5 Cheap Ways to iCloud Storage

Apple may be known primarily as a hardware company, but it has also built a portfolio of software products, many of which are available as subscription-based services. Since many aspects of Apple’s ecosystem are free to use, these services are how the company generates revenue from its existing customers. At the forefront of Apple’s software services is iCloud — a solution that allows you to back up photos, videos, and other files in the cloud that you can access anytime from any device.

The service also allows you to back up your iPhone, including app data, home and lock screen settings, settings, and passwords. If you have more than a handful of apps installed, however, there’s a good chance you’ll encounter an “iPhone Backup Failed” warning — indicating you’ve run out of iCloud storage. This is possible by design; the free iCloud tier only offers 5GB of storage, which isn’t enough to store a lot of data, especially if you have media backup enabled as well.

You can always upgrade to iCloud+, which gets you more storage and features like Private Relay and full access to the Apple Invites app. Pricing starts at $1/month for 50GB and goes up to $60 monthly for 12TB. You don’t need to stick to iCloud, either; if you’re open to non-Apple solutions, cheaper or better value alternatives to iCloud exist.

If you mainly use a Windows computer, you are probably familiar with the Office suite. Every Microsoft account also gets 5GB of free cloud storage with OneDrive, and 15GB of mailbox storage. If you want more storage, the basic $2/month Microsoft 365 plan offers 100GB of cloud storage, which is not the last tier offered by iCloud+; if you need anything more than 50GB from Apple, you’ll end up paying $3 a month for 200GB of cloud storage.

If you’re sure you’ll never need more than 100GB, Microsoft cloud storage will be a cheaper option. That said, if you use apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on a daily basis, you might want to consider subscribing to a Microsoft 365 personal plan instead of paying for these apps separately. It costs $10 a month, gives you access to essential Office applications, and has 1TB of cloud storage. This is an awful lot for pure storage, though, as Apple’s $10 iCloud+ plan offers 2TB.

The Microsoft 365 Basic plan also offers ransomware protection for files. You can install the Microsoft 365 app on your Android or iOS smartphone or on your Windows or Mac computer and access your files at any time. If you’re looking for an affordable cloud storage solution between the two lower tiers of iCloud+, then Microsoft 365 is worth considering.

Google Drive is one of the most popular cloud storage services out there, and for good reason. You get 15GB of free storage with every Google account, which you already have if you use Gmail like most people, with no additional setup required. A 15GB Google Drive can go a long way. First, if you mainly use it to back up important documents, you might be fine with the free tier. 15GB also allows you to upload more photos and videos at a reduced resolution to Google Photos before you run out of storage.

If you need more storage, Google One lets you upgrade to a higher tier of storage. Like Microsoft 365 Basic, you have a cheap $2 monthly plan that gets you 100GB of storage space, shared for all your email, photos, and file backups. You can download the Google Drive and Google Photos apps for both Android and iOS, or access them through a browser on any computer. The Google AI Plus tier gets you 2TB of cloud storage for $10/month, just like the equivalent Apple iCloud+ plan. However, this section also doubles your usage limits for Google’s Gemini AI assistant.

Both Google One and Microsoft 365 are great alternatives that are deeply integrated with Android and Windows, respectively. However, if you just want a place to store files online, you can turn to dedicated cloud storage providers like IDrive. What you give up in terms of AI features or ecosystem benefits, you gain back in raw storage capacity. Even with a free account, IDrive gives you 10GB of cloud storage. Those looking for more storage will definitely find the $12/month IDrive Personal plan very attractive, as it offers a whopping 5TB of cloud storage.

The last tier close to iCloud+ is 6TB, which costs a whopping $30 per month. For the same price, you can get 20TB on IDrive. Switching to annual payments opens up a more cost-effective IDrive plan, too. The iDrive Mini tier offers 100GB of cloud storage and costs just $2.95 per year, which works out to 25 cents per month.

An annual fee that gives you access to 100GB of storage for a little more than what iCloud+ or Google One charge each month is about as good as it gets. For $10 a year, you can bump that 100GB plan to 500GB.

Mega is another popular cloud storage service and file transfer tool that is an option when migrating from iCloud. The free Mega plan offers the most storage on this list, at 20GB. If you can fill that, you can choose three categories of paid storage. The Mega Pro I plan is priced at $11.65 per month and offers 3TB of cloud storage. This is a good balance between the $10 and $30 iCloud+ plans, which get you 2TB and 6TB of space, respectively.

The Mega Pro plan also gives you access to several other features, including a VPN service, a password manager, and online file transfer. Plans with 10TB and 20TB of cloud storage are also available, both of which — at $23.28 and $34.92, respectively — are significantly cheaper per terabyte than iCloud+. Paying annually gives you discounts, of course, but it also opens up cheaper plans. For example, Mega’s annual Pro Lite subscription offers 750GB of storage space and costs less than $6 per month when billed annually.

Another cloud storage solution is pCloud, which offers the same 2TB of space for $10 per month as iCloud+. However, pCloud has a cheaper $5/month tier with 500GB. Like Mega, pCloud lets you share and stream files with anyone on the Internet. PCDrive can also integrate with services like Dropbox and Google Photos, and let you stream music and video files you’ve uploaded to the cloud.

One of pCloud’s most unique offerings is a one-time fee for permanent cloud storage. Granted, $300 (before any discounts) for 500GB doesn’t seem like a good price, but you need to consider the fact that this isn’t a recurring subscription. Once you pay for storage, it’s yours forever. Some quick calculations say that you will reach a break-even point in six years, after which every month you continue to use your pCloud storage is free.

If you’ve been paying for other cloud storage services for years and you’ve been locked out, you may need to switch to a lifetime plan. Think of it as having a hard drive that’s always connected to the Internet, without all the hassle of maintaining your server or the worry of a drive failing years down the line.