iCloud是Apple提供的产品。以 iCloud 的名义向所有Apple 帐户(Apple account)所有者免费提供5 GB的云存储空间。(storage space)如果用户需要更多的云空间，他们必须通过付费购买更多的空间。随之而来的问题是，哪种云存储服务(storage service)最好，或者至少比 iCloud 更好。虽然脑海中浮现出许多名字，但微软的OneDrive和Google Drive 却是一闪而(Microsoft and Google Drive flash)过。与Microsoft OneDrive(Microsoft OneDrive)相比，Google Drive有其自身的缺点。与 iCloud 相比， Google Drive(Google Drive)更好，但并不优于OneDrive，根据我的经验。让我们看看OneDrive(OneDrive)比iCloud 和 Google Drive(iCloud and Google Drive)都好的原因——即使你是在Mac上。
iCloud 与 OneDrive 比较
OneDrive 与 iCloud 定价
定价是我们在比较不同服务时检查的主要因素之一，其他是灵活性、附加功能等。在检查OneDrive之前，让我们检查一下2018 年 7 月(July 2018)定价的iCloud ，如下所示。
- 5GB – 每个Mac 帐户(Mac account)免费。这意味着如果您使用 iPhone 和基于 Mac 的计算机，您可以在设备之间共享 5GB(share 5GB) 存储空间(storage space)。它不是特定于连接的设备数量，而是特定于Apple ID：类似于Photos、iTunes 和类似的Apple产品。
- 没有像许多其他云计算服务那样以 5GB 或 10GB 的渐进增量进行升级。iCloud 的下一个增量是 50GB，在美国每月收费 0.99 美元（在印度(India)相当于 75 卢比）。没有像其他提供一些折扣的年度付款计划。(payment plan)因此，一年内，您必须继续每月支付 0.99 美元，接近每年 12 美元。如果有任何年度计划，他们可能会花费 10 美元左右，从而给他们的用户一些折扣。
- 50GB 到 200GB 之间没有可用的增量。如果您需要超过 50GB，则必须每月支付 2.99 美元购买 200GB。同样(Again)，没有年度计划，因此(plan and hence)没有折扣。
- 与OneDrive不同，iCloud 不再提供 1TB。如果您需要超过 200GB，则必须购买每月 9.99 美元的 2TB 计划。这里也没有年度计划。
那是关于 iCloud 的。现在让我们检查一下2018 年 7 月的OneDrive价格。
- 与 iCloud 一样，每个人在创建Microsoft 帐户时都可以获得 5GB 的免费(Microsoft account)存储空间(storage space)。与 iCloud 一样，OneDrive也与Microsoft 帐户(Microsoft Account)相关，而不与Microsoft设备相关。因此，一个Microsoft 帐户(Microsoft account)可为您提供免费的 5GB OneDrive，您可以在Windows机器、Android手机甚至MacOS上使用。您只需下载OneDrive 应用程序(OneDrive app)，即可将您的本地文件夹同步到Microsoft的服务器。
- 继续前进，您大约可以获得 50GB的存储空间选项(storage space option)。每年 1.99 美元。与 50 GB 仅 0.99 美元的 iCloud 相比，这是昂贵的。50 GB 块(GB block)没有年度计划，因此您需要按月支付并且没有折扣。
- 对于 50GB 以上的存储计划，您必须选择每月 6.99 美元的 1 TB 计划。(TB plan)还有一个年度计划，每年 69.99 美元。这听起来不像是一个很大的节省，但这个计划还有更多的功能，所以你不会觉得被骗了。我将在下一节中解释这些功能——(section –)一旦我完成了iCloud 和 OneDrive 存储空间(iCloud and OneDrive storage spaces)的定价。
- 然后有一个 5 x 1 TB 存储(TB storage) 空间选项(space option)，一个帐户可以为最多 5 个用户/帐户购买 1 TB 存储空间。(TB storage)当来自小型组织或家庭的多个用户想要(family want)使用OneDrive时，它很有用。最多 5 名成员（包括购买订阅的帐户）每人可以使用 1TB 的OneDrive存储空间。同样(Again)，您拥有不会让您后悔购买该软件包的附加功能。此套餐每月 9.99 美元或每年 99.99 美元。
这是关于 iCloud 与OneDrive之间的标准定价选项。
现在让我们看看使 OneDrive 在所有云服务(cloud service)提供商中脱颖而出的功能。
iCloud 与 OneDrive 功能
首先，让我们看一下iCloud——它就像云上的存储空间。(storage space)有时，您可以通过将本地文件夹拖放到Mac或 iOS 设备上的 iCloud 文件夹中，将其设置为同步本地文件夹。你不能再做任何事情了。
正如我之前所说，Google Drive比 iCloud 好，但不比OneDrive好。这是因为Google Drive可让您创建、协作和共享存储在Google Drive上的文件。但它不如OneDrive灵活，因为文件格式是个问题。您可以访问和编辑在线文档(access and edit online documents)，但文件格式会发生变化。如果您不使用(t use) Microsoft Office，您和您的协作者可以简单地使用Google Docs打开文档并进行协作。这是Google Docs(Google Docs)的一个缺点。这个过程有点乏味。有这个Google Drive Plugin forOffice可帮助您完成许多与Office相关的任务，但这涉及将其他工件安装到您的计算机。
来到OneDrive，集成更容易。您会发现Word、Excel、PowerPoint和OneNote等云应用程序具有免费版本和仅限存储版本，这意味着您仍然可以直接从 OneDrive 存储创建、编辑和共享文件。使用 1TB 和 5 x 1 TB 方案（均作为Office 365方案出售），您可以下载最新版本的Microsoft Office。
用户可以将这些应用程序直接下载到他们的计算机上——无论是Windows、MacOS(Windows or MacOS)还是 iOS，以实现完整的编辑功能。这也意味着Google Docs无法进行离线编辑。iCloud 不提供任何东西来编辑文件。使用 iCloud 时，您必须使用支持该格式的软件或应用程序打开文件。(software or apps)这样做的方式是首先将副本下载到本地计算机，在本地进行更改，然后将最终文件上传到 iCloud。
当您使用OneDrive计划中提供的云、移动或桌面应用程序时，您可以直接保存到OneDrive。可能有也可能没有本地OneDrive 文件夹(OneDrive folder)，具体取决于您是否安装了OneDrive 同步(OneDrive sync)应用程序。否则，您可以直接从OneDrive打开文件，对其进行编辑，直接将其保存到OneDrive，然后根据需要共享它们。
与 iCloud 不同，OneDrive可轻松与Microsoft Office 应用程序(Microsoft Office apps)配合使用——无论是在云端、移动设备上还是桌面上。它们都直接对在线文件进行操作。这些功能使OneDrive比 iCloud 更好。这就是为什么，在我看来，在任何操作系统的云存储方面， (operating system)OneDrive都比 iCloud 好得多。在Windows(Windows)上使用 iCloud非常困难，并且没有内置的编辑(built-in editing)功能。
iCloud 已集成到MacOS 和 iOS(MacOS and iOS)中，但仍只是一个扩展存储空间(storage space)。由于几乎每个人都倾向于使用Microsoft Office，因此OneDrive应该是云存储的默认选择(default choice)，因为它的流程内置于Office 应用程序(Office apps)中。
iCloud vs OneDrive – Which is better? A comparison.
iCloud comes as an offering from Apple. Five GB of storage space in the cloud is offered to all Apple account owners free, under the name of iCloud. If users need more space in the cloud, they have to purchase more space by paying money. The question then emerges, which cloud storage service is the best, or at least, better than the iCloud. Though there are many names that come to one’s mind, OneDrive from Microsoft and Google Drive flash brightly. Google Drive has its own disadvantages when compared to Microsoft OneDrive. Google Drive is better compared to iCloud but not better than OneDrive, according to my experience. Let’s see the reasons why OneDrive is better than iCloud and Google Drive both – even if you are on a Mac.
iCloud vs. OneDrive comparison
OneDrive vs iCloud Pricing
Pricing is one of the main factors that we check when comparing different services, others being flexibility, additional capabilities, etc. Before checking out OneDrive, let’s check out iCloud that is priced in July 2018 as follows.
- 5GB – free with every Mac account. That means if you use an iPhone and a Mac-based computer, you can share 5GB storage space between the devices. It is not specific to the number of devices connected but to the Apple ID: similar to Photos, iTunes, and similar Apple offerings.
- There is no upgrade in gradual increments of 5GB or 10GB as is the case with many other cloud computing services. The next increment available for iCloud is 50GB, and it costs $0.99 per month in the US (equal to Rs. 75 in India). There is no annual payment plan like others that offer some discount. So, for a year, you have to continue paying $0.99 per month which is close to $12 per year. If there were any annual plan, they might have made it $10 or so, thus giving some discount to their users.
- There is no increment available between 50GB and 200GB. If you need more than 50GB, you’ll have to go for 200GB by paying $2.99 monthly. Again, there is no annual plan and hence, no discount.
- Unlike OneDrive, iCloud doesn’t offer 1TB anymore. If you need more than 200GB, you will have to go for a 2TB plan that costs $9.99 per month. No annual plan here too.
That was about iCloud. Now let’s check up OneDrive pricing as in July 2018.
- As with iCloud, everyone gets 5GB of storage space free when they create a Microsoft account. As is the case with iCloud, OneDrive too is related to Microsoft Account and not with Microsoft devices. Thus, one Microsoft account gives you free 5GB OneDrive that you can use on Windows machines, Android phones, and even on MacOS. You just have to download the OneDrive app that syncs your local folders to Microsoft’s servers.
- Going ahead, you get 50GB storage space option at approx. $1.99 per year. This is costly when compared to iCloud that is only $0.99 for 50 GB. There is no an annual plan for 50 GB block, so you need to pay monthly and get no discount.
- For above 50GB storage plans, you’ll have to opt for 1 TB plan that comes at $6.99 per month. There is an annual plan too, for $69.99 per year. That doesn’t sound like a great saving but there are many more features that come with this plan, so you will not feel cheated. I will explain these features in the next section – once I am done with the pricing of iCloud and OneDrive storage spaces.
- Then there is a 5 x 1 TB storage space option where an account can buy 1TB storage for up to 5 users/accounts. It is useful when multiple users from a small organization or a family want to use OneDrive. Up to 5 members, including the account that buys the subscription, can use 1TB of OneDrive storage each. Again, you have additional features that won’t make you regret purchasing the package. This package comes at $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year.
This was about standard pricing options among iCloud vs OneDrive.
Let’s now check out features that make OneDrive stand out among all the cloud service providers.
iCloud vs. OneDrive Features
First, let us look at iCloud – which acts just as storage space on the cloud. On occasions, you can set it to sync local folders by dragging and dropping local folders to an iCloud folder on your Mac or iOS device. You can’t do anything more.
As I said earlier, Google Drive is better than iCloud but not better than OneDrive. It is because Google Drive lets you create, collaborate, and share files that you stored on Google Drive. But it is not as flexible as OneDrive because the file formats are an issue. You can access and edit online documents, but the file formats are changed. If you don’t use Microsoft Office, you and your collaborators can simply use Google Docs to open and collaborate on the document. That’s a drawback of Google Docs. The process is a bit tedious. There is this Google Drive Plugin for Office that helps you with many Office related tasks, but that involves installing additional artifacts to your computer.
Coming to OneDrive, the integration is easier. You’ll find cloud apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote with the free version and the storage only version which means you can still create, edit, and share files directly from your OneDrive storage. With the 1TB and 5 x 1 TB schemes (both are sold as Office 365 plans), you get to download the latest versions of Microsoft Office.
Users can download these apps directly to their computers – be it Windows or MacOS or iOS for full functionality of editing. This also means offline editing that is not available with Google Docs. iClouds doesn’t provide anything to edit files. When using iCloud, you’ll have to open files using software or apps that support the format. That works in a way that first a copy is downloaded to the local machine, changes are made locally, and the final file is then uploaded to the iCloud.
When you are using the cloud, mobile, or desktop apps available from OneDrive plans, you save directly to OneDrive. There may or may not be a local OneDrive folder dependent on whether you installed the OneDrive sync app. Otherwise, you can open files directly from OneDrive, edit them, save them to OneDrive directly, and then share them if you wish.
Unlike iCloud, OneDrive is built to work easily with Microsoft Office apps – whether on the cloud, on mobile, or on the desktop. All of them directly operate on online files. These features make OneDrive better than iCloud. That’s why, in my opinion, OneDrive is much better than iCloud when it comes to cloud storage for any operating system. Using iCloud on Windows is quite tough and doesn’t have built-in editing features.
iCloud is integrated into MacOS and iOS but is still just an extended storage space. Since almost everyone tends to use Microsoft Office, OneDrive should be the default choice for cloud storage as its processes are built into the Office apps.
