Google One

Google One hides 200GB plan, making it difficult to subscribe to

Ben Schoon | Feb 14 2024 - 8:11 am PT

Google One has crossed 100 million subscribers and has a big new focus on its “AI Premium” tier with Gemini Advanced, but caught up in the crossfire seems to have been the 200GB plan, which is no longer being surfaced to account holders.

There are currently four main offers for Google One storage tiers, as we detailed earlier this month. Starting out at $1.99/month, there’s a 100GB plan. Then, at $2.99/month, you can double that and get 200GB alongside some extra perks. From there, the numbers go way up, with $9.99/month getting 2TB of storage, and $19.99/month getting 2TB plus access to “Gemini Advanced.”

But, in the days since Google last talked about those plans, things have changed a bit.

When a new user signs up for Google One storage, the 200GB plan is no longer surfaced, as was highlighted by Google Watch Blog. We’ve confirmed that, on a new account, this option doesn’t exist through any of the main channels in which you can subscribe to a new plan. Instead, accounts are only offered the 100GB plan and the two 2TB offerings with nothing in between as pictured below.

Where did the 200GB option go?

From what we can tell, this plan has not technically gone away. Users can sign up for any of Google’s other plans and then, through account settings, upgrade or downgrade to the 200GB option.

We’ve tested this on an account that had no Google One plan. By subscribing to the 100GB plan, we were able to access the “change membership plan” section of One’s settings and, there, the 200GB plan is immediately “recommended” by Google, despite being hidden during setup.

Top comment by Al

Liked by 13 people

I find Google's plans super annoying. Why are there such enormous leaps in storage and cost with nothing in-between? I find it one of the most frustrating aspects of Google's offerings. It's as if they're incapable of pricing at 100GB increments with additional benefits kicking in at certain points or as add-ons.

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Notably, another account we tested showed the 200GB option from within the Google One app on Android, but not when trying to subscribe from the web. The latter seems more impactful, as users are less likely to download an app that focuses on a service they don’t yet subscribe to.

Google’s exact reasoning for this change is unclear, but it’s notable that when the company announced that One had crossed 100 million subscribers, it also made clear that there’s now a focus on the AI Premium tier. Effectively eliminating this lower tier from the sign-up flow does indeed give that AI Premium tier a bit more focus.

Update: Google has confirmed that, yes, the 200GB plan is still available and it will still be surfaced to those already subscribed to the 100GB plan.