Microsoft OneDrive Pricing, Features, Reviews & Comparison of Alternatives

Pros
OneDrive offers an easy and convenient way to keep your files safe. It's important to know its functionality. The program creates a folder on your computer and everything inside this folder and will copy to your cloud, staying safe from any system failure. In the past, I had several computers that I lost due to hardware failure, but thanks to the fact that I always kept my folder updated and with the important files included in it I was able to quickly recover everything by simply installing OneDrive again and waiting for a quick update. Another thing that I found very useful is that you can access your folder from anywhere. Being on the road and with an internet connection you can connect and download and upload files to your secure folder, this is very useful in some cases! Because it doesn't require your computer to be turned on.

Cons
As I work with many files, and in spite of being organized, due to human error some documents can be left out of OneDrive, perhaps in everyday folders. This causes any file not included in the folder created by OneDrive to be forgotten if a system crash or virus attack occurs. Files in the cloud are sectioned to prevent hidden viruses from spreading and damaging others, but if one file is attacked inside the OneDrive folder it will send this to the cloud which means we will lose the file. So containing documents, files or anything inside this folder does not guarantee its security. It only guarantees that we will be able to recover them anytime, anywhere.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 7/10

Pros
- For Microsoft Office users, the collaboration features make it a no-brainer pick to use. - It is the best cloud storage value for Office 365 subscribers, with 1TB space included. - Additional features are consistently added, and stability is always improving. - Straightforward backup settings (unlike competitive cloud options) so you know which files/folders are being backed up and what happens when files/folders are removed locally so you aren't constantly worrying if you're deleting all copies. - iPhone iOS app is very well integrated and full featured and works consistently. Features are consistently added to take advantage of new iPhone capabilities. - iPhone camera roll backup has been superior to the built-in iCloud Photos since you are able to delete photos from your phone after they are backed up without the backup also being deleted. - OneDrive file management from website is relatively fast and easy to use for viewing your entire library of files if you don't store them all on your local device too.

Cons
- On the Mac OneDrive app, you may get frequent backup errors due to disallowed characters or spaces in file names. Tracking them down and fixing can be frustrating and time consuming. - Confusing differences/similarities when using OneDrive and OneDrive for Business accounts on the same device. They do not function the same in how they treat and backup files. - Adding a user to shared folders can be a little confusing on the iOS app as it seems to prefer creating a public link rather than just authorizing a login. - The iPhone app and Mac OS app only support a single personal OneDrive account being used (an additional OneDrive Business account can be added, however)

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
The automatic integration with Windows 10 and it's bundling with MS Office subscriptions makes this a fantastic service. Additionally, it's Android App allows for easy cross-platform use. As a Windows user, OneDrive makes collaboration incredibly easy from the generation of content on a local PC to the sharing work/files/information with others.

Cons
The automatic settings of OneDrive as a built in Windows feature might be annoying for people not used to saving via the cloud. In Windows 10 it is set as the default save-to location and requires a bit of settings work to change. Additionally, I've noticed some minor issues with the responsiveness concerning sorting or renaming files within OneDrive via Windows File Explorer. File previews in OneDrive often don't display the thumbnail preview image and the file (if an image or PDF) does not display in the preview pane of File Explorer. Additionally, when renaming files, OneDrive tends to have strange timing to it's highlighting, deleting and saving of file name often times saving a rename with only one letter typed in or otherwise making renaming files from within OneDrive difficult/annoying. You can get around this by using the OneDrive App in Windows, but if you don't have administrative rights/installation abilities then you'll have to use File Explorer.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
Integration with Windows versions 8 and later provides instant simplicity with OneDrive. With Windows 10, it has become even simpler to use on PCs. The context menus allow easy changes to whether or not a file or folder is synced to the cloud, and the onedrive.live.com site is intuitive and easy to manage the content store via any browser. The ability of native applications for every reasonable platform makes this product appealing.

Cons
Microsoft can't determine what it wants to do in the consumer space, and nowhere is this more apparent than with OneDrive. Much like Skype, OneDrive has a "for business" client that bears little resemblance to the consumer application. Similarly, where Microsoft once led the field with generous storage space, their bizarre decision to revoke free storage for saving pictures and reduce the "free" amount has seriously hindered the attractiveness of OneDrive as a cloud solution. While the iOS app is delightfully easy to use, and bugs can be reported simply by shaking the app, saving files to OneDrive can be challenging, especially for novice users. Similarly, Microsoft did not make enough of an effort to distinguish OneDrive from the "for Business" product, and I know many frustrated IT managers who have countless calls from employees who have saved to the personal space instead of the enterprise version. As a final note, the lack of a plug-in for Microsoft's Edge browser is surprising, and unfortunate.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 8/10

Pros
You can access your files from anywhere you have access to the Internet. The latest updates allow you store all your files in the cloud while having access to them from your PC through Windows Explorer, too, allowing access to them from within every application. However, they take up no space on your hard drive until you open them--brilliant! So if you have a small SDD drive on your laptop, problems with storage space just got solved. After you've worked with the file, simply return it to the cloud and free up your hard drive space again. Need to share a file or folder with someone? That's a cinch, as you create a share link from within Windows or through the OneDrive interface on the web, choosing to allow editing or read only access, as well as whether the link should expire after a certain period of time. Sharing a link to a document means your recipient can access the latest version whenever the link is clicked. If you work on the file through Office 365, then the collaborative opportunities are opened, as you can work on a file together. OneDrive is perfectly integrated into all Office 365 apps as well as Windows 10 itself (just make sure to have the latest version of Windows installed to take advantage of OneDrive's latest innovations). One last trick OneDrive does is to preview some file types even if the associated app is not installed (browser only).

Cons
While it will back up files you explicitly place in your machine's OneDrive folder, by copying them to the cloud, it does not perform system backups. So if you want system backups to be in the cloud on OneDrive, you will need to run them with a system backup utility and then copy them to OneDrive (depending on your backup utility, you might be able to automate writing backup copy to OneDrive).

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10