Apple iCloud vs. Google Drive

Apple iCloud

598 Reviews and Ratings

Google Drive

6,625 Reviews and Ratings

Overview
Product	Rating	Most Used By	Product Summary	Starting Price
Apple iCloud	Score8.6 out of 10	N/A	Apple iCloud is a document management software offering from Apple. It includes features such as access to music, photos, calendars, contacts, and documents, and it is built into every new iOS device.	$0.99 per month
Google Drive	Score8.8 out of 10	N/A	Google Drive is a cloud file storage, synchronization, and collaboration platform and service, that features Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides for document editing and presentation.	$6 per month

Pricing

Apple iCloud

Google Drive

50GB: $0.99
per month
200GB: $2.99
per month
2TB: $9.99
per month

Basic: $6.00
per month
Business: $12.00
per month
Enterprise: Contact Vendor for Quote
per month

Pricing Offerings
Apple iCloud	Google Drive
Free Trial
No	Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No	Yes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No	No

No setup fee

No setup fee

—

Discounts are available for students, educators, and non profit organizations.

Community Pulse
Key User Insights
	Apple iCloud	Google Drive
Considered Both Products	Apple Doug Fish Finance Director at Navigate Bookkeeping (Financial Services, 1-10 employees) Chose Apple iCloud Google Drive is similar to Apple iCloud, but since I prefer Apple products and have operated within the Apple ecosystem for many years, I use iCloud. Some clients who don't use Apple share documents with me in Google Drive so I have experience with the product, but I prefer … Incentivized Helpful? Joshua Melder Customer Account Manager in Corporate at Quad (Printing, 10,001+ employees) Chose Apple iCloud Overall, iCloud performs quite well against some of its larger competitors. In my opinion, iCloud may be better suited for personal and social sharing compared to business cloud platforms like OneDrive and Google Drive. iCloud is incredibly strong if your organization is fully … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Apple iCloud Apple iCloud is extremely similar to Google Drive. You’re able to access files from anywhere, even a PC, without needing to be on the device where the file was originally created. Incentivized Helpful? James Hicks Chief Technologist and Founder in Corporate at HicksNewMedia (Online Media, 1-10 employees) Chose Apple iCloud Google Drive is still my primary repository - I use iCloud as a secondary. This is primarily due to the issues noted with iCloud.com. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Apple iCloud Initially, I was using Google Drive and I was completely satisfied with its services. But after sometimes when I upgraded my mobile device and computer system to Mac OS and iOS, I shifted to iCloud because iCloud works flawlessly in the Apple ecosystem and It also provides a … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Apple iCloud Google Drive is great and it offers way more free storage than Apple iCloud, however, Google is known for sharing their user's data much more freely than Apple. To some people, this might not be a big deal. I prefer to pay a few dollars for added security. Dropbox is a … Incentivized Helpful? Michael Timms Network Administrator II in Information Technology at iQor (Telecommunications, 10,001+ employees) Chose Apple iCloud I prefer Google Drive to Apple iCloud. That being said, iCloud does have a huge and very loyal fanbase, and as I have seen in my career it is not going anywhere. If you need a cloud platform just for filesharing, I would pick Dropbox or Google Drive over iCloud. If you need a … Incentivized Helpful? Ravinder Gupta Technology Architect and Team Lead in Information Technology at CGI (Information Technology and Services, 10,001+ employees) Chose Apple iCloud Google Drive is great and offers competitive pricing plans but we have an Apple ecosystem and Apple iCloud was the preferred choice for it. Incentivized Helpful? Matt Heerema Director at Mere Agency (Internet, 1-10 employees) Chose Apple iCloud For a Mac user in a Mac-only shop, iCloud is by far the best of breed. If your company has a mix of Mac and Windows users, it will not be the right primary tool (go to Google Drive for that). iCloud is a necessary and built-in part of a Mac user's experience and so will … Incentivized Helpful? Shawngela Pierce Law of Attraction, Meditation & Spiritual Life Coach \| Public Speaker in Professional Services at Seek Within You (Professional Training & Coaching, 1-10 employees) Chose Apple iCloud Google Drive comes packaged with my GSuite account so I still use it but it doesn't sync all of my Apple devices together. As a result, the device syncing makes iCloud a more important cloud service for my business. I do find that upload speeds to Google Drive tend to be faster … Incentivized Helpful? Jeff Henkel Owner in Finance and Accounting at HighRoad Accounting (Accounting, 1-10 employees) Chose Apple iCloud Apple iCloud works as well or almost as well as OneDrive. I also use OneDrive fairly extensively because I have free storage and it came along with my other Microsoft software. I only pay for additional storage on iCloud. I suppose it's because I operate in both Windows and … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Apple iCloud We actually use all three, apple iCloud, Google Drive, and Dropbox. We use them for storing different kinds of files. With word documents and excel documents, we use Google Drive. For large saved files (designer files) we use Dropbox, and for Apple we use all of our photos, and … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Apple iCloud Apple iCloud allows to track devices when lost and uses end-to-end encryption for data such as iMessages of Health data. It also includes features of shared albums to optimize storage and can access these items through any Apple device in a quick and efficient way. Incentivized Helpful? Justin Moore Assistant Director of Admissions at Oklahoma Baptist University (Education Management, 201-500 employees) Chose Apple iCloud The basic premise among these is the same. Where Apple iCloud stands apart for our team is that there is not a separate app to be downloaded to access these features on most phones or tablets (most of our staff has iPhones, and we provide iPads). This allows everyone to obtain … Incentivized Helpful? Matt Kennicott Vice President of Communications at The Waite Company (Public Relations and Communications, 11-50 employees) Chose Apple iCloud The security and functionality of iCloud beats out any other products I've tried. While two-factor authentication is available elsewhere, Apple seems to take security a step further with notifications across all devices. In addition, the pricing is right - the low cost of 1TB … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Apple iCloud They are different platforms but both reliable and easily used by those who need to access and use it. I am a happy customer for both Apple iCloud and Boomr and would highly recommend them to anyone who is looking to use and purchase something to give them the reassurance and … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Apple iCloud Already a part of the Apple ecosystem, so if it suits our needs, we will use it. We have a Department shared Dropbox account specifically for sharing large projects with vendors, so Apple iCloud is for lighter internal projects such as shared spreadsheets for project … Incentivized Helpful? Gavin Scott-Miller IT Consultant in Information Technology at Self-Employed (Information Technology and Services, 1-10 employees) Chose Apple iCloud iCloud is probably the best option for someone who uses primarily Apple devices and services. If you are multi-platform in your technology use I would make sure you test out the free version of iCloud before you make the switch, Apple likes to play nice with Apple, which means … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Apple iCloud Unlike other solutions, iCloud automatically backs up data without the user needing to download an additional application. Additionally, iCloud is the only application to keep and manage iPhone backups. Lastly, iCloud's pricing options are much more favorable than the other … Incentivized Helpful? Shelby Bowden Graduate Research Assistant in Research & Development at Western Kentucky University (Higher Education, 1001-5000 employees) Chose Apple iCloud I selected Apple icloud mainly because it is the best for using with pesky apple file types, but overall it does a pretty poor job against competitors. It is more expensive, offers less storage, and is much more difficult to use. I'd stick to an alternative program if it were … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Apple iCloud Apple does offer an alternative to Office & the Google Docs family but trusting to use it with both internal and external parties is tough. Google is more universal and easier for 3rd parties to collaborate with. Apple works well for a closed internal group that is native to … Incentivized Helpful? Michelle Kelly Lower and Middle School Music Teacher at The Bullis School (Education Management, 51-200 employees) Chose Apple iCloud Apple iCloud works on mobile devices, tablets, and computers. We are an all-apple school so using iCloud was a no brainer in comparison to using google for password management. Incentivized Helpful? Manuel Aguilar Geophysical Analyst in Engineering at GMA Proyectos Siglo XXI C.A (Oil & Energy, 51-200 employees) Chose Apple iCloud As I have mentioned in this review, Apple iCloud shines while it is used with Apple products such as iPhones, iPads and Macs. Microsoft OneDrive serves a similar function when working with Windows operating systems. Both are excellent cloud storage programs that work better in … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Apple iCloud NCommand was awful. It didn't work well for us, things went missing and tended to be clunky. iCloud has been great with a cleaner interface, more options to collaborate on a document within a single URL, and just being all around simpler. iCloud also hasn't gone down and been … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Apple iCloud Apple iCloud is great for keeping me on the same page with all of my devices as far as photos, contacts, calendars, etc., are concerned. However, Box or Dropbox are easier to use for collaboration. I like the ability in Dropbox or Box to have a folder on my desktop that … Incentivized Helpful?	Google Verified User Chose Google Drive I am using Apple iCloud also, but that is available for Apple devices only. For other devices, I use Google Drive. Both software are very good, but Google Drive has much more features than iCloud. I prefer it for my office related work since it is very well synced with … Incentivized Helpful? Manuel Aguilar Geophysical Analyst in Engineering at GMA Proyectos Siglo XXI C.A (Oil & Energy, 51-200 employees) Chose Google Drive Microsoft OneDrive shines when using Windows operating system, which is extremely common in almost every business. Apple iCloud on the other hand excels when using Apple products such as iPhones, iPads and Macs. Google Drive is useful in every situation, so it represents a … Incentivized Helpful? Jamie Dear IT Administrator in Information Technology at Pushpay (Information Technology and Services, 51-200 employees) Chose Google Drive Google Drive provides a richer, enterprise-grade experience for business users. Apple iCloud is relegated to personal use only. Dropbox does not provide as rich of permissions and security structuring tools as Google Drive. Incentivized Helpful? Abhinav Bajpai Graphics Artist in Professional Services at Prasar Bharati (Broadcast Media, 10,001+ employees) Chose Google Drive Apple Drive dosn't offer that much storage and doesn't provide vast features with collaborative tools like docs , spreadsheet and forms etc. Google drive also allows you to search for files and folders that contain certain words in their title or content in any perticular file. … Incentivized Helpful? Nicolas Van Levi Buenviaje Student at University of the Philippines Open University (Broadcast Media, 1-10 employees) Chose Google Drive Box and Dropbox, two other significant names in the online file syncing service industry, also provide their document kinds for collaboration: Box with Note and Dropbox with Paper. Both integrate the Google and Microsoft editors into their services, allowing you to create a new … Incentivized Helpful? Janet Ramos Account Manager in Sales at QUESTECH CO. INC. (Information Technology & Services, 11-50 employees) Chose Google Drive Easy access and save files. I simply copy the link and send it to the receiver then [they] can access my files. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Google Drive Google drive is easier to use and integrates well with different applications. It is also less expensive. Incentivized Helpful? Cheryl Ligon General Dentist (Dental Student) in Professional Services at University of Nebraska Medical Center (Medical Practice, 11-50 employees) Chose Google Drive Google Drive stacks up against Dropbox and other competitors by being the most accessible, mainstream, smooth-running application across a broad spectrum of devices at an affordable rate. Dropbox was more expensive, less organized, and did not upload or download quite as … Incentivized Helpful? Daniel Quinn Event Director in Sales at Encore Event Technologoes (Events Services, 5001-10,000 employees) Chose Google Drive Out of the all the ones listed above, the only one that comes close is Dropbox, and their storage and pricing are not as good. OneDrive, while you get a bucket load of free storage with a O365 subscription, has less functionality and integration options. iCloud and IDrive are … Incentivized Helpful? Miguel Brito Account Director in Human Resources at Consejo Federal de Gobierno (Music, 11-50 employees) Chose Google Drive The Google Drive facility has no comparison. It's free, you can have it on your cell phone and you only need a connection to the internet. Everything is saved and safe in your Gmail email address. That is an advantage that other programs do not offer. That is why Google Drive … Incentivized Helpful? Darian Rawson Senior Designer in Information Technology at Eview 360 (Design, 11-50 employees) Chose Google Drive iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, the list goes on and on and on. The cloudy skies are becoming more and more crowded by the day with providers. Google is a huge company and brand. While there is always the risk that they will disable a product such as Google Reader or create a … Incentivized Helpful? Jacob Carlisle Manager of Customer Experience at Bluehost Inc (Information Technology and Services, 501-1000 employees) Chose Google Drive I have used ownCloud and Dropbox for file storage and they do a decent job of allowing me to backup, share and access my files. iCloud is still new and while it's getting better, there is no Enterprise edition and they only start you out with 5 GBs of space, for all of your … Incentivized Helpful?
	Would buy again
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Delivers good value for the price
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Happy with the feature set
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Lived up to sales and marketing promises
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Implementation went as expected
No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic

Features

Apple iCloud

Google Drive

Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Apple iCloud and Google Drive
Feature	Apple iCloud 8.5 77 Ratings	Google Drive 7.7 209 Ratings
Versioning	8.753 Ratings	8.2184 Ratings
Video files	9.373 Ratings	7.5178 Ratings
Audio files	9.370 Ratings	7.9172 Ratings
Document collaboration	7.166 Ratings	8.4206 Ratings
Access control	7.764 Ratings	8.2204 Ratings
File search	8.669 Ratings	5.9208 Ratings
Device sync	8.676 Ratings	7.7194 Ratings

Comparison of Cloud Storage Security & Administration features of Apple iCloud and Google Drive
Feature	Apple iCloud 7.5 73 Ratings	Google Drive 8.1 203 Ratings
User and role management	7.057 Ratings	8.2191 Ratings
File organization	8.369 Ratings	7.4202 Ratings
Device management	7.470 Ratings	8.799 Ratings

Comparison of Cloud Storage Platform features of Apple iCloud and Google Drive
Feature	Apple iCloud 7.2 77 Ratings	Google Drive 8.3 202 Ratings
Performance	7.277 Ratings	8.1200 Ratings
Reliability	8.177 Ratings	8.2202 Ratings
Storage Reports	6.260 Ratings	8.587 Ratings

User Ratings
	Apple iCloud	Google Drive
Likelihood to Recommend	9.2 (77 ratings)	8.3 (210 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew	10.0 (4 ratings)	9.9 (5 ratings)
Usability	8.5 (23 ratings)	8.0 (40 ratings)
Availability	- (0 ratings)	10.0 (1 ratings)
Performance	8.2 (12 ratings)	9.0 (7 ratings)
Support Rating	7.5 (20 ratings)	8.0 (48 ratings)
In-Person Training	- (0 ratings)	9.0 (1 ratings)
Implementation Rating	- (0 ratings)	8.0 (3 ratings)
Configurability	- (0 ratings)	6.0 (1 ratings)
Ease of integration	- (0 ratings)	5.0 (1 ratings)
Product Scalability	- (0 ratings)	10.0 (1 ratings)