Google Drive Personal vs Business – What’s The Main Difference?

Google Drive is one of the most popular cloud storage solutions out there. When you create a Gmail account, you get 15 GB of cloud storage for free with Google Drive.

However, if you require more cloud storage, especially if you are running a business, Google offers two options. Either you can upgrade to a higher plan of Google Drive Personal or opt for a Google Drive Business plan, also known as Google Workspace.

In this article, we are going to compare and discuss Google Drive Personal and Business.

So, without any further ado, let’s get started –

Google Drive Personal vs Business – What’s the main difference?

Google Drive Personal is nothing but cloud storage and syncing platform that you can use to store or backup your data. With Google Drive Personal, you only get access to the Google cloud storage service.

However, if you upgrade your Google Drive Personal plan, you get a few additional functionalities, such as you can add up to five family members to your account at no extra cost.

As the name suggests, Google Drive Personal is designed for personal usage. Whether you want to upload your pictures and videos or want to take a backup of your files, Google Personal is a good choice for you.

Even if you are a freelancer or running a small business and already have access to any other toolkit, you can consider Google Drive as a great storage solution.

On the other hand, Google Drive Business provides you access to cloud storage along with a bunch of features and tools that can help you easily collaborate with your team and grow your business. Plus, you get additional security and management control.

Workspace is designed to serve the needs of a business. You should consider it mainly if you are running a mid to big-sized business where you have a team to manage, and your work revolves quite a lot around collaboration.

Read How to Automatically Backup Photos to Google Drive

Google Drive Personal vs Business- Pricing

If we take only cloud storage into consideration, Google Drive Personal seems quite inexpensive. Google Drive Personal offers three plans – Basic, Standard, and Premium.

The basic plan costs you $1.99 a month and gives you 100 GB of cloud storage. The cost of the plan can further be reduced to $19.99 a year if you opt for the annual plan.

On the other hand, Google Workspace offers four plans – Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, and Enterprise. The base plan of Google Drive Business costs you $6 a month but only gives you access to 30 GB of cloud storage.

However, this plan provides you with other features such as custom and secure business email, security and management control, and more.

Google Drive Personal vs Business- What you get

Google Drive Personal is a product mainly designed to fulfill cloud storage needs. However, you still get access to a bunch of features, such as you can add up to six members to your Google Drive account.

Additionally, you get access to Google’s cloud-native collaboration apps, including Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

Further, Google Drive also gives you access to shared drives. Anyone from your team can upload or access the files available in this folder. Other than that, you get all the basic features of Google Drive.

On the other hand, if we talk about Google Workspace, Google Workspace is a collection of productivity and collaboration tools.

Along with the cloud storage, Google Workspace provides additional features such as custom and secure business email and access to various Google Meet features. 

You also get access to productivity and collaboration tools such as Jamboard, Keep, Forms, Sheets, Docs, and more.

Plus, Google Drive Business users can also connect with the customer support team regarding any queries. Sadly, this option isn’t available for Google Drive Personal users.

One more thing that I like about Google Drive for Business is that this gives you access to an Audit function. This audit function lets administrators analyze and track the activity of all employees.

Administrators also get data such as documents accessed by fellow collaborators, changes made by them, and more.

Google Drive Personal vs Business- Compatibility

I don’t think there is any comparison when it comes to compatibility. Whether you opt for Google Drive Personal or Business, you can use Google Drive’s official applications to access the service.

Google Drive client is available for both Windows and Mac PC. They also have applications designed for Android and iOS smartphones. And, in case you are a Linux user or using any other OS or device, you can use the web-based version of Google Drive.

Google Drive Personal- Pros and Cons

Pros

• Easy to Use
• Provides 15GB of free space
• Desktop and Mobile Apps available
• Gives Offline Sync 
• Multiple Add-ons available
• Compatible with every operating system

Cons

• Security Risks
• File Size Limits
• Have multiple bugs and eros

Google Drive Business- Pros and Cons

Pros

• Document Management and Workflow
• Perfect for Team Collaboration
• Multiple collaboration tools are available
• Easy to manage multiple Gmail Accounts

Cons

• Can be costly
• Requires knowledge to manage the features
• No desktop tools for productivity

Can I use personal Google Drive for business?

Well, you can surely use Google Drive for your business if you are not ready to spend a large amount of money on the Business Suite.

A lot of users who have a smaller team to handle and do not have a lot of files to work on can easily manage with the personal and limited features provided by Google Drive.

However, you may find things difficult if you are thinking of using it in larger organizations that have tons of files and accounts to work on. If you are hoping to share a field amongst thousands of employees Google Workspace is the best way to go.

Verdict – What’s better for you?

There you have it – a detailed guide on Google Drive Personal vs Business.

Saying that one is better than the other one is not possible. Ultimately, it depends on your needs.

If you already have access to any other collaboration and productivity tools such as Microsoft Office 365 or any other, and you only want Google Drive for cloud storage, Google Drive Personal will be a suitable investment for you.

However, if you have just started your business and want features offered by Google Workspace, especially the business email one, then definitely Google Drive Business will be a good choice.

You may like the following Google Drive tutorials:

• How to Save Emails to Google Drive
• Cannot Download File from Version History on Google Drive
• How to Backup Contacts to Google Drive
• Combine PDF Files in Google Drive
• How to Backup Android Phone to Google Drive