same $9.99 monthly price. That’s double what Dropbox offers at the same price. The 10, 20, and 30TB plans are still available for the same $100, $200, and $300 monthly fees.
The more generous storage options will be handy for people shooting lots of photos and 4K video who want to save the full-quality versions in Photos. Plus, you might only need a single subscription for your family. You’ll be able to share the space on One plans with up to five family members.
Google says that One subscribers will also have access to “Google experts” for instant one-on-one tech support for all Google products and services. This was already available for the company’s paid G Suite accounts, but this is the first time the general public has been able to access premium Google support.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Google One is what the company might do later. The plan is to offer various perks to One subscribers, but Google is vague on what that will entail. The blog post says you can expect deals on hotels booked through Google search and discounts on Google Play. Other benefits will come to One down the line.
You can’t sign up for Google One quite yet. The company says current Drive subscriptions will migrate to One in the coming months. That process will start in the US before moving out across the globe. For new subscriptions, you’ll have to wait until later this year to sign up for Google One.