It’s been actually a decade since Microsoft raised the cap on its paid Microsoft 365 storage plans to 1 terabyte of OneDrive cloud storage. It’s time for an improve, don’t you assume?

Last week, Google changed its name of its Bard AI assistant to Gemini, launched Gemini Advanced, and — in an important change of all — made 2TB of cloud storage the muse for its new premium pricing tier. Okay, that final level is a lie. Because Google provided a free upgrade to its Google One plan six years ago, granting 2TB of cloud storage for $9.99 per thirty days — the identical worth as Microsoft prices for 1TB of storage.

Okay, even that’s not completely correct, for the reason that similar 2TB Google One deal is on the market to new customers for $2.49 per thirty days for 3 months, earlier than returning to $9.99 per thirty days.

The purpose Microsoft loves subscriptions is that they’re sticky: You join, set it to autopay in your bank card, and neglect about it. But as shoppers begin re-evaluating their streaming plans (do I actually wish to pay for Netflix in the event that they cancel all the pieces after two seasons?), it’s value asking the identical exhausting questions on Microsoft 365.

Is Microsoft 365 overpriced?

Microsoft 365 — each the $69.99 annual plan for Microsoft 365 Personal and the $99.99 annual plan for Microsoft 365 Family — offer you Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, the primary purpose that most individuals join. But from there, it will get iffy. Outlook? I’d much rather have Mail, thanks. Microsoft Defender? That comes with Windows, or there are different free antivirus solutions out there. Clipchamp? I love it, true, however Microsoft tried to make that a $19 monthly subscription, too.

Mark Hachman / IDG

A shopper model of Teams, Access, Publisher, Forms, and Skype? I’m going to argue that the worth there may be subsequent to nil for many individuals, particularly in a world with Zoom, Canva, Microsoft Designer, and different options. Yes, there are hidden reasons to subscribe to Microsoft 365, however they don’t appear as potent as they as soon as had been.

Storage, although, issues, and it’s a travesty that Microsoft hasn’t stored up with the instances. In 2014, telephones just like the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 provided 16Mpixel cameras, even again then. Today, a digicam just like the Samsung Galaxy S23 or S24 means that you can shoot 200Mpixel nonetheless pictures, plus 4K movies and much more. As lengthy as you set your cellphone to routinely add your pictures and films to OneDrive, the out there space for storing could be sucked up rapidly. And, after all, a Microsoft 365 subscription contains all the different recordsdata that you just use each day, from Word to PowerPoint. In all, what you would possibly name “storage inflation” is growing, and it’ll solely proceed.

Mark Hachman / IDG

One of the explanations that Google’s own storage policy change obtained such consideration was that it felt unfair. Google used to supply limitless picture storage, even compressed — which, to be truthful, it didn’t need to do. But doing away with all that was simply step one in making all of the photos you uploaded count in opposition to your free 15GB storage cap, prompting you to pay for a Google One subscription, or not less than extra storage. It was anxiety-inducing, particularly throughout a pandemic when individuals didn’t want additional anxiousness.

Now each Microsoft and Google are asking shoppers and companies to pay an extra payment to entry the highest tier of their respective AI LLMs: $20 per thirty days for a brand new Google One AI Premium subscription (Google Workspace, 2TB of storage, and Gemini Pro, amongst different advantages) versus $26.99 ($6.99 per consumer per thirty days for Microsoft 365 Personal with 1TB of storage, plus an extra $20/mo for Copilot Pro). Google merely gives a considerably higher deal.

Microsoft has traditionally jerked shoppers round in relation to cloud storage, sufficient that I needed to seek the advice of OneDrive’s Wikipedia web page to get all of it straight. Remember, in 2014, Microsoft upgraded Office 365 subscribers to 1TB of OneDrive storage, giddily pushed it to unlimited OneDrive storage, then reneged on the deal and settled on the 1TB limit a 12 months later. It’s remained 1TB ever since. Even the Microsoft 365 Family plan (which gives as much as 6TB of storage) doesn’t pool the storage; it’s 1TB per consumer, with as much as six customers.

It’s additionally value mentioning, by the way, that Dropbox’s low-end Plus plan is, yep, $9.99 per thirty days for 2TB.

If Microsoft executives wish to make shoppers pay by the nostril to fulfill their shareholders, there are many AI-related companies to justify the fee. Enterprises can afford these premium companies, too. But jerking around consumers with Microsoft Rewards points and failing to improve the OneDrive tier with extra storage feels slightly slimy. It’s time to get with the instances, Microsoft, and provide extra for our cash.