Cloud storage decision
Google One
A competent developer can build a useful, self‑hosted storage-plus-basic-AI workflow (backups, sharing, LLM summaries) in a few weeks, but reproducing Google's proprietary models, deep Google-app integrations, and multi‑TB global storage scale is not realistic.
Visit website↗$1.99/mo
$24/yr
Read off the official pricing page.
$100one-off80 h to build
$50/mo10 h/mo upkeep
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 30 seats.
The code exists. It is not what you are paying for.
These 2 projects are real, published, and do the core job — and this page still says keep paying. What the subscription buys is integration maintenance and infrastructure at scale, and none of that ships in a repository. Fork one anyway if you want to. Go in knowing what it does not carry. What stays hard ↓ · All Google One alternatives, with the arithmetic →
What a replacement has to do
- Provide extra cloud storage, back up device photos/files, share storage with a small group, and offer basic AI-assisted search/summaries via a third‑party model.
What it still won’t have
- Proprietary Gemini model access and higher usage limits
- Deep integrations across Gmail, Drive, Photos, Chrome, and other Google apps
- Large-scale global storage infrastructure and multi‑TB plans by default
- Bundled perks like YouTube Premium, Google Home Premium, and Google Health Premium
What remains hard
- Integration maintenance
everything working together across the Google apps you love.
- Infrastructure at scale
Starting at 20 TB of storage
First-year cost
Keep paying
Paying is—cheaper in year one.
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 30 seats.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build a minimal Google One–style service using: Next.js for the web UI, PostgreSQL for metadata, MinIO (S3-compatible) for object storage, and Docker for deployment. In scope: user sign-up/login (OAuth optional), upload/download/resumable uploads for photos and files, device backup endpoint (mobile client SDK not required), family sharing invites, a usage dashboard, and an AI feature that calls a 3rd‑party LLM API to return file summaries and simple search. Out of scope: training or hosting proprietary models, YouTube/Google Home/Health integrations, global multi-region object replication. Include error handling, input validation, authentication, basic automated tests (unit + end-to-end), and deployment scripts (Docker Compose or Kubernetes manifests).
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Pay verdict base20
- An open-source build was found+5
- 4 cited sources+3
- Price verified on pricing page+3
- Hard moats found in the evidence-6
- Evidence score25
The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time - so the same evidence always produces the same number.
How scoring works →Cited sources · 4
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official productGoogle One overview
- official pricingGoogle One plans & pricing
- open sourcecloudreve/cloudreve
- open sourcehaiwen/seafile
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
