Microsoft OneDrive
Free-£79.99 per year www.onedrive.live.com If you’re a Windows 10 user, then you’ll already have oneDrive installed on your computer. But to access the service, you’ll need to be logged into your Microsoft (outlook/Hotmail) account on your computer. The folder can be located easily in the file tree in Windows explorer and is called ‘oneDrive’. Here you can add files or create new folders to be backed up to the cloud.
since it’s already installed on your computer, oneDrive is a great option for sharing important files between two or more computers if you have a desktop and laptop. The downside is that the free account provides only 5GB of storage compared to Google Drive’s 15GB, so only a limited number of documents and images can be stored in this account type. It’s still better than Dropbox’s paltry 2GB for free. And despite being a Microsoft product, this storage is available for both PC and Mac users.
At the lower end of the storage option oneDrive sits behind Google Drive in terms of cost- effectiveness, but once you get to the 1TB mark Microsoft begins to get the edge. Costs for oneDrive are: 5GB for free, 50GB is £1.99 per month, 1TB including Microsoft office for one PC or Mac is £59.99 per year, and 5TB including Microsoft office for five PCs or Macs is £79.99 per year. so basically, if you’re a Microsoft office user you can get the latest apps plus a reasonable amount of storage for a single price. If, however, you’re running an older version of office that doesn’t follow a subscription model you may not need this feature, so perhaps one of the other services gains an edge here?
Microsoft oneDrive allows you to share access to folders and files in the same way as Google Drive and Dropbox, and is easy to use. There’s also a mobile app so you can access files on smart devices. you get a fairly decent amount of storage and features for a reasonable price, and the inclusion of the latest office apps in the 2-5TB subscriptions is a bonus if you use them regularly. Microsoft has produced an attractive and competitive offering, but one that perhaps relies on the user needing an office 365 subscription too.