MEGA vs Google Drive: Which One Should You Choose?

MEGA and Google Drive are both popular options for cloud storage, but both are very different in terms of privacy, storage, and additional features they offer.

If you’re considering MEGA vs Google Drive, this article covers everything you need to know about both. Whether you want to compare pricing, features, security and encryption, we cover it all so you can choose the best option to meet your needs.

Table of contents

MEGA vs Google Drive overview

MEGA offers end-to-end encrypted cloud storage, with high storage plans for monthly and annual subscriptions, which include additional products like a VPN or secure video conferencing.

Google Drive is not end-to-end encrypted, so it’s less private than other encrypted cloud storage options. It does, however, have a generous free plan, live collaboration, and includes email and access to the Google Workspace.

Google Drive vs MEGA pros and cons

Google Drive pros

• Integration with Gmail, Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Google Photos.
• Strong real-time collaboration and document editing.
• Easy file sharing with flexible permissions.
• 15 GB of free storage included with every Google Account.

Google Drive cons

• 15 GB can fill up quickly with photos, videos and email attachments.
• Some advanced features require a paid plan.
• Not end-to-end encrypted, so Google could access your files.
• Heavy users may need to manage storage across multiple Google services.

MEGA pros

• End-to-end encryption means MEGA cannot access the contents of your files.
• Offers more free storage than Google Drive, at 20 GB
• Large storage plans available, including 3 TB, 10 TB and 20 TB

MEGA cons

• Free accounts have limited transfer allowances
• Some advanced features and higher transfer limits require a paid plan
• Collaboration and document-editing features are less extensive than Google Drive
• Transfer speeds and availability can be affected by MEGA's bandwidth and quota restrictions

MEGA vs Google Drive pricing

Google Drive vs MEGA free plan comparison

MEGA offers 20GB of free cloud storage, and Google Drive offers 15GB, so MEGA wins if you just want free storage.

However, free MEGA plans have limited transfers, and your free Google storage is shared across Google Docs, Sheets, Photos, and Gmail, so it may become full quickly.

MEGA pricing

Annual

Like Google, you can save up to 17% if you choose an annual plan. MEGA offers more plans under the annual plan, starting with a lower 200GB plan, so if you don't need as much storage, you can consider the following plans.

Google Drive pricing

Google Drive offers 15GB of free cloud storage. If you want to upgrade, you can choose from Google One pricing options. For monthly and annual individual plans, the pricing is below.

Monthly

Annual

Depending on the plan you choose, you could save up to 37% if you choose to pay for the following annual plans.

Google Drive vs MEGA: Which is cheaper?

Based on the costs of Google Drive vs MEGA monthly plans, choosing which one is best value for money depends on your storage needs as highlighted below.

• Best value under 1 TB: Google One 400 GB at €48.36/year.
• Best value around 1–3 TB: MEGA Pro I — 3 TB for €99.96/year. That's only €2.58 more per year than Google's 2 TB plan, while providing 50% more storage.
• Best value for 5 TB+: MEGA Pro II — 10 TB for €242.02/year. That's roughly double Google's 5 TB storage for only €27.64 more per year.
• For very large storage needs: MEGA Pro III gives 20 TB for €756.25/year.

MEGA also offers a VPN and password manager included in its plans, which Google doesn’t, so if these features are important, then a MEGA plan may be better for you.

Internxt vs MEGA vs Google Drive pricing comparison

For Internxt pricing plans, we compare the cost of Internxt’s monthly plans vs MEGA and Google Drive, at the current special offer rate of 85 off available from here.

If you want cheap cloud storage that offers terabytes of storage with additional features such as VPN, Antivirus, and backups, then Internxt is a cheap MEGA alternative, as it is 70% cheaper than MEGA’s 3TB plan and 79% cheaper than Google Drive’s 5TB plan.

Unlike MEGA and Google, Internxt also offers 85% off all its lifetime plans, so if you want to avoid subscriptions entirely and have the option to stack your storage, then a lifetime plan is best for you.

Check out all of Internxt’s features and pricing options below, or by visiting our website.

Get 85% off

Internxt vs MEGA vs Google Drive features

Encryption

Google Drive is not end-to-end encrypted, nor are any of its other services, including Google Photos privacy terms.

It uses in-transit and at-rest encryption, but as Google manages encryption keys on its servers, they could access your files at any time.

There are workarounds you can use to send a secure email with Gmail and share a Google Drive encrypted folder with tools such as Cryptomator, but if you want encrypted cloud storage as the default option, better alternatives to Google Drive are available.

MEGA uses zero-knowledge encryption, so they can’t access your files, as everything is encrypted on your device before upload. However, they have had reports of cryptography vulnerabilities in the past, which you can read more about in our is MEGA safe article.

Internxt also offers end-to-end encryption combined with post-quantum cryptography, which isn’t available with MEGA or Google Drive.

Internxt’s post-quantum and zero-knowledge encryption is included in all plans, and protects your files against the future threats of quantum computers.

Who wins? Internxt wins for its post-quantum and end-to-end encryption, guaranteeing private cloud storage for your sensitive documents, photos, and videos.

Open source and transparency

Neither Google Drive nor MEGA is open source, so you have to trust the company that the software does what it claims, as security experts cannot review the code to ensure it’s secure, and there are no backdoors to your data.

So if open source and transparency are important to you when considering MEGA vs Google Drive, then choose Internxt, as it is fully open source and audited twice by Securitum to verify your data is secure against hackers.

Who wins? Internxt is the only open source option when considering Google vs MEGA transparency.

Photo backups

Both Google Drive and MEGA offer cloud storage for photos and backups of your memories. However, if you want more features in your photos app when choosing between Google Drive vs MEGA, then Google Photos has more advanced features.

If you want the best alternative to Google Photos, with zero-knowledge encryption, then Internxt Photos is available for all Ultimate monthly and lifetime cloud storage plans.

Who wins? Internxt for zero-knowledge encrypted cloud storage for photos and automatic backups, free from AI scanning your private photos.

Platforms

Both offer Windows, Mac, and mobile support for iOS and Android.

But for more advanced cloud management, For MEGA vs Google Drive in terms of advanced cloud management, Internxt and MEGA offer more support, such as NAS cloud backups.

Who wins? Both Internxt and MEGA offer the same support for Linux, WebDAV and Rclone, and NAS for QNAP and Synology.

Compliance

Google Drive is based in the US, but does cover GDPR compliance for European customers, and MEGA is based in New Zealand but also follows the GDPR privacy framework.

Google, MEGA, and Internxt offer ISO and SOC compliance, but Internxt is the only European cloud storage option between the two.

Who wins? Internxt if you want your data hosted in Europe. Google has paid millions in GDPR fines for violations of data privacy.

Additional features

Google Drive plans include access to its whole Google Workspace, which you cam view in our Google One vs Google Drive article.

For MEGA, you also get,

• MEGA VPN
• MEGA Pass
• Meet

Both the VPN and password manager can be purchased with a separate subscription, or they are included in a cloud storage plan.

Internxt also offers an encrypted VPN, a Google Meet alternative with Internxt Meet, plus Internxt Mail, Photos, and everything you need to keep you secure online.

Who wins? Internxt for its encrypted and private alternatives to Google services, such as Gmail. If you want a password manager, then MEGA includes this in its subscriptions, or separately.

MEGA vs Google Drive: Which one should you choose?

Now we’ve covered all the information you need to know when choosing between MEGA vs Google Drive.

So which one should you choose?

• Choose Google Drive if you want the integration of Google’s products, live collaboration, or extra backups for files that do not contain private or sensitive information.
• Choose MEGA if you want higher storage plans, end-to-end encryption, and features like MEGA pass.
• Choose Internxt if you want a European and open-source cloud storage with post-quantum encryption, private email, secure video calls, and automatic photo backups included in one lifetime or monthly plan.

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