Phone storage full? iCloud+ vs Google One, Microsoft 365 and Dropbox, 2TB from £79.99
2TB costs £79.99 a year with Google paid annually, £104.99 with Microsoft 365 Family and £107.88 with iCloud+. For up to 200GB, iCloud+ at £2.99 a month is hard to beat.
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2TB of cloud storage costs £79.99 a year with Google if you pay annually, £95.88 with Dropbox at £7.99 a month, £104.99 with Microsoft 365 Family and £107.88 with iCloud+. For smaller needs, iCloud+'s 200GB plan is £2.99 a month and Google's 100GB plan is £15.99 a year. If your phone keeps nagging you that storage is full after a summer of photos, here's what each plan costs and which one fits. Prices checked on each company's own UK page on 8 November 2026.
At a glance
| Service | Free | Plans (UK prices) | Share with |
|---|---|---|---|
| iCloud+ (Apple) | 5GB | 50GB £0.99 a month, 200GB £2.99, 2TB £8.99, 6TB £26.99, 12TB £54.99 | Up to 5 other family members |
| Google One | 15GB | 100GB £1.59 a month or £15.99 a year; Google AI Plus 2TB £7.99 a month or £79.99 a year; Google AI Pro 5TB £18.99 a month or £189.99 a year | Up to 5 others |
| Microsoft 365 | 5GB | Personal 1TB £8.49 a month or £84.99 a year; Family 2TB shared £10.49 a month or £104.99 a year; Premium 2TB £18.99 a month or £189.99 a year | Family and Premium: 1 to 6 people |
| Dropbox | 2GB | Plus 2TB £7.99 a month | Plus is for 1 person |
Apple says iCloud+ is billed monthly, so there's no annual discount. Google says paying annually saves up to 16%, and Microsoft's yearly plans save £16.89 on Personal and £20.89 on Family against paying monthly. Dropbox's plans page shows Plus at £7.99 a month for one person with 2TB.
What a year costs
| Storage you need | Cheapest option we found | Cost for a year | Next best |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 50GB | iCloud+ 50GB | £11.88 | Google One 100GB, £15.99 paid yearly |
| Up to 100GB | Google One 100GB, paid yearly | £15.99 | iCloud+ 200GB, £35.88 |
| Up to 200GB | iCloud+ 200GB | £35.88 | Google AI Plus 2TB, £79.99 paid yearly |
| Up to 1TB | Google AI Plus 2TB, paid yearly | £79.99 | Microsoft 365 Personal 1TB, £84.99 a year |
| Up to 2TB | Google AI Plus 2TB, paid yearly | £79.99 | Dropbox Plus, £95.88 |
| 5TB or more | Google AI Pro 5TB, paid yearly | £189.99 | iCloud+ 6TB, £323.88 |
Monthly prices are × 12. Google's 2TB plan paid monthly is £95.88 a year, so paying annually saves £15.89.
Worked example: a family's photos
Take a family of four with about 150GB of photos and backups between them, all on iPhones.
- iCloud+ 200GB, shared: £2.99 a month, or £35.88 a year, for everyone. iCloud+ plans can be shared with up to five other family members.
- Four separate iCloud+ 50GB plans: 4 × £11.88 = £47.52 a year, and each person is capped at 50GB.
- Google One 100GB, shared: £15.99 a year, but 100GB isn't enough for 150GB, and iPhone backups go to iCloud, not Google.
So one shared 200GB plan is £11.64 a year cheaper than four 50GB plans. When the family outgrows it, moving up to 2TB costs £8.99 a month, or £107.88 a year. At that point, if they also want Word and Excel, Microsoft 365 Family's £104.99 a year is worth a look, as it includes 2TB of shared storage plus the Office apps for up to six people.
iCloud+: the easy choice on iPhone
Every Apple account gets 5GB free, which fills up fast with iPhone backups. iCloud+ starts at £0.99 a month for 50GB, then £2.99 for 200GB, £8.99 for 2TB, £26.99 for 6TB and £54.99 for 12TB. Every plan includes iCloud Private Relay, Hide My Email, a custom email domain and HomeKit Secure Video support, and can be shared with up to five family members. The 200GB plan is the standout: nobody else we checked has a tier between 100GB and 1TB. Apple also bundles iCloud+ storage into its Apple One subscriptions.
Google One: cheapest for big storage
Google accounts get 15GB free, shared across Google Photos, Drive and Gmail. The 100GB plan is £1.59 a month or £15.99 a year. Above that, Google now sells storage bundled with its AI features: Google AI Plus with 2TB at £7.99 a month or £79.99 a year, and Google AI Pro with 5TB at £18.99 a month or £189.99 a year. All three can be shared with up to five others. Paid annually, 2TB with Google is the cheapest 2TB we found.
Microsoft 365: storage plus Office
Microsoft 365 Personal is £84.99 a year or £8.49 a month, for one person with 1TB of OneDrive storage and the Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote desktop apps. Microsoft 365 Family is £104.99 a year or £10.49 a month for 1 to 6 people, with 2TB of shared storage, though the AI features are for the subscription owner only. Microsoft 365 Premium is £189.99 a year, adding more Copilot usage. If you'd pay for Office anyway, the storage comes with it.
Dropbox: simple, but for one
Dropbox's free Basic plan has 2GB. Plus is £7.99 a month for 2TB for one person, with 30 days to restore deleted files and transfers of up to 50GB. Dropbox says it keeps you connected across all your devices, but it's the only plan here without family sharing at 2TB.
Where the others have the edge
- iCloud+ is the only one with a 200GB plan, and it's the simplest way to back up an iPhone.
- Google One is cheapest at 100GB and 2TB when paid yearly, and has the biggest free allowance at 15GB.
- Microsoft 365 includes the Office apps, so it's the best value if you need them.
- Dropbox suits sharing big files with other people, with transfers up to 50GB on Plus.
Our verdict
iPhone users with up to 200GB should stick with iCloud+, which is hard to beat at £2.99 a month for the whole family. For 1TB or 2TB, Google AI Plus paid yearly at £79.99 is the cheapest, and it works on Android and iPhone. If your household uses Word and Excel, Microsoft 365 Family at £104.99 is the better buy, because it replaces two bills with one. Whatever you pick, pay yearly where you can: it saves up to 16% with Google and up to £20.89 with Microsoft.
FAQs
Can I use Google One to back up an iPhone? You can back up photos and files with the Google Photos and Drive apps, but a full iPhone backup goes to iCloud.
Does sharing a plan mean my family sees my photos? No. Google says your photos, files and emails stay private even when you share storage.
What do Google's 2TB and 5TB plans include besides storage? They're sold as Google AI Plus and Google AI Pro, so they come with Google's AI features too. If you only want storage, the 2TB plan is still the cheapest 2TB we found.
Will prices go up? They can. Check the plan page before you renew, and set a reminder for annual plans.
Ways to save
Before you renew, see if a bundle you already pay for includes storage: Apple One includes iCloud+, and Microsoft 365 includes OneDrive. Students should check for education pricing before paying full price.
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Sources: Apple, iCloud+ plans and pricing, 8 Nov 2026, Google One, plans and pricing, 8 Nov 2026, Microsoft, compare Microsoft 365 plans, 8 Nov 2026, Dropbox, plans, 8 Nov 2026
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