The consumer-end Google Drive is a great tool for storing and sharing files via the cloud, especially if you and your friends are deep in Google's ecosystem. However, the process becomes much more complicated if you’re a business owner. More hands enter the pot from other companies and platforms, so you need efficient and secure storage. Google’s solution is the business-focused Drive, a part of the company's cloud-based Google Workspace productivity suite. It's easy to use, features fast syncing between desktop, browser, and mobile, and has helpful administrative tools. Unfortunately, Google Drive's best security tools are locked to the Enterprise tier, and it lacks file password protection altogether. If your company requires data governance, check out Egnyte, an Editors' Choice winner for business cloud storage and file sharing.
Google Drive vs. Google Drive Workplace
There are a few key differences between the consumer and Workplace Google Drive versions (available for the browser, Mac, and Windows), the chief among them being increased storage. Free Google Drive offers 15GB of cloud storage, while Workplace’s entry-level Business Starter tier doubles the storage to 30GB (and caps out at 5TB with the Enterprise tier).
Google Workplace users can leverage an application marketplace featuring plug-ins that enhance their productivity (more on Workplace plans in a bit). For example, the Microsoft Office plug-in lets you use Microsoft Word within Google Drive. Need to make a digital signature? Install the DocuSign plug-in.
Plans and Prices
The Google Workspace suite has several subscription tiers, but you can test it using a 14-day free trial. These tiers are segmented to match your business needs, from the self-employed to larger corporations.
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Business Starter ($6 per user per month) is the entry-level plan. It includes 30GB of pooled storage per user and security and management controls. You can expect 24/7 tech support. Business Standard ($12 per user per month) is next up the ladder. This tier increases the pooled storage to 2TB and adds shared team drives and Google's Target Audience Sharing system (more on that below). There's an option for enhanced tech support, too. Business Plus ($18 per user per month) builds on Business Standard with 5TB of pooled storage and enhanced security. The Enterprise tier requires you to ask a sales associate for a quote based on your business needs. It has advanced security, management, and compliance controls.
These plans aren't specifically for Google Drive. As part of the Workspace suite, these subscriptions include video conferencing via Google Meet, appointment booking pages via Google Calendar, and custom business email addresses via Gmail. Google provides a Learning Center to get you up to speed with the many features in Drive and other apps.
Google Drive is relatively low-cost compared with competing cloud storage and file-sharing services. The most comparable provider in terms of price is Microsoft OneDrive for Business, an Editors' Choice winner that costs $6 per user per month. It includes 1TB of cloud storage and offers Microsoft 365 Copilot as an add-on service.
Egnyte's entry-level Business tier costs $20 per user per month, but it has powerful data governance features that automatically classify documents according to selected rules and then enforce those classifications with policies. Dropbox's Essentials costs $16.58 per month for a single user, though the steeper price tab includes 3TB of storage, PDF editing, and video recording and editing.
You can add Gemini, Google's AI assistant, to drive starting at $20 per user per month (with an annual commitment). It lets you summarize documents, synthesize information from multiple files, and explore relevant topics.
Getting Started With Google Drive
Google Drive's business and consumer interfaces are nearly identical, aside from a ticker that displays the expanded storage. This applies to the entire Google Workplace suite; it lacks fancy badges or distinguishing icons to signal that you've upgraded. Although the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mantra is applicable and welcome, it would be nice to visually see your dollars on the screen in a more business-specific interface. In fact, many of Google Drive’s best features are under the hood.
Google Drive has an extremely user-friendly interface, with a navigation column on the left-hand side of the screen that houses the major actions. You'll spend most of your time in the My Drive tab, easily dragging files into folders or changing the layout from a list to a grid. You can upload files to the browser-based Google Drive by using the traditional Windows file tree or dragging files (or entire folders) from your desktop to My Drive.
The interface is nearly identical to Dropbox and Microsoft OneDrive, but it lags behind Egnyte. For example, Egnyte has a Task and Workflow tab (a feature we’ve asked for in Google Drive as early as 2019), which is useful for files that are part of projects with multiple steps and teams. It ensures that the baton is passed from assignee to assignee as the workflows are completed. Egnyte also has a Potential Malware tab, another example of the company’s commitment to security and safety regarding your files and data. Finally, Egnyte has a more robust help tab, Egnyte University, designed to train users and teams on the software.
You can also sync files from your Mac or PC to Google Drive by downloading the desktop application for Mac and PC. Note that the desktop application does not have the same interface as the browser-based Google Drive, as it integrates into your computer's folder structure. Synced files and folders update across desktop, web, and mobile as you make changes; it's a helpful tool that unifies your workflows.
In a nice touch, Google Drive gives you two syncing options. Mirror Files stores documents in the cloud and on your PC, only syncing changes across the platforms. Stream Files is good for computers with low available storage, as it lets you edit cloud versions of your documents (the files don't live on your PC's drive).
Mobile Apps and Document Scanning
You never know when you’ll need access to Google Drive, so, like its cloud storage competitors, there's a mobile version for Android and iOS.
Upon opening it, you'll see two categories: Suggested and Activity. The Suggested tab organizes all your files into one scrollable feed based on what was recently opened. The Activity tab shows recent actions, such as edits or comments from you or collaborators. The app lets you easily upload or download files from/to your phone.
Although helpful, Google Drive's mobile apps aren't the tools for heavy file management. Ultimately, the interface is too cramped for even the most organized Drive user.
The mobile app's key feature is Scan Document. It takes an extremely clear, high-definition snapshot of an image or document. Before beaming the image to the cloud, you have a few options to explore, like cropping the image, changing its hue or color, and rotating the file. In testing, our scanned government IDs and notebook scribblings were crystal clear.
Target Audiences
Target Audiences is a useful administrative feature that shares Drives with specific teams or departments within your company. Think of Target Audiences as targeted Drives, useful for large companies where multiple teams must view specific files. You can add or subtract specific Target Audiences from Google Workspace's administrator side. Once they're set up, employees can share files with those established Target Audiences.
Sharing files from a Drive is simple, as Target Audience is another option in the share file window. It's another helpful tool for securing documents, organizing files, and uniting workflows between management and other workers.
Encryption and Security
You want to ensure that every file you store and send is protected from prying eyes, whether you're part of a small business or a large corporation. Client Side encryption (CSE) is one way to ensure that the files on your Google Drive are safe from snoopers by offering data and privacy control. Only account administrators can control, doll out, and manage Google Drive and Google Docs keys. They can also select an encryption service provider (Flowcrypt, FutureX, Thales, and Virtu).
You can client-side encrypt Google Docs, Microsoft Office documents, PDFs, and other files. That said, you cannot use CSE for file titles, file metadata, and linked content outside of Google Drive if you subscribe to the Business Starter, Business Standard, or Business Plu tiers. This security feature is only available to Google Workplace subscribers at the Enterprise tier. Also, Google Drive lacks password protection for individual files or folders.
Alternate security measures, such as two-step authentication, exist if you don't want to subscribe to the Enterprise plan. This is a fine method for verifying Google Workplace users, but it doesn’t add much additional security to your Drive. Another potential privacy issue is something we mentioned in our review of the free Google Drive: If someone has your email, that person can post a file in your shared Drive. Google has malware security, but it does not filter up disturbing or unwanted content that may be sent your way.
Verdict: Good Prices and Storage
Google Workspace is designed to suit many business needs, from the self-employed to companies with hundreds of worker bees. With Google Drive, you get a slick interface, reasonable storage, and helpful tools and add-ons for creating and sharing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Still, in a digital age that is only becoming more online, security and privacy are among the most important pillars of any cloud storage service. Egnyte, our Editors' Choice winner for business cloud storage and file sharing, is the service to turn to for data governance and other top-tier security options.
Google Drive is an easy-to-use cloud storage platform that's core to the business-focused Workspace platform, but privacy concerns at its lower tiers prevent the service from being tops in the category.
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