If you search “cheapest cloud storage,” you’ll get 47 articles all recommending the same four services with different color schemes. None of them will show you the actual price per terabyte. We will.
We’ve normalized pricing from 18+ providers into a single comparable metric. Here’s what we found.
The Real Price Ranking: $/TB/Month
Forget headline prices. The only number that matters is cost per terabyte per month — and it varies by a factor of 50x between the cheapest and most expensive providers.
| Provider | Plan | $/TB/mo | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| IDrive | 5TB Personal | ~$0.80 | First-year promo only |
| Backblaze Personal | Unlimited | ~$1.00 | Computer backup only |
| pCloud Lifetime | 2TB (amortized) | ~$1.40 | One-time payment |
| MEGA | 2TB | ~$2.50 | Includes E2E encryption |
| Google One | 2TB | ~$5.00 | Best ecosystem integration |
| iCloud+ | 2TB | ~$5.00 | Apple devices only |
| Dropbox | 2TB | ~$6.25 | Best sync engine |
| Backblaze B2 | Pay-as-you-go | ~$6.00 | For developers/API use |
| Wasabi | Pay-as-you-go | ~$6.99 | No egress fees |
| AWS S3 | Pay-as-you-go | ~$23.00 | Plus egress costs |
The “Cheapest” Trap: Why IDrive Isn’t Always the Answer
IDrive consistently tops “cheapest” lists, and for the first year, it genuinely is. The 5TB plan at ~$4/year in promotional pricing is extraordinary value.
But here’s what those lists don’t tell you:
- Year two pricing is 10x higher. The promotional $4/year becomes roughly $40–80/year at renewal. You’ll have uploaded 5TB of data and face either paying the full rate or spending a weekend migrating everything.
- It’s a backup service, not a sync service. IDrive doesn’t mount as a drive on your desktop or sync files in real time. If you need day-to-day access to your files from multiple devices, it’s the wrong tool.
- Egress matters. Restoring large amounts of data costs money in egress fees with some providers. IDrive’s restore process is manageable for personal use but not designed for frequent access.
The Best Value by Use Case
For most home users (photos, documents, light video)
Verdict: Google One 2TB at $9.99/month
The ecosystem integration is unbeatable. If you use Gmail, Google Photos, or an Android phone, your storage is already partially full. The 2TB plan doubles as a Gmail expansion, photo backup, and Drive storage in one.
For photographers who want to own their storage
Verdict: pCloud Lifetime 2TB at ~$299 one-time
The math is simple: $299 ÷ 42 months (3.5 years) = $7.12/month. pCloud’s standard 2TB monthly plan costs $9.99/month. You break even in 30 months and everything after is free. The sync engine is excellent and desktop apps are polished.
For privacy-conscious users
Verdict: MEGA 2TB at ~$5/month
MEGA’s zero-knowledge encryption means even MEGA can’t read your files. At ~$5/month for 2TB, it’s competitive with Google One while providing true end-to-end encryption. The free tier (20GB) is also the most generous in the industry.
For developers and large-scale storage
Verdict: Backblaze B2
At $6/TB/month with no minimum commitment, Backblaze B2 is the transparent choice for developers. Crucially, Backblaze has a Cloudflare bandwidth alliance — if you serve files via Cloudflare, egress is free. This makes B2 extremely competitive for media-heavy applications.
For set-it-and-forget-it unlimited backup
Verdict: Backblaze Personal Backup at $9/month
One price. Unlimited computers. No storage limits. If you have multiple machines and terabytes of data, this is the only service in its category.
What to Do Right Now
- Calculate your actual storage needs. Don’t buy 5TB if you only have 200GB of data. Most people overestimate how much storage they need.
- Check if you already pay for storage. Microsoft 365 Personal ($69.99/year) includes 1TB of OneDrive. If you already pay for Office, you’re paying for storage.
- Compare the true cost. Use our pricing table to see current prices per TB — updated daily.
- Set a calendar reminder. If you take a promotional deal, set a reminder 30 days before renewal so you can either negotiate or switch.
The cheapest cloud storage is the one that fits your workflow without surprising you at renewal. Don’t optimize for the headline price — optimize for the total cost of ownership.