Cloud Storage Price & Feature Comparison – The Best Providers in 2024

If you’d like to store your data on a cloud storage provider, you’ll need to consider several options. Of course, one of the critical criteria will be the pricing. Since every provider has their pricing structure and research can take a lot of time, we’ve done the legwork for you.

Dive into the ultimate list of all the major cloud storage providers with updated information for 2024. Check out how they compare on pricing and pick the right fit!

Factors to Take into Account When Considering Pricing

Before looking at our cloud comparison, let’s first consider some of the factors you’ll need to take into account when considering every provider’s pricing. To start, you’ll have to look at the different basic price variables that form the basis of the provider’s pricing plan. These are:

• Storage. Storage cost is a significant consideration when looking at pricing. You'll typically pay for storage on a price per gigabyte per month basis. In some cases, the minimal monthly subscription might also include some storage.
• Operations. Next, you'll need to consider how much you'll pay for your storage operations. Typically, the costs for these operations are minimal, and you won't pay much. However, it's worth considering when you carry out a lot of these operations, as they can add up to a substantial amount.
• Data transfer. When you store data on a cloud service provider, you'll need to upload your data. So, consider the cost of these data transfers. Generally, though, when uploading data, your costs will be minimal.
• Download bandwidth. Finally, you should also consider download or egress bandwidth. Here, these fees differ between different providers, and they’ll offer varying thresholds that they’ll include for free. 

These variables will give you a great idea of what you’ll pay for a specific provider’s services and, as a result, can help you narrow down your list of possible providers significantly. It doesn’t stop there, however. There are several factors, apart from price, might influence your decision.

Value Add-ons

We’ve already mentioned that providers might include certain data thresholds you can store or transfer for free. In addition, they might also offer other value add-ons to entice customers to their platform (e.g., first 12 months for free). 

It’s worth your while to consider these add-ons, as they could significantly impact your cloud storage costs. 

Security

Security is a vital consideration when storing your data. Fortunately, most cloud providers have robust security measures in place to secure your data. You should consider which provider provides the best security solutions based on your needs. 

You should also look at the processes the provider has in place in the event a breach happens.

Reliability

Most cloud storage providers have had downtime at some stage – it’s a fact that it will happen. Fortunately, most cloud providers have measures and redundancies to keep these outages to a minimum. Depending on your requirements, you should research how often these issues occur at your chosen provider and how quickly they’re sorted out. 

Data Transfer Speeds

Depending on your specific requirements, data transfer speeds might be critical. For example, when you need to upload and download data daily, faster up-and-download speeds might be necessary. 

Conversely, transfer speeds might not be that important when using cloud storage to back up your data only once a month. 

Cloud Storage Price Comparison Table

Now that we've seen some of the factors you should consider when looking at different cloud providers’ pricing plans, let's look at how some of the major cloud storage providers out there compare on price! This will give you an excellent starting point for choosing the right cloud storage provider.