Compare SkyDrive and Google Drive

The rumor has turned in to reality. Google Drive is no more a rumor but is on the store.

Today, on 25 April 2012, Google officially announced the launch of Google Drive, which is a cloud based storage system. According to the definition by Google, it is a place where you can create, share, collaborate, and keep all of your stuff.

Well, even if you can't store everything, you can atleast store your documents, images, videos and other files. No more need to worry about getting your computer hacked, hard disk crashed or someone steal your laptop. Your files will be safe in Google Drive which is a cloud based online storage service.

Google Drive is not just another hard drive. It is a collaboration platform as well, similar to Microsoft's SkyDrive. The cloud based storage from Microsoft, called SkyDrive, has been offering its services for few years now. The name "Drive" in Google Drive may be just a coincidence, but definitely SkyDrive has a big competitor in the field now.

Google Drive works everywhere - PC, MAC, Mobile

Before launching Google Drive, Google did the homework well. It is not released as an immature product. It runs on PC, MAC and Mobiles. This means, you can access your files or collaborate with your friends almost anywhere with an internet access.

Compare Google Drive with SkyDrive

If you have ever used Hotmail to send emails with attachments, you would have used Microsoft SkyDrive. It is a cloud based online storage service offered by Microsoft. The SkyDrive is integrated with Hotmail. When you send attachments through Hotmail, you have an option to either attach it to the Email or upload to the SkyDrive and then send only a link.

Google Drive also offer a similar feature. You may upload files to Google Drive and then send links to the recipient. Google Drive allow collaborating on the uploaded documents and multiple people can work together at the same time.

Search content and not just files in Google Drive

Both Microsoft SkyDrive and Google Drive allow searching in the documents. However, the SkyDrive search is limited to the following file types:

.doc
.docx
.ppt
.pptx
.xls
.xlsx

It is surprising that Microsoft SkyDrive does not even allow searching in plain text files.

Google Drive has a big advantage in file search. Google Drive uses the unbeatable Google Search to search the files. It can even search through scanned documents using "Optical Character Recognition" (OCR) technology.

SkyDrive uses Bing Search and Google Drive uses Google search (obviously). So, if you love Google search, you are going to love the search option in Google Drive.

Compare space available at SkyDrive and Google Drive - SkyDrive wins

Google Drive comes with 5Gb free space and can be expanded up to 1TB if you can afford paying some money! Microsoft SkyDrive comes with 7Gb free cloud space to store your files. If you are existing SkyDrive user, you can get a free upgrade to 25 GB SkyDrive storage

Clearly, Microsoft SkyDrive gives you an advantage with more free space to store your files.

Paid upgrades are available at Google Drive. Cost for paid Google Drive storage is given below:

25GB - $2.49/month,
100GB - $4.99/month
1TB - $49.99/month

Cost for paid upgrades at Microsoft SkyDrive are as below:

25 GB - Free (for existing customers)
Additional 20 GB - $10 per year
Additional 50 GB - $25 per year
Additional 100 GB - $50 per year

If you look at the cost structure, Microsoft SkyDrive is slightly cheaper than Google Drive storage. You can get 100GB + 25GB SkyDrive storage for $50per year. Google Drive would cost you $59.88 for 100GB + 5GB storage space in its cloud.

If you compare the prices, Microsoft SkyDrive is slightly cheaper.

Integration with other Apps

Google Drive is tightly integrated with Google Docs and all of your documents in Google Docs appear in your Google Drive. You can edit and collaborate work with others. Also, Google Drive is integrated with GMail.

Microsoft SkyDrive is integrated with Hotmail and Office Docs. If you want to edit and collaborate on Microsoft Office documents, then SkyDrive offers better integration. Also, if your primary email client is Hotmail, then SkyDrive is the option for you.

Which is better - Google Drive or Microsoft SkyDrive?

Both Microsoft SkyDrive and Google Drive offers a wide range of excellent services. At this point, it is hard to judge which is better since both of them offer comparable free services. Even if you look at paid upgrades, the price difference between them are very low.

My conclusion is, if you are primarily a Google user, then go for Google Drive. If you use Microsoft Office and Hotmail, the SkyDrive may be a better option for you. Many people (like me) use both Hotmail and GMail for emails. Also, we use Microsoft office for offline documentation and Google Docs for online documents. So, there is nothing wrong in holding a free account at both Microsoft SkyDrive and Google Drive.