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"How Does Google Drive Compare to Other Cloud Storage Services?\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAmazon Cloud Drive\r\n\nStorage: 5GB free (purchases from the Amazon MP3 Store don't count towards storage limit)Mobile Integration: Cloud Player for Android, no official iOS appDesktop Integration: Amazon MP3 Uploader/Downloader for musicPricing: $1 a gigabyte per year. Collaborative Editing: NoFile Size Limitations: 2GB\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\niCloud\nStorage: 5GB free, 20GB is $40 a year, 50GB is $100 a yearMobile Integration: Built into iOS 5Desktop Integration: Mac OS X 10.7.x and Windows 7Pricing: $40/$100 a yearCollaborative Editing: NoFile Size Limitations: No\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBox\nStorage: 5GB free, up to 50GB for personal accounts, 1TB for business and unlimited for eneterpriseMobile Integration: iOS, Android, and BlackBerryDesktop Integration: Mac, Windows, webPricing: Personal accounts start at $9.99 a month for 25GB, business plans start at $15 a month (at least 3 users required)Collaborative Editing: Yes, more robust editing for business accountsFile Size Limitations: 25MB - 100MB for free accounts, up to 2GB for business accounts\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDropbox\nStorage: 2GB free and 500MB per referral, paid plans up to 100GBMobile Integration: Android, iOS, BlackBerryDesktop Integration: Windows, Mac, Linux, webPricing: $100 a year for 50GB, $200 a year for 100GBCollaborative Editing: No, but many cloud document services integrate with DropboxFile Size Limitations: None for desktop, 300MB for web uploads\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSkyDrive\nStorage: 7GB free (25GB for users who signed up before April 22, 2012), Up to 100GBMobile Integration: Official apps for Windows Phone 7 and iOS, unofficial Android apps, mobile web accessDesktop Integration: Windows, Mac and webPricing: Additional storage available for $0.50 a gigabyte, 100GB of additional storage is $50 a year.Collaborative Editing: Yes, with Office Live Web AppsFile Size Limitations: 2GB (300 megabytes for web uploads)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGoogle Drive\nStorage: 5GB free, up to 16TBMobile Integration: Android, iOS (coming soon)Desktop Integration: Windows, Mac, webPricing: $30 a year for 25GB, $60 a year for $100GBCollaborative Editing: Yes with Google DocsFile Size Limitations: 10GB\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNow that Google Drive is finally a reality, how does it stack up against the cloud competition?\nGoogle's new cloud-based document and storage solution is priced aggressively and boasts best-in-class integration with other Google services \u2014 including Google Docs. As you can see from our hands-on, Google Drive is an impressive product.\nStill, the cloud storage and collaboration space is more competitive than ever before. Google faces competition not just from cloud companies such as Box and Dropbox, but from Apple, Microsoft and Amazon as well.\nStorage and Pricing\nGoogle is pricing Google Drive at a VERY aggressive level. For $30 a year ($2.50 a month), users get 25GB to use for Google Drive and Picasa, plus 25GB of Gmail storage.\nThis is more than what Amazon and Microsoft charge for an additional 20GB, but less than the price of Dropbox, Apple and Box.net.\nFor $60 a year ($5 a month), Google offers 100GB of Drive and Picasa storage (plus 25GB for Gmail), which clocks in below Amazon, Apple, Dropbox and Box.net. For penny pinchers, Microsoft's offer of 100GB of additional storage \u2014 on top of the 7 or 25GB that users already get with the service \u2014 is just $50 a year.\nDropbox and Box are among the more expensive services. \nA 100GB Dropbox account costs more than three times what a Google Drive account costs. In this area, Google is clearly trying to undermine its competition on a per-GB pricing basis.\nIn the case of Box, the company's real focus is on business users. Box's pricing is also significantly higher than Google Drive; however, that differentiation is also part of the company's focus. As Box has told us on multiple occasions, it wants to replace Microsoft SharePoint in the SMB and Enterprise space. While Google is also looking in this direction, Box has a bevy of services and integrations that are focused on replacing a company's central file server.\nUpload Limit\nThe most limiting factor of the majority of cloud storage and collaboration services isn't the total amount of storage \u2014 it's the limitations on upload size.\nGoogle has an impressive 10GB limit on files or folders. This is significantly more than the 2GB limit imposed by most cloud services. Only Dropbox's desktop apps for Mac, Windows and Linux do better. With Dropbox, the only limitation is the size of a storage plan.\nCollaboration and Sharing\nLike Microsoft's SkyDrive and Box, Google Drive offers in-browser access to files and folders, including document editing via Google Docs.\nAnd like SkyDrive, Box and iCloud, third-party applications can plug into Google Drive to retrieve or store files. This makes keeping apps synchronized across devices and platforms much more seamless.\nMobile Integration\nAlthough Google Drive's Android app is already around, Google is making iOS users wait for access to the app. This is in contrast to Dropbox, Box and SkyDrive, which all offer official or unofficial solutions for multiple mobile platforms.\nAmazon and Apple are behind in the mobile access game. Apple makes iCloud exclusively available to iOS 5 users, and Amazon's Cloud Drive only integrates with Android (and the integration is limited at that).\nDesktop Integration\nPart of the reason that Dropbox has such a loyal following is because of its fantastic Desktop integration. Mac, Windows and Linux users can automatically sync and share files from their native file systems without having to bother with desktop uploads.\nThis is a similar approach to the one Box has taken with its Box Sync service for Windows, and to what Microsoft employs for SkyDrive for Windows and Mac.\nGoogle Drive's desktop app works essentially the same as SkyDrive \u2014 in other words, it isn't as tightly coupled with the file system as Dropbox, but it does the job.\nFinal Thoughts\nWhich cloud storage service an individual or business decides to use is a decision that should encompass more than just comparing specs and pricing. Take time to use a service and see how it integrates into your workflow before plunking down cash on an upgrade.\nFor users and businesses heavily tied to Google Docs, Google Drive will likely make sense. For those that love Dropbox or need some of Box's more robust features, Google Drive might not fit the bill. For Microsoft Office users, consider giving Microsoft SkyDrive a try \u2014 it works well and also offers online access to basic web and editing apps.\nUltimately, neither offering from Apple nor Amazon is likely to compete with Google Drive \u2014 the products are focused on different use cases.\nWe'd also like to give Canonical's Ubuntu One a shout-out. We didn't include it in our direct comparison because of its more limited options, but for Windows and Ubuntu users, its free service is worth a look as well. \nTell us your thoughts on the cloud storage and collaboration space. Does Google Drive have the goods to compete? Let us know in the comments."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/04/24/google-drive-compared/>