OneDrive

OneDrive is Microsoft's cloud storage layer, and in 2026 it's mostly relevant as the file system underneath Microsoft 365. The standalone free tier offers 5GB, which is less than Google Drive's 15GB and feels deliberately ungenerous.

Personal upgrades start at $1.99/month for 100GB, with Microsoft 365 Personal at $9.99/month bringing 1TB plus the full Office suite, and Microsoft 365 Family at $12.99/month sharing 6TB across up to six people. For business buyers, OneDrive standalone is $5/user/month for 1TB, and the $10/user/month tier unlocks unlimited storage for plans with five or more users.

For podcasters, the calculation is simple: if your team already uses Microsoft 365 for documents and email, OneDrive is essentially free real estate. The sync client is reliable, the Mac and Windows clients work, and the integration with Teams and Outlook means shared raw audio links open without friction.

The sharing UX is the recurring complaint, link permissions are split across more menus than feels necessary, and the experience of receiving a shared file as an external user is rougher than Google Drive's. The product is also tightly coupled to the Microsoft account model, so collaboration with anyone using a personal Gmail address always involves a small dance.

If your stack is already Microsoft, this works fine and the cost is invisible. If you're starting from scratch and don't need Word and Excel, Google Drive and Dropbox have a more pleasant general experience.