Cloud file storage and sharing · Comparison
Google Drive vs pCloud
2 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.
Side by side
| Metric | Google Drive | pCloud |
|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Worth the priceTeam storage bundled with business email, meetings and documents in one seat, with SSO, Drive activity logs and a HIPAA BAA on every Business plan. | Worth the priceLow-cost team storage with client-side encryption included and a choice of EU or US data region at sign-up. |
| Overall score | 7.4Best | 5.8 |
| Free option | Free plan | Free plan |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $7/user/mo | $7.99/user/mo |
| Pricing model | Per seat | Per seat |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per user per month; storage pooled across the organization | Per user per month, 3 users minimum; storage pooled |
| Free option | Google account, 15 GB; 14-day Workspace trial | Free plan, 2 GB (up to 10 GB); 30-day Business trial |
| Reference scenario (10 users, 2 TB, annual) | $140/mo on Business Standard ($14 × 10), computed | $79.90/mo on Business ($7.99 × 10), computed |
| Month-to-month price | $16.80 per user on Business Standard flexible ($8.40 / $16.80 / $26.40) | $9.99 per user on Business ($14.98 on Business Pro for new accounts) |
| Storage on the scenario plan | 2 TB per user, pooled (20 TB for 10) | 1 TB per user, pooled with custom quotas (10 TB for 10) |
| Restore deleted files | 30 days in the trash; admins can restore 25 days more | 180 days per the Business page; the help center lists 30 or 365 days |
| Password and expiring links | No link passwords; access expiry for eligible work accounts | Premium users per the help center; Business not stated |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 (Workspace in scope) | ISO 27001; no SOC 2 stated |
| HIPAA BAA | Accepted by admins in the Admin console | Not stated |
| EU data storage | Data region policy from Business Standard | EU (Luxembourg) or US (Dallas), chosen at sign-up |
| SSO | Third-party identity provider on every Business plan | Not stated |
| Admin activity log | Drive log events on every Business plan | Activity logs per user and team |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Google Drive in Workspace ties with OneDrive for the top compliance and admin scores here, for $14 per user with email and documents included. Its sharing tools are simpler: no link passwords or file requests, and a 30-day trash. | From its public pages, pCloud Business is low-cost encrypted storage with an EU or US region and a shared pool. Its admin and compliance list is shorter than the others here, and a few help center details differ from the Business page. |
Evidence: Google Drive: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; pCloud: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- Google DriveLowest priceBusiness Starter$7/user/mo1-year commitment; $8.40 flexible; up to 300 users
- 30 GB pooled storage per user
- Gmail with your domain, Meet for 100 participants
- SSO, Drive log events, remote account wipe
- pCloudBusiness$7.99/user/moBilled annually; $9.99 monthly; 3 users minimum
- 1 TB per user, pooled, with custom quotas
- pCloud Encryption (client-side) included
- Teams, access levels and activity logs
- 180 days of file versioning, branded links
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Google Drive 2026-10-16, pCloud 2026-10-16.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- Google DriveSelf-serve sign-up; the highest score of the 2 self-serve products here (7.4/10).
- Lowest starter price
- Google Drive$7/user/mo for the Business Starter (1-year commitment) plan.
- Highest overall score
- Google Drive7.4/10 (Good). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.
Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score
Full reviews
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