Dropbox recently lowered its prices, with one terabyte (TB) of data now going for $10 per month. Essentially, this gives users 10 times more storage for the same price as before. It’s still not the cheapest option for cloud-based storage out there, but it’s now in line with rivals Bitcasa and Google Drive.
Here’s a snapshot of current cloud storage pricing, showing providers that offer 1 TB plans. This is the equivalent of 1024 gigabytes (GB), which could store dozens of high-definition movies, tens of thousands of high-resolution photographs, and the like. Most individuals and many small businesses would find that this covered their storage needs.
Note that Apple and Microsoft are missing from the list. Apple currently offers iCloud storage plans up to 50 GB, at a relatively pricey $100 per year. But at the company’s annual developers conference in June, it announced that it would lower its rates for cloud storage and offer plans up to 1 TB. More details could come next week. Microsoft offers OneDrive personal accounts up to 200 GB, which cost $3.99 per month.
Why is cloud storage getting so cheap? The cost of modern hard-drive storage has plummeted, from around $20 per GB in 2000 to just 3 cents per GB today, according to data compiled by Matt Komorowski. Cloud storage remains a relatively new service for consumers, so it’s a bit more expensive than the offline equivalent. For now.
By Elizabeth Lopatto.
Elizabeth Lopatto covers technology and science for Quartz. She previously worked at Bloomberg News, where she wrote about pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology, and science. …Read more
