UPDATED 05:30 EDT / FEBRUARY 11 2015

The Business of the Public Cloud NEWS

Cloud freebie wars: Microsoft OneDrive giveaway overshadows Google Drive’s free 2 Gigabytes

The Business of the Public CloudMicrosoft has announced that it is now giving away 100 GB of OneDrive cloud storage for free, for two years. This was announced on the same day that Google let it be known that it was giving away 2 GBs of Google Drive storage, forever. Both freebies come with small stipulations, but nothing to be too concerned about.

Starting with Google’s munificence, users can receive 2 gigabytes of free cloud storage for Google Drive, Gmail, and Google+, if they review their security settings. By completing a new Security Check-up that consists of changes to account permissions, recent activity and recovery information, before February 17th, Google will hand-out the free 2GBs.  According to Google the new settings are like “a second padlock on your account’s door.”

Microsoft on the other hand is giving away a very generous 100 GB of storage, and it looks like the only condition is that users will receive emails from time to time, because to receive the free storage space you will have to sign-up to Microsoft’s Bing Rewards program. You’ll need a Microsoft account, then just sign-up to Bing Rewards and use the 20 credits you get to receive your free storage.

Bing Rewards is a program that gives you credits in which to spend on things like donations, entries into raffles, Amazon gift cards, or even Burger King vouchers, whenever you search with Bing. It’s thought that most users will accrue about 500 credits a month, and receive what amounts to about $5.  But if you’re not interested in a free burger and fries and just want the storage, then don’t even bother with Bing, and just claim the storage. All you’ll have to do then is clear out Bing Rewards emails from your inbox every now and again.

For more information about cloud storage offers, as well as the pros and cons of various clouds, check out our Google Drive vs. OneDrive, Dropbox and Box story.

Photo credit: KAZ Vorpal via photopin cc


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