Apple drops iCloud pricing to $0.99/mo. for 20 GB, $4 for 200GB

Apple today announced a new set of prices for iCloud, which should entice most Apple customers to start using the cloud storage service.

Previously Apple gave all its customers 5 GB of free storage on iCloud, while offering paid tiers for an additional 10 GB ($20 per year), 20 GB ($40 per year), or 50 GB ($100 per year). The new pricing gives customers the option of getting 20 GB for the low price of just $0.99 per month (about $12 annually). The next tier is an even better deal, giving you 100GB of storage for $4 per month. The highest tier costs $20 a month for 1TB of storage.

The new iCloud prices aren’t the lowest by any means. Both Dropbox and Google Drive offer 1TB of storage for $10 per month and have more pricing options to fit most people’s online storage needs.

However, the advantage of using iCloud for those with an iOS device is pretty significant. Apple allows you to easily backup all the data on your iPhone or iPad from the cloud, which is useful in the event that you lose or break your device. That means everything you do from your phone is saved without having to manage files.

Likely, Apple lowered the price of iCloud storage to drive people toward its new iCloud Drive service ahead of the launch. The service will compete head to head with Dropbox, Box, and Google Drive. But will Apple successfully become a cloud-storage player? It’s up in the air.