Google Drive Now Offers Discounted Annual Plans

Well that took them long enough. The battle for cloud storage supremacy has somewhat quieted down in recent months (will leave it to the reader to decide who won), so we don't really foresee any major pricing changes, save for the occasional seasonal sale or discount. That said, we're definitely welcoming with open arms any, hopefully permanent, change that will give our wallets, and our minds, a bit of a respite. Like even a 16% or 17% discount when purchasing Google Drive space for a whole year, instead of having to renew every month.

For some, especially those still trying out features and services, a monthly subscription to Google Drive's cloud storage is just fine, as it allows you to bail out any time you wish, without crying too much over wasted dollars. If, on the other hand, you are already well invested in Google's cloud ecosystem, having to renew your contract every month is just one huge pain in the posterior.

The new subscription payment plans are definitely more than welcome, though they only apply to the 100 GB and 1 TB tiers. Anything higher remains on a per month basis. Which is just as well since you're talking about larger sums now. Prepaying annually does have its benefits, though small. For 100 GB of storage, you only need to pay $19.99 per annum, a 16% savings or basically the equivalent of 10 months. Same pattern with the 1 TB tier at $99.99 per year, a discount of 17%.

The change, though small, does put drive on the same level as storage services like Dropbox in terms of payment options. The new prepayment options are already visible for some Drive owners, though don't be surprised if it takes a few hours or even days for you to see them. Google isn't exactly the fastest when rolling out changes like these.