Google Drive Pricing

How much does Google Drive cost?

As we mentioned in our introduction to Google Drive, like many other services from Google, Google Drive is free to use… at least initially.  However, it only gives you a limited amount of memory space with which to store your files.  Granted, it's quite a bit of space — 15 gigabytes (15,000 megabytes) if you're using Google Drive as an individual, or 30 gigabytes (30,000 megabytes) if you're using Google Drive as part of a business — but there's a catch to that.  If you use Gmail and/or Google Photos on your Google account, then the email messages and photos that you store with those two (respective) services count towards your memory space limit on Google Drive.

Once you log into Google Drive, you can see the total amount of memory space that you are currently using across these three Google services, compared the total amount of memory space that you have available.  If you move your mouse cursor over this measurement, a window will pop up that will allow you to see how much memory space that the files on each individual service are taking up.

If you click the "i" icon next to "Drive" in this window, your main Google Drive window will change to show you a list of your files on Google Drive, sorted by how much memory space they take up.  This can be useful for knowing which files you may want to delete from Google Drive if you're running out of memory space.

Google Drive pricing plans

Google Drive's pricing plans only affect the amount of memory storage space that you have for Google Drive.  Note that the amount of memory space listed in each plan is the total amount that you get; it doesn't include any memory storage totals from less expensive plans.

Also note that all Google Drive plans are billed on a monthly basis, meaning that you can't buy a subscription that lasts for the whole year.

15 GB (individual) / 30 GB (business) plan — Free

100 GB plan — $2 per month

1 TB (1000 GB) plan — $10 per month

10 TB (10,000 GB) plan — $100 per month

20 TB (20,000 GB) plan — $200 per month

30 TB (30,000 GB) plan — $300 per month

How to change your Google Drive pricing plan

1. Go to drive.google.com in your web browser and log in.

2. Click Upgrade Storage.

   

3. On the new screen, under "Plans", click the arrows on either end to scroll through the available plans, and then click Choose below the plan that you want. 

   

   Note that the first time that you choose a plan that costs money, you will have to input your billing (e.g. credit card) details.

That's some information about the (potential) cost of Google Drive!