How to Understand Cloud Storage Pricing

Cloud storage is an incredibly important tool that many individuals are starting to find important for their daily life. However, because cloud storage is a subscription, that means pricing is typically built as a subscription. This can cause confusion among some people. If you’re interested in starting to utilize cloud storage, you need to understand what you’re paying for and why. Here’s what you need to know about cloud backup pricing.

1. Monthly vs. Bulk-Buying

Many subscription services allow you to buy either monthly or in periods of time that are more than a month. As thanks for choosing a longer subscription period, you’ll typically get a small discount. This entices people to stick with the service for longer than they might without forcing people into contracts. A yearly period is often the most popular, as it will typically give you a moderate discount, it usually isn’t too expensive, and it’s a fair amount of time to stick with a service.

2. Restore Fees

Obviously, you should know up front if it’s going to cost you money to download your files again once you’ve uploaded them to the cloud. However, while direct download is typically free, getting a hard drive with your information typically isn’t. Check to see how expensive it might be for you to get a hard drive sent to you, as well as whether you can waive this fee if you return the drive.

3. Extras and Add-Ons

Next, look at any extras and additional features that you can add to your cloud storage subscription. Common extras may include more storage history or rental fees for physical drives. These extras and add-ons should be very obvious before you choose them, and they shouldn’t be advertised as though they’re part of the base package. If you feel like the company is shortchanging you with that kind of deceptive advertising, it might be a good idea to stay away from them.

4. Free Trial

Lastly, you’ll want to look at the company’s free trial. Most cloud storage companies should have a free trial of some kind – otherwise, it might be much more difficult to determine whether a specific cloud storage company will work well for you. Check to see whether you need to give the company your credit card information beforehand, how long the free trial is, and whether you get access to everything as part of the free trial or just a limited “trial” suite of features. Try it out and see whether it works for you before you start paying for it.

Conclusion

Cloud storage pricing definitely doesn’t have to be complicated, and if a company presents an incredibly complicated pricing list for their cloud storage, it might be a good idea to be a bit skeptical. These four things are usually the most important to think about when it comes to cloud storage pricing. If you can understand all four of these, it’ll be easier for you to determine how expensive your cloud storage will be.