Today we have quite a few options when it comes to cloud storage services. Some of them are popular while others are new and haven't made a name for themselves yet. One such service is Amazon Drive. In a world mostly dominated by OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, and iCloud, Amazon Drive has yet to leave its mark.
Most of us are familiar with Google Drive, a cloud storage platform that comes with generous free and affordable paid plans that support lots of office productivity apps.
On the other hand, we have Amazon Drive which also offers cloud storage, is linked to Prime membership of Amazon, an e-commerce platform.
Let's see what Amazon Drive has to offer and how it differs or matches Google Drive which is currently leading the race, and probably winning it too.
1.Interface
When you first download and install Google Drive, it creates a new folder called "Google Drive" in a file location you choose. You can then move it. You can also select other folders to sync with Google Drive.
Amazon Drive will not automatically create a default folder. Instead, it will ask you to either sync the default Photos and Videos folder or choose one that already exists. You can manually create and name an Amazon Drive folder and sync it. What is confusing is that Amazon has decided to call its software Amazon Photos but accepts both images and videos. It supports all file formats but does not play them all online by default.
Google Drive and Amazon Drive's web interface is simple and minimalistic with little to no learning curve. The same goes for their mobile apps. A drag and drop interface with ways to create and manage folders. In the case of Google Drive, you can also create Office documents.
A separate link on Amazon Drive will take you to Amazon Photos, which will make you think it's a different product. Indeed, if you are a Prime subscriber, you can upload an unlimited number of photos without limit.
On the other hand, Google Pixel owners also get unlimited photo storage, so I guess they are even here. But where Google differs is in the quality of the photos. If you agree to upload photos in 16MP and videos in 1080p or less, you can upload unlimited photos and videos even in the free plan.
2. Features
Amazon's AWS solutions are a global leader in Server Message Block (SME) and offer advanced features such as lifecycle management and file version history. Unfortunately, both of these are missing from Amazon Drive. Taking a simple approach, it will let you create folders, upload and sync files, and that's it.
Google Drive takes the lead in offering users to create and edit multiple file formats such as Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Drawings, and even Sites. A full suite of Office applications that will sync all files on your system for offline access.
Google Drive also comes with a powerful API, which means there are many third-party apps available in the store that will work with Drive like Pixlr, Zoho, PDF converters, etc.
You can mark individual folders and files in Google Drive that you need to work with regularly. Simplifies life when there are too many folders to work with.
Amazon Drive will let you share individual folders or files via an invite link, but there's no way to control permissions. Anyone with access to the link can download and comment on the files.
Google Drive takes things more seriously. You can control who can access the files – anyone with the link or specific people. Then you decide if they can only view or edit those files. What about existing publishers? You can prevent them from adding other people.
This level of control gives you peace of mind that Amazon Drive doesn't, even for photos that can be misused on the internet.
3. Applications and compatibility
Amazon Drive is available for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS platforms. Google Drive follows suit and covers all these platforms as well as support for Chrome and Firefox. Extensions for Chrome and Firefox help clip web pages and save them to Drive.
I download and use a lot of mobile apps on Android and iOS. Most of the apps I've used support Google Drive and other cloud storage platforms. I've yet to see an app that supports Amazon Drive right out of the box. Maybe AWS but not Drive. I like to edit my photos using mobile apps and save them directly to Google Drive.
4. Pricing and Packages
Both platforms are free. Amazon Drive offers 5 GB of free storage while Google Drive will give you a generous 15 GB of space. Google Drive does not count any documents created using Office applications in your space. It only counts files you upload directly with Gmail, photos, and other media.
Google allows unlimited photo storage for Pixel users and Amazon allows unlimited photo storage for Prime subscribers.
As for paid plans, Amazon Drive offers 100GB for $11.99 and 1TB for $59.99 paid annually. There are no monthly plans at this time. Each additional TB will cost you $59.99 for up to 30TB. Google Drive plans start at $1.99 for 100GB and 2TB for $9.99 paid monthly. So Amazon is cheaper if you buy the 100GB plan. Google charges $299/month for 30TB, which works out to $3,600 per year. Amazon Drive will cost around $1800 for the same. This makes Amazon the cheapest option.
Google recently unveiled Google One which offers storage plans for all Google products, along with additional perks like deals, coupons, and specials. Google seems to be working on it as only a few offers are available at the moment.
As Amazon Prime members, you also get other benefits like Amazon Music, free shipping, deals and offers on Amazon's e-commerce platform.
Google Drive vs. Amazon Drive
The distinction between the two is quite obvious. Amazon Drive is the best place to store all your photos and other files. It's also cheaper and if you're a Prime member, that works in your favor. Google Drive is more suitable if you want to use it as a more robust cloud storage platform to use seamlessly with Google's bouquet of apps like Gmail and Office productivity ones.
Using Google Drive makes sense, but if you have a lot of data, Amazon Drive may work better and cheaper, but only for storage purposes.
Next: Has Google Drive caught your eye? Here are 5 Chrome apps to get the most out of Google Drive.