Consumer cloud storage just got cheaper—again. Dropbox recently lowered its prices, with one terabyte (TB) of data now going for $10 per month. Essentially, this gives users 10 times more storage for the same price as before. It’s still not the cheapest option for cloud-based storage out there, but it’s now in line with rivals Bitcasa and Google $GOOGL Drive.
Here’s a snapshot of current cloud storage pricing, showing providers that offer 1 TB plans. This is the equivalent of 1024 gigabytes (GB), which could store dozens of high-definition movies, tens of thousands of high-resolution photographs, and the like. Most individuals and many small businesses would find that this covered their storage needs.
Note that Apple $AAPL and Microsoft $MSFT are missing from the list. Apple currently offers iCloud storage plans up to 50 GB, at a relatively pricey $100 per year. But at the company’s annual developers conference in June, it announced that it would lower its rates for cloud storage and offer plans up to 1 TB. More details could come next week. Microsoft offers OneDrive personal accounts up to 200 GB, which cost $3.99 per month.
Why is cloud storage getting so cheap? The cost of modern hard-drive storage has plummeted, from around $20 per GB in 2000 to just 3 cents per GB today, according to data compiled by Matt Komorowski. Cloud storage remains a relatively new service for consumers, so it’s a bit more expensive than the offline equivalent. For now.
