OneDrive vs Google Drive: Which Suits a Small Irish Business?

Choose OneDrive if your business already runs on Microsoft 365, Outlook and Word or Excel on Windows. Choose Google Drive if your team lives in a browser, uses Gmail and wants simple shared editing. The tool you already pay for usually decides it. Both store files well. Neither is a backup on its own, and that matters more than any feature list.

This guide compares the two for sole traders and small businesses in Ireland: real euro prices, storage, sharing, security, recovery and the checks to make before you switch. It is written for the person who makes the IT decisions, not for someone sorting out family photos.

TL;DR

• Already on Microsoft 365? Use OneDrive. It is included, and it fits Word, Excel, Outlook and Windows.
• Already on Gmail and Google Workspace? Use Google Drive. It is included there too, and browser editing is its strength.
• Choose the platform, not just the drive. The email, calendar and office apps you use matter more than the storage.
• Neither replaces a backup. Deleted or overwritten files can be recovered for a limited time only. A separate backup closes the gap.
• Do not run both for the same files. Two storage systems usually means duplicate folders and confusion about which copy is current.

Table of Contents

• OneDrive vs Google Drive at a glance
• What each one costs in Ireland
• Sharing and working together
• How well each fits your other tools
• Security: is one safer than the other?
• The weak spot in both: recovery and backup
• Disadvantages to be honest about
• Which should you choose?
• Before you switch
• Our perspective
• Get it set up properly
• FAQ
• Sources

OneDrive vs Google Drive at a glance

Both services do the same core job. They keep files online, sync them to your devices and let you share them with a link or with named people. The differences sit around the edges: which apps they plug into, how they are priced, and how they behave when several people edit one file.

The free storage figures come from Microsoft’s Irish pricing page and Google One. One independent review summarises the split the same way: Google Drive suits browser-first teams that prioritise real-time collaboration, while OneDrive suits Windows- and Office-centric teams.

A warning on free storage: it is a consumer figure. A business should not keep client files, invoices or contracts in a free personal account. Nobody manages it, nobody can take it over if you leave, and you cannot control who has access.

What each one costs in Ireland

You rarely buy OneDrive or Google Drive on its own for a business. You buy a bundle, and the storage comes with it. Prices below are the ones published for Ireland. Check the linked pages for current figures, because they change.

Microsoft 365 and OneDrive

For business use, OneDrive storage comes with these plans, all billed annually and excluding VAT:

• Microsoft 365 Apps for business: €11.00 per user per month, with 1 TB of cloud storage per user. This gives you the desktop Office apps but not business email.
• Office 365 E1: €8.66 per user per month, with 1 TB per user. It is a web and mobile apps plan.
• Office 365 E3, on the same page: €26.27 per user per month, with 1 TB to 5 TB or more per user.

For a very small team the choice is often between the first two. The plan names and what each includes change over time, so we confirm the right fit with you before anything is bought.

Microsoft also sells consumer plans in Ireland, shown on its OneDrive pricing page: Microsoft 365 Basic with 100 GB at €2.00 a month, Personal with 1 TB at €10.00 a month, and Family at €13.00 a month. They are fine for home use. For a business they lack admin controls, so we do not recommend them for company files.

Google Workspace and Google Drive

Google’s Irish Workspace page lists two plans most small businesses look at, both billed annually:

• Business Starter: €6.80 per user per month, with 30 GB of pooled storage per user.
• Business Standard: €13.60 per user per month, with 2 TB of pooled storage per user.

Pooled means the storage is shared across the organisation rather than fixed per person. Starter’s 30 GB can run out quickly if you keep scans, drawings, photos or video. Business Standard gives much more room.

A worked example

Here is a fictional example, for illustration only. A five-person accountancy practice in Tuam keeps client folders of PDFs and spreadsheets. Using the published Irish prices, five users on Microsoft 365 Apps for business cost 5 x €11.00 = €55.00 a month, excluding VAT, with 1 TB each. Five users on Google Workspace Business Standard cost 5 x €13.60 = €68.00 a month, with 2 TB pooled per user. The Google Starter option would be 5 x €6.80 = €34.00 a month, but with only 30 GB per user it may be too tight for document-heavy work.

The cheaper line is not automatically the better one. What you already own, and what you would have to change, usually outweighs a few euro per user.

Sharing and working together

Both tools let you share a file or folder with a link, restrict it to named people, and set view or edit rights. The experience differs in small ways.

OneDrive is strongest when your files are Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. Microsoft describes real-time collaboration for Microsoft 365 documents, and it works across PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android. Files open in the desktop apps most office staff already know. Complex Excel workbooks with macros, for example, are far better behaved in the desktop version.

Google Drive is strongest for files made in Docs, Sheets and Slides, which live in the browser. There is nothing to install, and several people can edit with very little friction. It also handles Microsoft Office files, but if your customers and suppliers send you lots of Word and Excel files, you may find yourself converting or editing in a less familiar way.

A practical test: look at the files you handled last week. If most were Office files, OneDrive will feel natural. If most were created in a browser or shared as links, Google Drive will.

Working with people outside your business

Irish sole traders often share with an accountant, a bookkeeper or a client. Whichever you choose, check that the other side can open what you send without creating a new account. Link sharing to named email addresses works in both, but the sign-in steps differ. Try one real share with your accountant before you commit.

How well each fits your other tools

The drive is rarely the deciding factor. The platform around it is.

OneDrive connects files across Microsoft 365, with secure sharing, file recovery and administrator security-policy controls. Attach a file in Outlook, co-author in Teams, keep a Dynamics 365 or Excel data file in one place, and it all uses the same sign-in.

Google Drive does the same job inside Google Workspace: Gmail attachments, Google Meet, Calendar and Docs all share one login and one set of files.

If you are weighing the whole platform, our guide to Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace for business covers email, apps and admin. If your question is about team sites as well as personal storage, read SharePoint vs OneDrive. In short, OneDrive is for an individual’s files and SharePoint is for shared team files.

Security: is one safer than the other?

Neither is clearly “more secure” in a way that should drive your decision. Both are run by large providers with serious security teams. In a small business, most file loss and leaks come from how the account is set up and used, not from the provider.

What matters in practice:

• Turn on multi-factor authentication for every user. This stops most account takeovers from stolen passwords.
• Control who can share outside the business. Both platforms let an administrator limit external sharing.
• Remove access when someone leaves. Shared folders are the usual place old access lingers.
• Use separate accounts for each person. Shared logins make it impossible to see who did what.

One limit applies to both. An Irish review notes that neither service offers end-to-end encryption that keeps the decryption keys away from the provider. That is a 2019 article, so confirm the current position if it matters to you. If you hold material that needs zero-knowledge privacy, you would need to encrypt files yourself first or use a different type of service. For most small businesses, standard account protection is the sensible level.

If you handle personal data about customers, GDPR applies whichever tool you use. The Data Protection Commission is the Irish regulator, and your obligations stay with you, not the provider. Agree where data is stored and who has access before moving it.

The weak spot in both: recovery and backup

This is the part many comparison pages skip. Cloud storage syncs your files. If you delete one, or ransomware encrypts a folder, the change syncs too.

Both services have a recycle bin and some version history, but the windows are limited. Microsoft says personal OneDrive accounts can restore deleted files for 30 days, and work or school accounts for 93 days unless the administrator changed it. After that, deleted items are gone. A university IT guide puts the principle simply: OneDrive is primary storage rather than a backup, and it notes that Google Drive recovery is limited.

So plan for the cases a recycle bin does not cover:

1. A staff member deletes a folder and nobody notices for months.
2. An account is compromised and files are wiped or encrypted.
3. A subscription lapses or an account is closed by mistake.
4. You need a file as it was on a particular date.

The answer is a separate backup of your cloud data. Third-party tools exist for this. For example, Cloudiway Backup documents automated backups and point-in-time restores for both OneDrive and Google Drive. We cover the Microsoft side in Microsoft 365 backup for small businesses, and we can scope a backup and recovery set-up for either platform.

Disadvantages to be honest about

OneDrive

• Sync problems can occur when file names are very long or contain unsupported characters.
• Sharing settings are powerful but can be confusing. Many small businesses end up with files shared in ways nobody intended.
• It is easiest inside the Microsoft world. If half your contacts use Google tools, you will sometimes feel the friction.

Google Drive

• Starter-level storage is small for businesses with large files.
• Microsoft Office files are best edited in the Office apps, so heavy Excel users may find browser editing limiting.
• Recovery windows are limited, so a backup matters just as much.

None of these is a reason to avoid either tool. They are reasons to set it up properly and write down the rules.

Which should you choose?

Work through these in order.

1. What do you use for email today? If you use Outlook with a Microsoft 365 mailbox, stay with OneDrive. If it is Gmail on your own domain, stay with Google Drive.
2. What file types do you handle most? Office documents lean OneDrive. Browser-created documents lean Google.
3. How much do you store? Count it. A few gigabytes of invoices is a different decision from years of drawings and photos.
4. Who needs access, and from what devices? Both cover Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android. Check any specialist software you use.
5. How many people? Two or three people can usually stay simple. At five or more, folder structure and permissions need planning.
6. What do accountants, clients and suppliers use? Matching them reduces friction.

If you have no existing platform, we would usually point a Windows-based office with Word and Excel at Microsoft 365, and a browser-first, collaboration-heavy team at Google Workspace. Either choice is sound. The mistake is running both side by side.

Before you switch

Moving from one to the other is doable but deserves a plan, especially if email moves too.

• List what you have. Folders, who owns them and who can see them.
• Clean up first. Delete duplicates and old versions so you do not migrate clutter.
• Check file names and paths. Very long paths cause errors in migration and sync.
• Agree a cut-over date. Pick a quiet period, and tell staff when the old drive becomes read-only.
• Keep the old drive for a short period after the move, and take a backup before you start.
• Re-create sharing. Links to old files break, so tell clients and suppliers who have them.

Our Google Workspace migration guide explains tools and planning, and the same thinking applies in the other direction. If you are also moving email, see Gmail vs Outlook for small businesses.

Our perspective

We see the same pattern with small businesses again and again. The question starts as “which drive is better?” and ends up being “how do we stop files being lost, duplicated or shared with the wrong people?” That is a set-up and habits question more than a product one.

For most sole traders and small teams, the best drive is the one that comes with the platform you already use, configured with multi-factor sign-in, sensible sharing limits and a separate backup. Switching only to save a few euro per user rarely pays for the disruption. Switching because your email, calendar and files are split across two systems often does.

We support Microsoft 365 and business email day to day, and we can help you set up and manage either route. Scope and cost are agreed before work starts, and you deal with one person throughout. We would rather tell you to stay where you are than sell you a migration you do not need.

— hostme.ie

Get it set up properly

If you want help choosing, tidying a messy shared drive, moving files or adding a backup, our IT support service covers it. Tell us what you use now and what is going wrong, and we will suggest a practical next step and agree the scope with you first. You can message us on WhatsApp, or use the phone or email details on the site if you prefer. Ad hoc help and separately scoped projects are available, and managed support has an initial 12-month term, agreed in advance.

FAQ

Is Google Drive more secure than OneDrive?

Not in any way that should decide it for a small business. Both run on large, well-resourced platforms, and neither offers end-to-end encryption where the provider cannot read your files. Your own set-up matters more: multi-factor sign-in, limited external sharing and removing leavers’ access.

How much does 1 TB of OneDrive cost in Ireland?

For a business, 1 TB per user comes with Microsoft 365 Apps for business at €11.00 per user per month, billed annually and excluding VAT. For personal use, Microsoft 365 Personal with 1 TB is listed at €10.00 a month. Check Microsoft’s pages for current prices.

What are the disadvantages of storing files in OneDrive?

Sharing settings can become messy, sync can fail with long file names, and it works best inside Microsoft’s own tools. It is also not a backup. Deleted files are recoverable only for a limited period, so keep a separate backup.

Can I use OneDrive and Google Drive together?

You can, but we rarely recommend it for the same business files. You end up with duplicates and nobody sure which version is current. If you must use both, decide which one holds the master copy of each type of file.

Do I need a backup if I use OneDrive or Google Drive?

Yes. Cloud storage syncs changes, including accidental deletions and ransomware damage. A separate backup with point-in-time restores covers what the recycle bin cannot.

Sources

• I Tested OneDrive vs. Google Drive (G2)
• Microsoft OneDrive plans and pricing, Ireland
• Google One plans and pricing, Ireland
• Google Workspace for business, Ireland
• Microsoft 365 Apps for business, Ireland
• Office 365 Enterprise plans and pricing, Ireland
• Microsoft OneDrive for business
• Cloud storage: Google Drive vs Microsoft OneDrive (TechCentral.ie)
• Restore files deleted from your OneDrive (Microsoft Support)
• File storage, file sharing and backups (Western Washington University)
• Cloudiway Backup user guide

Recommended

• SharePoint vs OneDrive: Which Should Your Business Use?
• Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace for Business
• Teams vs Slack: Which Suits a Small Irish Business?
• Gmail vs Outlook for Small Businesses: One Contact for Migration