What Is Google One, and Should You Subscribe?

what-is-google-one,-and-should-you-subscribe?

Google One is the company’s subscription cloud storage service, with several tiers offered at monthly fees, and higher tiers that include the latest Google Gemini artificial intelligence features. Every Google account comes with 15 gigabytes of free cloud storage shared across Google Drive, Google Photos, and Gmail. But with videos of your kids, hi-res photos of your pets, and work files, that space doesn’t stretch far today. Google One storage can be shared with your family, but it’s just the start—there are other benefits to subscribing.

If Google’s not for you, there are other cloud storage options. If you want to change your data-hoarding habits, we also have advice on how to stay under your 15 GB allowance. All in on Apple? Read our guide to Apple One.

Updated May 2025: We’ve added Google’s new AI Ultra and AI Pro (formerly Premium) plans, removed discontinued benefits such as VPN service, and updated the benefits of each tier.

Google One Pricing and Features

Courtesy of Simon Hill

Courtesy of Simon Hill

Google One has five main tiers:

  • Basic Plan (100 GB): For $2 per month or $20 per year (£1.59 or £16 in the UK), you get 100 gigabytes you can share with up to five family members.
  • Premium Plan (2 TB): For $10 per month or $100 per year (£8 or £80 in the UK), you get 2 terabytes with family sharing, unlimited Magic Editor saves in Google Photos, 10 percent back on purchases from the Google Store, and Google Workspace premium. Note: In the UK, Google includes Nest Aware and Fitbit Premium as part of this tier and above.
  • AI Pro Plan (2 TB): For $20 per month (no annual plan, £19 in the UK), you get all the perks of the Premium Plan, but also access to Google’s Gemini Pro, Flow Pro, Whisk Pro, 1,000 AI Credits, NotebookLM Pro, and Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Vids and more. (We explain these benefits below.)
  • AI Ultra (30 TB): For $250 per month (no annual plan) in the US only for now, you get everything in the Pro Plan, but also the best version of the Gemini AI assistant, access to Veo 3 (the latest video generation model), Gemini in Chrome, Project Mariner, and YouTube Premium (individual plan).

Courtesy of Simon Hill

In the unlikely event that 2 terabytes is not enough, you can increase your storage. The option to upgrade to an even larger plan is available only for current subscribers and in select countries.

  • 5-TB Plan: For $25 per month or $250 per year (£20 or £200 in the UK), you get 5 TB with family sharing and the same perks as the Premium Plan.
  • 10-TB Plan: For $50 per month (no annual plan) (£40 in the UK), you get 10 TB with family sharing and the same perks as the 5-TB plan.

Google One Benefits

The main benefit of a Google One plan is the extra cloud storage you can share with up to five family members. While families can share the same space, personal photos and files are accessible only to each owner unless you specifically choose to share them. Everyone in the family can also share the additional benefits (provided you all live in the same country). Let’s take a closer look at those benefits:

Unlimited Magic Editor Saves in Google Photos

Courtesy of Simon Hill

Magic Editor enables you to delete unwanted people or objects from the background of your photos, tweak the look of the sky, change the position of people and objects, and more with the help of generative AI. All features work with eligible shots in your Google Photos app. Without a subscription, you are limited to 10 saves per month. These features are available on Google Pixel phones, even if you don’t subscribe to Google One.

Cash Back on Purchases

The 2-TB plan nets you 10 percent back in Google Store credit for any purchases. This could prove useful if you’re thinking about buying multiple Google devices. The credit can take up to one month to get after your purchase, and it will have an expiry date attached.

Google Workspace Premium

The Premium plan includes Google Workspace Premium, which gives you enhanced features in Google Meet and Google Calendar. For example, you can have longer meetings with background noise cancellation or create a professional booking page to enable other people to make appointments with you.

Gemini Pro

Offering access to Google’s “most capable AI models,” Gemini Pro offers help with logical reasoning, coding, creative collaboration, and more. You can also create eight-second videos from text prompts using Veo 2, access more features like Deep Research for your projects, and upload 1,500 pages of research, textbooks, or industry reports with a 1 million token context window for analysis.

Flow Pro

This AI filmmaking tool employs Google’s AI video model, Veo, to enable you to generate stories, craft a cohesive narrative, find a consistent voice, and realize your imagination on the screen. You get 1,000 monthly AI credits to generate videos across Flow and Whisk.

Whisk Pro

You can use Whisk to turn still images into eight-second video clips using the Veo 2 model. You get 1,000 monthly AI credits to generate videos across Flow and Whisk.

NotebookLM Pro

This offers more audio overviews, notebooks, and sources per notebook to make information more digestible, allows you to customize the tone and style of your notebooks, and enables you to share and collaborate on notebooks with family and friends.

Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Vids & More

In Gmail and Docs, Gemini can help you write invites, resumes, and more, helping you brainstorm ideas, strike the right tone, and polish your missives. Gemini can also create relevant imagery for presentations in Slides, enhance the quality of video calls in Meet, and produce video clips based on your text prompts.

Project Mariner

This agentic research prototype is in early access and only part of the AI Ultra plan for now. Google says it can assist in managing up to 10 tasks simultaneously, handling things like research, bookings, and purchases from a single dashboard.

Gemini in Chrome

AI Ultra subscribers get early access to Gemini in the Chrome browser, which can understand the context of the current webpage, summarize and explain, or even complete tasks and fill out forms for you.

YouTube Premium

Subscribers get access to Google’s music streaming service, YouTube videos are ad-free, and you can save videos for offline viewing, among other YouTube Premium perks. Included as part of the AI Ultra plan, this perk is for an individual YouTube Premium plan.

Nest Aware

Only included in the UK so far, a Nest Aware subscription that includes extended storage of video from home security cameras is now part of the 2-TB Premium plan and above, starting from £8 per month or £80 per year. Considering Nest Aware costs £6 per month or £60 per year on its own, this seems like a great deal.

Fitbit Premium

Again, only included in the UK so far, Fitbit Premium is now included as part of the 2-TB Premium plan and above, starting from £8 per month or £80 per year. Considering that Fitbit Premium currently costs £8 per month or £80 per year on its own in the UK, this deal is too good to pass up.

Extra Benefits

A couple of things fall into this category:

  • Google Play Credits: You will occasionally get credits to redeem in the Play Store for books, movies, apps, or games. The amount and frequency vary.
  • Discounts, Trials, and Other Perks: You may get offers for discounted Google services or hardware, extended free trials of Google services, and other perks (for example, Google offered everyone upgrading to a 2-TB plan a free Nest Mini). These offers pop up and disappear seemingly at random.

How to Subscribe to Google One

If you want to sign up, it’s easy. Create or log in to a Google account, then visit the Google One website or install the Android or iOS app.


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