Microsoft OneDrive review
by MicrosoftCloud file storage and sharing
OneDrive for work with 1 TB per user, password and expiring links and file requests, in Microsoft 365 Business Basic from $5.40 per user paid yearly.
- Free plan
- Self-serve
- Per seat
- Public prices
What you're paying for
- Worth the price (main value)
- Compliance included
A terabyte per user with full link controls, file requests, audit logging and a HIPAA BAA for $5.40 per user, with business email and web Office apps.
Business Basic gives each person 1 TB of OneDrive storage plus SharePoint team sites, business email and web and mobile Word, Excel and PowerPoint, so a small company buys storage and its office tools in one seat. OneDrive sharing includes passwords, expiry dates, blocked downloads and file requests, and work accounts can restore deleted files for 93 days. Microsoft Purview Audit (Standard), device wipe through Basic Mobility and Security, and a HIPAA BAA through Microsoft's data protection addendum come with the plan.
- Lowest price for 10 users hereBusiness Basic without Teams is $5.40 per user a month paid yearly, so 10 users cost $54 a month (computed), with 1 TB of OneDrive storage each.Evidence: OneDrive plans page and Business Basic page (2026-10-16)
- Full link controls on the entry planThe plan table checks password-protected or expiring link settings on every business plan; the sharing help adds Block download, and file requests let anyone upload to a folder.Evidence: OneDrive plans page and Microsoft Support sharing and file request articles (2026-10-16)
- Audit and device controls includedMicrosoft Purview Audit (Standard) is listed for Business Basic, Standard and Premium, and Basic Mobility and Security, which can wipe devices, is included in Business Basic.Evidence: Microsoft Purview service description and Basic Mobility and Security overview (2026-10-16)
- BAA by defaultMicrosoft's HIPAA page says its BAA is available through the Online Services Data Protection Addendum by default to customers who are covered entities or business associates.Evidence: Microsoft compliance pages for HIPAA, SOC 2 and ISO 27001 (2026-10-16)
- Best for
- Small companies that want low-cost storage per person with link controls and compliance basics, and already work in Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
- Good to know
- Storage is per person: each OneDrive holds 1 TB, and shared SharePoint sites draw on an organization pool of 1 TB plus 10 GB per license.
How Microsoft OneDrive compares
Against 3 other products we reviewed in Cloud file storage and sharing: what you pay for with each, the five access facts, the plan limits we recorded and each review's bottom line. The note under the table says how each one was checked.
| Metric | Microsoft OneDrive | Dropbox | Google Drive | Box |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Worth the priceA terabyte per user with full link controls, file requests, audit logging and a HIPAA BAA for $5.40 per user, with business email and web Office apps. | Easy to adoptTeam storage built for sharing with clients: link passwords, expiry dates, download blocking and 180-day recovery on the entry team plan. | 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. | Saves engineering timeUnlimited storage with single sign-on, e-signatures and Box AI from the Business plan, and HIPAA and FedRAMP support on Enterprise. |
| Overall score | 9.2Best | 7.6 | 7.4 | 7.3 |
| Free option | Free plan | Free plan | Free plan | Free plan |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $5.40/user/mo | $15/user/mo | $7/user/mo | $5/user/mo |
| Pricing model | Per seat | Per seat | Per seat | Per seat |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per user per month; 1 TB of OneDrive per user | Per license per month; storage pooled for the team | Per user per month; storage pooled across the organization | Per user per month, 3 users minimum |
| Free option | Microsoft account, 5 GB; one-month business trial with a card | Dropbox Basic, 2 GB; free trial of Standard and Advanced (30 days per the plans page) | Google account, 15 GB; 14-day Workspace trial | Individual plan, 10 GB; 14-day trial of business plans |
| Reference scenario (10 users, 2 TB, annual) | $54/mo on Business Basic without Teams ($5.40 × 10), computed | $150/mo on Standard ($15 × 10), computed | $140/mo on Business Standard ($14 × 10), computed | $150/mo on Business ($15 × 10), computed |
| Month-to-month price | $6.48 per user without Teams, $8.40 with Teams | $18 per user on Standard ($18 / $30 for Standard and Advanced) | $16.80 per user on Business Standard flexible ($8.40 / $16.80 / $26.40) | $20 per user on Business ($7 / $20 / $33 / $47 from Business Starter to Enterprise) |
| Storage on the scenario plan | 1 TB per user; SharePoint pool of 1 TB plus 10 GB per license | 3 TB plus 1 TB per additional active license, pooled (12 TB for 10) | 2 TB per user, pooled (20 TB for 10) | Unlimited; Business Starter has 100 GB |
| Restore deleted files | 93 days for work accounts; restore the whole OneDrive to any point in 30 days | 180 days on Standard, 1 year on Advanced | 30 days in the trash; admins can restore 25 days more | 30 days by default, adjustable by admins; 50 file versions |
| Password and expiring links | Every business plan | Standard and up | No link passwords; access expiry for eligible work accounts | All paid plans |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 (Office 365 in scope) | SOC 2 report and ISO 27001 certificate cover Standard and up | SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 (Workspace in scope) | SOC 1 and 2 Type II (under NDA); ISO 27001:2022 |
| HIPAA BAA | By default through Microsoft's data protection addendum | Standard and up; US admins sign it in the Admin Console | Accepted by admins in the Admin console | Enterprise and up ($35) |
| EU data storage | Follows the sign-up country or region | By support request: 10+ licenses, annual billing, billing address outside the current region | Data region policy from Business Standard | Box Zones add-on, no listed price; checked on Enterprise Plus |
| SSO | Microsoft Entra ID (free version included) | Advanced and up ($24) | Third-party identity provider on every Business plan | Business and up |
| Admin activity log | Purview Audit (Standard) on Business Basic | Audit logs with file event tracking on Advanced; Standard admins see 180 days of activity | Drive log events on every Business plan | Full user activity tracking from Business Plus ($25) |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, OneDrive in Microsoft 365 Business Basic scores highest here: $5.40 per user with full link controls, 93-day recovery, audit logging and a BAA. Storage is per person, and shared team sites draw on a smaller organization pool. | From its public pages, Dropbox Standard is a complete sharing plan for teams: link controls, file requests, 180-day recovery and a HIPAA BAA at $15 per user. SSO and audit logs need Advanced, and Enterprise and extra storage are priced outside the plans page. | 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, Box Business gives unlimited storage, SSO, link controls and e-signatures for $15 per user. External collaborators, activity tracking and HIPAA move you up the plan ladder, and several add-ons have no listed price. |
Evidence: Microsoft OneDrive: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Dropbox: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Google Drive: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Box: 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.
Score
- Pricing clarity
- 10.0 / 10, Excellent
- scenario plan priced; can be bought online; month-to-month price published
- Free plan and trial
- 6.8 / 10, Good
- free plan with 5 GB, 30-day business trial
- Price for 10 users
- 8.7 / 10, Excellent
- $54/mo: Microsoft 365 Business Basic (no Teams) at $5.40 × 10 users, annual terms; 1 TB of OneDrive per user; shared SharePoint sites draw on 1 TB plus 10 GB per license (1.1 TB for 10); assumes each person keeps their own work files (about 200 GB each) in OneDrive, which Microsoft provisions per user
- Sharing controls and recovery
- 9.6 / 10, Excellent
- password links on the scenario plan; expiring links on the scenario plan; download blocking on the scenario plan; file requests on the scenario plan; deleted files restorable for 93 days (work accounts, unless an admin changed the retention setting)
- Compliance and data residency
- 10.0 / 10, Excellent
- SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, HIPAA BAA on the scenario plan, EU data storage on the scenario plan (the default storage geography follows the country or region given at sign-up)
- Admin and security controls
- 10.0 / 10, Excellent
- SSO on the scenario plan; activity log on the scenario plan; remote device wipe on the scenario plan; external sharing policies on the scenario plan; API
Review
Review from public pages
Written from Microsoft OneDrive's public pages (pricing, security or privacy, and docs) as read on Oct 16, 2026. We did not sign up, and no hands-on run is published yet.
What the public pages show
We read Microsoft's US OneDrive plans and pricing page (Business tab, with and without Teams), the Microsoft 365 Business Basic page, the free OneDrive page, Microsoft Support articles on sharing, file requests and restoring deleted files, the OneDrive and SharePoint service descriptions, the Purview service description, the Basic Mobility and Security overview, the data residency overview and Microsoft's SOC 2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA pages on Oct 16, 2026; we did not sign up, start a trial or call the API for this review.
The OneDrive business page lists no standalone OneDrive plan: it compares Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot ($23.50), Business Basic ($7.00) and Apps for business ($10.00) per user a month paid yearly, each with 1 TB per user, and a Without Teams toggle shows Business Basic at $5.40 and Business Standard with Copilot at $20.30. The Business Basic page adds monthly-subscription prices of $8.40, or $6.48 without Teams.
The service descriptions explain the storage model: OneDrive is 1 TB per licensed user for that person's work files, while departmental data belongs in SharePoint, whose storage is 1 TB per organization plus 10 GB per license. The trial footnote says the one-month trial needs a credit card and that canceling a subscription deletes its data.
Strengths
- Lowest seat price here
Business Basic without Teams is $5.40 per user paid yearly and $6.48 on a monthly subscription, with 1 TB of OneDrive per user.
vs pCloud: pCloud Business is $7.99 per user billed annually; Google Business Standard is $14 with a one-year commitment.
- Link controls and file requests on the entry plan
Links can carry a password, an expiry date and Block download, and file requests let anyone upload without seeing the folder.
vs Google Drive: Google Drive lists no link passwords or file requests.
- 93-day recovery for work accounts
Work or school accounts can restore deleted files for 93 days unless an admin changes it, and Restore your OneDrive rolls everything back to any point in the last 30 days.
vs Google Drive: Box and Google Drive keep deleted items for 30 days by default.
- Compliance basics included
Purview Audit (Standard), device wipe through Basic Mobility and Security, and a BAA by default through Microsoft's data protection addendum come with Business Basic.
vs Dropbox: Dropbox starts audit logs on Advanced; Box starts the BAA on Enterprise.
Things to know
- Storage is per person
Each OneDrive holds 1 TB for one user's work files; Microsoft says departmental data belongs in SharePoint, whose organization pool is 1 TB plus 10 GB per license (1.1 TB for 10 users).
Workaround: The SharePoint limits page says the Office 365 Extra File Storage add-on adds to the pool; its price is not on the pages we read.
- Sold inside Microsoft 365, not on its own
The OneDrive business page lists only Microsoft 365 plans; it shows no OneDrive-only plan.
Workaround: Business Basic without Teams is the lowest-priced plan on the page that includes OneDrive for business.
- Trial needs a card
The one-month trial requires a credit card, converts to a paid subscription unless canceled, and has limited storage.
Workaround: A personal Microsoft account includes 5 GB of OneDrive at no cost.
- Data location follows the sign-up country
The default storage geography is set by the country or region given when the organization signs up.
Pricing reality
Microsoft bills per user; paying yearly is about 17% below the monthly subscription. For our scenario, 10 users on Business Basic without Teams cost 10 × $5.40 = $54 a month paid yearly, or $64.80 on a monthly subscription (computed), before tax, with 1 TB of OneDrive per user. With Teams, Business Basic is $70 a month for 10 users (computed). The seat also buys business email, web and mobile Office apps and SharePoint. Desktop Office apps need Apps for business ($10) or Business Standard ($14, or $23.50 with Copilot). Copilot is an add-on on Business Basic, and extra SharePoint storage is sold separately at a price not shown on the plan pages.
Exit path
OneDrive syncs files to computers, and the OneDrive developer docs cover API access, so files can be copied out. The trial footnote says that when a subscription is canceled, all associated data is deleted, so export before canceling; a paid subscription can be canceled within 7 days for a prorated refund.
Compared with
- Pick Microsoft OneDrive when
- You work in Office files and want the lowest seat price with link passwords and file requests.
- Pick Google Drive when
- You want storage pooled across the team and work in Docs, Sheets and Slides.
- Pick Microsoft OneDrive when
- You want SSO, audit logging and a BAA for $54 a month for 10 users.
- Pick Dropbox when
- You want one pooled team space of 12 TB and 180-day recovery on Standard.
- Pick Microsoft OneDrive when
- You need SSO, audit logging and a HIPAA BAA.
- Pick pCloud when
- You want client-side encryption included and a storage pool you can split with custom quotas.
Choose it if
- You want the lowest price per user with 1 TB each.
- You need SSO, audit logging and a HIPAA BAA on the entry plan.
- Your team already works in Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Look elsewhere if
- You want one large pooled space for shared team folders.
- You want a storage product without an office suite.
Bottom line
From its public pages, OneDrive in Microsoft 365 Business Basic scores highest here: $5.40 per user with full link controls, 93-day recovery, audit logging and a BAA. Storage is per person, and shared team sites draw on a smaller organization pool.
Plan limits at a glance
| Limit | As recorded |
|---|---|
| Billing unit | Per user per month; 1 TB of OneDrive per user |
| Free option | Microsoft account, 5 GB; one-month business trial with a card |
| Reference scenario (10 users, 2 TB, annual) | $54/mo on Business Basic without Teams ($5.40 × 10), computed |
| Month-to-month price | $6.48 per user without Teams, $8.40 with Teams |
| Storage on the scenario plan | 1 TB per user; SharePoint pool of 1 TB plus 10 GB per license |
| Restore deleted files | 93 days for work accounts; restore the whole OneDrive to any point in 30 days |
| Password and expiring links | Every business plan |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 (Office 365 in scope) |
| HIPAA BAA | By default through Microsoft's data protection addendum |
| EU data storage | Follows the sign-up country or region |
| SSO | Microsoft Entra ID (free version included) |
| Admin activity log | Purview Audit (Standard) on Business Basic |
Read from the vendor's public pages on Oct 16, 2026. No hands-on run is published yet. How we check
We have not published a sign-up run for Microsoft OneDrive yet. The access facts above were read from its sign-up and pricing pages on Oct 16, 2026.
We have not published API calls for Microsoft OneDrive yet.
Microsoft OneDrive lists 5 plans. The cheapest paid plan, Microsoft 365 Business Basic, no Teams (paid yearly), costs $5.40/user/mo.
- Microsoft OneDriveFreeMicrosoft accountFree
- 5 GB of cloud storage
- Personal account, not managed by a company
- Microsoft OneDriveLowest priceMicrosoft 365 Business Basic (no Teams)$5.40/user/moPaid yearly; $6.48 on a monthly subscription; up to 300 users
- 1 TB of OneDrive per user, SharePoint team sites
- Business email, web and mobile Office apps
- Password, expiry and block-download link settings, file requests
- Microsoft OneDriveMicrosoft 365 Business Basic$7.00/user/moPaid yearly; $8.40 on a monthly subscription; up to 300 users
- Everything in the no-Teams version
- Chat, calls and meetings in Microsoft Teams
- Microsoft OneDriveMicrosoft 365 Apps for business$10.00/user/moPaid yearly; up to 300 users
- 1 TB of OneDrive per user
- Desktop Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote
- No business email or SharePoint
- Microsoft OneDriveMicrosoft 365 Business Standard$14.00/user/moPaid yearly; $23.50 with Copilot; up to 300 users
- 1 TB of OneDrive per user
- Desktop Office apps, business email, Teams webinars
Prices as listed, USD, excluding tax; observed 2026-10-16.
Source: microsoft.com pricing page. Prices change; the observed date above is when our agent read them.