Apple first introduced iCloud at WWDC 2011, when Steve Jobs touted it as the best way to store documents, email, backups, and more in the cloud. Infamously, one thing hasn’t changed since his launch in 2011. That’s because Apple only provides 5 GB of iCloud storage for free.
Almost 13 years later, how do iCloud’s free storage plans and paid upgrade plans compare to its competitors?
iCloud storage and competitors
The inspiration for my research was John Gruber bold fireball, Last week, he announced a demand for Apple to “give us more with iCloud, and Apple’s costs are outrageous.”
| price | iCloud | drop box | microsoft 365 | |
| free | 5GB | 2GB | 5GB cloud + 15GB email | 15GB |
| $0.99 | 50GB | – | – | – |
| $1.99 | – | – | 100GB | 100GB |
| $2.99 | 200GB | – | – | 200GB |
| $6.99 | – | – | 1TB | – |
| $9.99 | 2TB | 2TB | – | 2TB |
| $24.99 | – | – | – | 5TB |
| $29.99 | 6TB | – | – | – |
| $49.99 | – | – | – | 10TB |
| $59.99 | 12TB | – | – | – |
There are other companies besides these four that provide cloud storage.For example, pCloud is An increasingly popular choice It offers both subscription and “lifetime” storage options. For example, you can get 2 TB of storage from pCloud. $99/year or $399/lifetime. I don’t know how sustainable that business model is, but it’s an interesting proposition.
But there’s more to the story
However, while it’s easy to compare based purely on storage capacity, there are other factors to consider, especially when it comes to Microsoft and Apple.
Microsoft’s 100GB plan It also includes access to other features and services, including mobile and web versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. The 1TB plan includes access to these services on desktop, web, and mobile.
Microsoft does not provide a way to subscribe to OneDrive storage only. It was previously used, but that option was removed in 2023. However, you can add up to 1 TB of additional storage to your Microsoft 365 plan for $0.01 per GB.
Another advantage for Microsoft is that the free tier includes 5 GB of cloud storage and 15 GB of mailbox storage. With Apple, you get 5 GB for free, and everything (including iCloud Mail) counts towards that limit.
apple iCloud+ storage planMeanwhile, it includes various other premium features.
- iCloud private relay
- hide my email
- custom email domain
- Additional HomeKit secure video cameras
- family sharing
9to5Mac’s opinion
Dropbox and Google’s plans include some benefits beyond storage, but does anyone really care?
I could generally agree with Gruber’s conclusions. Indeed, Apple’s pricing and plans are competitive with its competitors. Not even the 5GB free tier Significantly It’s out of the box when compared to the broader market. Still, after 13 years, something has to change.
So, on the one hand, Apple’s iCloud storage pricing isn’t out of place compared to its competitors. But on the other hand, iCloud’s free tier has been fixed at 5 GB since the day iCloud was announced. It was so long ago that Steve Jobs announced it in his 2011 WWDC keynote. iCloud is 50 GB and $3 per month for $1. The 200 GB/month tier has remained unchanged since 2015. These tiers should be periodically adjusted for “inflation,” as the U.S. minimum wage was last raised to $7.25 an hour in 2009, but they don’t. .
Another lesson I learned is that all of this is confusing. If you’re an iPhone user looking for more cloud storage, iCloud+ is probably the way to go.
check out Click here for a detailed article on Gruber.
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