Google Drive alternatives: cloud storage compared on free plans, privacy and price
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Google Drive is hard to beat for working on documents with other people. But it isn't the best place for everything: its 15 GB free tier is shared with Gmail and Photos, Google can read your files to provide its services, and you pay every month forever. Depending on what you store, another service may suit you better. Here is how the main options compare.
The comparison
| Service | Free storage | Who can read your files | How you pay | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Drive | 15 GB, shared with Gmail and Photos | You, people you share with, Google's systems | Monthly or yearly (Google One) | Collaboration, Google Docs |
| Microsoft OneDrive | 5 GB | You, people you share with, Microsoft's systems | Monthly or yearly, often bundled with Microsoft 365 | Word, Excel and Windows users |
| Apple iCloud Drive | 5 GB | Like Drive by default; most data end-to-end encrypted with Advanced Data Protection | Monthly (iCloud+) | iPhone and Mac users |
| Dropbox | 2 GB | You, people you share with, Dropbox's systems | Monthly or yearly | Reliable sync, sharing with clients |
| MEGA | 20 GB | Only you and people you share with (end-to-end encrypted) | Monthly or yearly | Large free tier, private sharing links |
| pCloud | Up to 10 GB | Like Drive; files in the paid "Crypto" folder only you | Monthly, yearly or a one-time lifetime plan | Big personal libraries, paying once |
| Proton Drive | Up to 5 GB | Only you and people you share with (end-to-end encrypted) | Monthly or yearly, bundled with Proton Mail and VPN | Sensitive documents, privacy |
| Internxt | A small free plan | Only you and people you share with (end-to-end encrypted) | Yearly or a one-time lifetime plan | Encrypted storage, paying once |
Free allowances as of October 2026. They change often, so check each provider's current plans before you sign up.
How to choose
If you work on documents with other people
Stay with Google Drive, or OneDrive if your team uses Microsoft Office. Encrypted services trade convenience for privacy: real-time co-editing, full-text search and previews are limited or missing.
If you mostly store things
Photos, videos, music, finished projects and archives don't need co-editing. Here, price per gigabyte over the years matters more. Lifetime plans, which you pay once, are offered by pCloud and Internxt; over five or ten years they usually cost less than a subscription of the same size. The risk is the company itself: a lifetime plan is only as good as the provider's future.
If privacy matters most
With end-to-end encryption, files are encrypted on your device and the provider can't read them, scan them or hand them over in readable form. Proton Drive, MEGA and Internxt work this way by default. The trade-off: if you lose your password and recovery key, nobody can recover your files. If you want to keep Google Drive but encrypt some folders, Cryptomator does that for free on desktop. Our guide to public vs private cloud storage explains the difference in more depth.
If you just need more free space
Before switching, check what fills your Google storage; it's often Gmail attachments or Photos. See how to free up space in Google Drive. Combining free plans also works for light use, but spreading files across many accounts makes them easy to lose.
Moving your files
Export everything with Google Takeout, check the archive, then upload it to the new service with its desktop app. Our guide to backing up Google Drive walks through Takeout step by step. Keep Google Drive for the documents you share, and don't delete the originals until you've opened a sample of the copies.
How we put this together
This comparison is based on each provider's published plans and features as of October 2026, not on a lab test. Some links above are affiliate links and may earn dedigger a commission; we list services that pay us nothing too, and the order doesn't depend on it.