14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has just announced a series of major changes to OneDrive, its cloud-based storage service which was previously known as SkyDrive, offering everyone 15 GB of free space and making more storage available to Office 365 customers.
The company has until now been offering 7 GB of storage space free of charge to everyone with a Microsoft account, but starting today, the amount of free space available to Windows, Windows Phone, Windows RT, Xbox, and web users has been increased to 15 GB.
“Our data tells us that 3 out of 4 people have less than 15 GB of files stored on their PC. Factoring in what they may also have stored on other devices, we believe providing 15 GB for free right out of the gate – with no hoops to jump through – will make it much easier for people to have their documents, videos, and photos available in one place,” the company explained today in a statement.
But what's more impressive is that also starting today, all Office 365 customers are getting 1 TB of OneDrive space per subscription, regardless of the version they choose to purchase.
The cheapest Office 365 version is the Personal package, which is available for only $6.99 per month, so for the same price you get not only the web-based productivity suite, but also 1 TB of space.
If you're wondering, that's way better than what Google and Dropbox is offering, which was probably the whole idea behind Microsoft's new changes. While Microsoft sells 1 TB of storage for $6.99 (€5.15), Google Drive comes with the same amount of space for $9.99 a month (€7.3), while Dropbox offers only 100 GB for the same price. Google Drive is also offering 15 GB of free space to all users.
“Soon you will get 1 TB of OneDrive with your subscription to Office 365. This means you will get the power of the world’s most popular productivity suite, Office, along with apps for your laptop, smartphone, and tablet, plus an enormous amount of storage, for an unbelievably low price,” Microsoft said.
Prices have also been lowered for OneDrive storage, so starting today you only need to pay $1.99 (€1.10) for 100 GB (down from $7.49 / €5.5) or $3.99 (€2.95) for 200 GB (down from $11.49 / €8.45).
“Of course, we also want to give you as much flexibility as possible, so if you need more storage, but don’t need an Office 365 subscription, we will also still provide monthly subscription storage options – at dramatically reduced rates,” the company explained.
All these storage upgrades are available not only on the web, but also on all OneDrive clients currently offered to users of the majority of mobile and desktop platforms out there, including iOS, Android, Windows, Windows Phone, and Windows RT.