There are several other online storage and syncing services not compared here, but Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, and OneDrive might be the biggest ones. In general, all of these services work similarly and have a similar purpose: To help you keep your files shared (online or in the cloud) and updated between all of your many devices (desktop PC, laptop, tablet, and phone). They also make working with files a whole lot easier, since you don't have to think about where your work-in-progress files are stored, and you can easily share these files with others.
That said, there are some fine differences between the cloud storage services when it comes to pricing and other details. For price and storage capacity alone, check out the table in this article for a side-by-side comparison. Below, you'll find a few more notes and my opinions on how these big four cloud storage providers stack up.
Both Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive give new users 15GB of free storage when they start up, and both don't include their proprietary office files (Google Docs, Presentations, and Spreadsheets for Google Drive or Microsoft Office files for OneDrive) as part of that storage allotment. So in terms of the most free space without having to lift a finger, either would do. Which one of these is best for you will depend on which office suite you (and your colleagues or co-workers) prefer to use.
There are other considerations, though. Google Drive has an edge because it gives you unlimited space for photos and videos stored on Google+, and you can have those automatically updated to your Google account from your phone.
On the other hand, unlike Google Drive, OneDrive lets you earn more storage space through things like turning on automatic photo uploads or referring friends. (See below)
iCloud gives you only 5GB to start and Dropbox still needs to catch up, since it's only offering 2GB free by default.
Neither iCloud nor Google Drive offer referral incentives or other promotions to earn free space. OneDrive and Dropbox, however, do.
Dropbox is probably the most generous, with up to 16GB of free space earned when people you refer to the service sign up. OneDrive gives you up to 5GB for referrals.
However, both companies offer frequent promotions (Dropbox comes with extra GB, for example, with purchases of specific phones, and Microsoft recently added a limited-time promotion of 15GB for setting up automatic photo uploads).
This one might be too close to count, but if you're relying on getting free space by sharing your referral link (or even taking out a Google Adwords ad to drive signups to Dropbox), Dropbox has the edge here.
If you need more than the 2GB to 15GB of free space offered, but not as much as 1TB (or, from the other perspective, are willing to pay a few dollars for more storage space but not as much as $10), Google Drive, iCloud, and OneDrive have plans between 100GB and 500GB. In this case, it just depends on how much extra storage you're looking for, since only Google Drive and OneDrive have a 100GB plan, and only iCloud and OneDrive have a 200GB plan. iCloud's 500GB plan, as of this writing, is too expensive at $9.99/month when you can get 1TB from the other providers for that amount.
On a purely "What's the cheapest plan for 1TB of online storage" question, OneDrive wins. With a $6.99 per month Office 365 Personal subscription, you get that 1TB of OneDrive storage--and a year of access to the premium Office suite. Office 365 Home Premium is similar to the Personal plan, but runs you $9.99 per month for up to 5 PCs, tablets, and/or Macs.
Both Google Drive and Dropbox price their 1TB plans at $9.99, and while Dropbox offers a few service enhancements, neither offer as valuable an extra benefit as OneDrive's Office suite (at least, if you would use Microsoft Office).
iCloud is non-competitively priced at $19.99 a month for 1TB.
Pricing and storage space aren't the only considerations, however. In a followup to this article, we'll look at the other features that may make a difference in your cloud storage decision. If you only care about getting the most online storage space for your buck, however, the pricing and storage notes here should help you decide which is best for you.
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