Microsoft is giving OneDrive users more storage space for less money with the latest update to the service. It is also giving users of Office 365, a subscription-based version of Microsoft Office, 1 TB of free storage.
Microsoft will be increasing the amount of storage users get for free from 7 GB to 15GB. The company cites data saying that 3 out of 4 people store less than 15 GB of files on their computers. Expanded storage space on OneDrive is also getting a large price cut. Bumping up to 100 GB will now cost only $1.99 per month rather than $7.49, and 200 GB can be purchased for $3.99 per month, compared to the previous price of $11.49.
"With OneDrive, we want to give you one place for all of your stuff: your photos, videos, documents and other files," says Microsoft. "Of course, to do this, we need to make sure you actually have enough storage space for everything, particularly given that the amount of content everyone has is growing by leaps and bounds."
Microsoft is also offering free storage on OneDrive to those who subscribe to Office 365. Office 365 Home will come with 1 TB of storage for each of up to five users. The personal and university editions will provide 1 TB per subscription.
OneDrive doesn't have the presence in the public consciousness that rival services like Google Drive and Dropbox do, which might lead to the belief that it has far fewer users. However, it may actually be ahead of the competition. Dropbox currently has more than 300 million users. Due to its connection with Microsoft Office, OneDrive currently has more than 250 million, and that number has likely gone up since the figure was reported in 2013.
The price reductions for OneDrive put it in line with similar changes to Google Drive announced in March. Google Drive also offers a 100 GB storage plan for $1.99 per month and a 1 TB plan for $9.99 per month. Microsoft's increase of 15 GB of free storage also makes it even with Google Drive in that area. Microsoft says the changes will roll out sometime in the next month, and current subscribers will be automatically moved to the new prices.
