Google Drive vs OneDrive for Business: UK Comparison

In the Google Drive vs OneDrive debate for business, neither product is simply better. Google Drive is the file storage in Google Workspace, and OneDrive for Business is the personal work storage in Microsoft 365. Both sync files, share them with colleagues and keep version history. The deciding factors are your existing email and productivity suite, your security and compliance needs and how much migration you can absorb.

Most UK SMEs already have an answer before they ask the question: if staff live in Outlook and desktop Word and Excel, OneDrive fits. If the business runs on Gmail and Google Docs, Drive fits. The harder cases are mixed environments and businesses choosing a suite for the first time.

This guide compares the two across the areas that matter to a business, then gives a recommendation by scenario.

Google Drive vs OneDrive: the short version

The rest of this article explains the points behind each row.

Storage allowances and sharing

Storage depends on the plan, not the product alone, and vendors change allowances, so confirm figures on the official pages before you buy. As at October 2026, Google's Workspace pricing page lists 30 GB per user on Business Starter, 2 TB on Business Standard and 5 TB on Business Plus, described as pooled storage shared across the organisation. Enterprise starts at 5 TB per user with the option to request more.

For Microsoft, the OneDrive for Business service description states that Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard and Premium include 1 TB per user, and that E3 and E5 can be increased to 5 TB. Tenant-level limits also apply.

Sharing works in a similar way on both: invite named people, share by link, set view or edit access and, on suitable plans, restrict external sharing. Two differences matter in practice:

• Ownership: files in personal storage can be lost to a leaver if accounts are deleted without a handover. Shared drives in Google and SharePoint libraries in Microsoft 365 avoid this.
• External sharing defaults: review the defaults on either platform. Anyone-with-the-link sharing is convenient and easy to over-use.

Collaboration and day-to-day use

Google's editors were designed for the browser, and simultaneous editing feels natural to teams who use them daily. Microsoft's strength is the desktop Office apps most finance, legal and professional services teams already depend on, with co-authoring layered on top.

File format fidelity is the practical test. Complex Excel models with macros, Power Query or linked workbooks work best in desktop Excel. Teams exchanging Office files with clients will find fewer conversion surprises in the Microsoft stack. Conversely, teams who share simple documents and prefer a lightweight interface often find Google quicker to adopt.

If your team uses Teams for chat and meetings, it is worth understanding how files are stored behind the scenes. Our comparison of Microsoft Teams vs SharePoint explains the relationship between Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive.

Think about external collaboration too. Clients and suppliers often have their own preferences, and sharing a link to a file they cannot open easily creates friction. Check how each platform handles guests, whether recipients need an account and how you can revoke access later.

Security and administration

Both platforms offer multi-factor authentication, device controls, audit logs, sharing restrictions and data loss prevention on the appropriate plans. The detail varies by tier. Google's page, for example, places eDiscovery, Vault and advanced endpoint management on Business Plus and data loss prevention on Enterprise, so compare the plan you will buy, not the top tier.

On the Microsoft side, security capability depends on the licence and add-ons. Conditional access, device management and information protection options sit across different Microsoft 365 plans.

• Enforce multi-factor authentication for every account
• Restrict who can share outside the organisation
• Control access from unmanaged devices
• Set retention and recovery policies before you need them
• Review admin roles and remove unused accounts

Whichever you choose, the controls only help if they are configured and monitored. Our cyber security for small business page covers the baseline, and Cyber Essentials certification gives you an external benchmark.

Recovery matters as much as prevention. Check how long deleted files and earlier versions can be restored on your plan, who can restore them and whether a third-party backup is justified for business-critical data. Sync is not backup: a deletion or ransomware encryption can replicate to every synced device.

Compliance and data location

For UK businesses, the usual questions are UK GDPR obligations, where data is stored and which sector requirements apply. Both Google and Microsoft publish compliance documentation and offer data processing terms, and both provide options for data location on certain plans.

• Check the data processing agreement and the vendor's list of sub-processors
• Confirm data location options for your plan and tenant region
• Check retention, eDiscovery and legal hold features if you work in regulated sectors
• Make sure your own policies on retention and deletion are written down and configured

Regulated firms such as law practices, accountants and financial services businesses should check the plan features against their regulator's expectations. Our pages for accountants and financial services firms cover the sector context.

Windows, Office integration and offline sync

OneDrive is built into Windows and works naturally with Known Folder Move, which redirects Desktop, Documents and Pictures to cloud storage. Files On-Demand shows files without downloading them all. Integration with Office, Teams, SharePoint and Intune is tight, and it is the main reason Microsoft shops stay with OneDrive.

Google Drive for desktop provides sync and file streaming on Windows and macOS, and works well with Chrome and ChromeOS. Native Google files open in the browser, and Office files can be edited in place or converted, depending on your settings.

For offline work, both let users mark files or folders for offline access. Test your heaviest users, such as designers with large files or finance staff with big workbooks, rather than relying on the feature list. Check how conflicts are handled when two people edit offline copies.

Migrating between Google Drive and OneDrive

Moving between the two is possible, but plan it as a project. Common issues include:

• Google Docs, Sheets and Slides converting to Office formats, with formatting and formula differences
• Sharing permissions that do not map one-to-one
• Long file paths, special characters and file name limits
• Shared drives becoming SharePoint libraries, with a different permission model
• Links between documents that break after the move

Run a pilot with one team, clean up old data first and decide how long the old platform stays read-only. Our cloud migration services and data migration services teams handle this kind of move, and our Microsoft 365 support covers ongoing administration afterwards.

Allow time for people as well as files. Staff need to know where their files have gone, how to find shared content and what the new sharing rules are. A short guide and a named contact for the first fortnight prevent a flood of requests.

Which should you choose? Recommendations by scenario

Avoid choosing on storage allowance alone. Allowances change, and most SMEs use a fraction of what is on offer. Operational fit, security configuration and migration effort are the stronger deciders.

Conclusion: Google Drive vs OneDrive comes down to fit

In the Google Drive vs OneDrive decision, choose the platform that matches your suite, devices and compliance needs, then configure it properly. Both are capable, and both are weakened by loose sharing and unmanaged accounts.

If you are weighing a move or want an outside view, talk to NetMonkeys about your current setup and the migration route.

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