Google One plans are a large number, and Google wants to repair them

Google’s I/O 2025 keynote was a blink-and-you-miss-it presentation. Google gave us updates on Gemini, AI in Google Search, Android XR, and extra. At one level through the present, Google introduced a brand new Google One plan.

It’s known as Google AI Extremely, and has nearly the whole lot you might ask for — together with entry to Google’s newest and most superior AI instruments, 30TB of cloud storage, and (only for good measure) a YouTube Premium subscription. You get all of this for the low, low worth of $250/month, or $3,000/12 months.

By itself, the AI Extremely plan is simple sufficient to poke enjoyable at. But it surely additionally acquired me fascinated with the present state of Google One as an entire. Merely put, it’s a large number. The id of Google One is confused, the plan decisions don’t make sense, and it’s all due for some main change.

What does the present slate of Google One plans appear to be at present? Actually, that’s a extra difficult query than it must be. The Google One plans accessible to you largely rely in your Google account and whether or not you’re at present subscribed to Google One.

For instance, if I go to the Google One web site with out being logged right into a Google account, I see simply three plans to select from. They embody:

• Primary (100GB) for $2/month.
• Premium (2TB) for $10/month.
• Google AI Professional (2TB) for $20/month.

Nonetheless, if I go to the Google One web site logged into my private Google account, which is at present subscribed to that $20/month Google AI Professional plan, I see the next choices I can improve to:

• Premium (5TB) for $25/month.
• Premium (10TB) for $50/month.
• Google AI Extremely (30TB) for $250/month.

And it retains going. If I open the Google One app on my Pixel 9a, I see all the plans listed right here, plus an extra Normal (200GB) plan for $3/month. And that’s nonetheless not all! Whereas I can’t see them on my Google account, there are two different Google One plans floating someplace within the nether. As 9to5Google factors out, some accounts can nonetheless join the Premium (20TB) and Premium (30TB) plans ($100/month and $150/month, respectively).

In brief, there are at present 9 totally different Google One plans on the market, and all of them work a bit in a different way.

The Primary and Normal plans solely supply cloud storage and nothing else. All Premium plans have further Google Images and Google Workspace options, however not all Premium plans have the identical AI capabilities. There are two separate 2TB tiers, one with out AI options known as Premium and one with AI options known as AI Professional. Nonetheless, increased storage quantities with the Premium identify get the AI goodies, whereas AI Extremely has much more. Confused but?

I shouldn’t should go in-depth about why that is dangerous. The variety of plans is overwhelming, Google’s branding is everywhere, and which Google One plan you may really see and join is one thing of a crapshoot. Every part about that is the other of how an organization ought to function a subscription, but that is the trail Google has chosen — and it’s an awfully irritating one.

When Google launched Google One in 2018, it was basically a rebrand of the corporate’s paid Google Drive subscriptions. The primary level of the plans was nonetheless cloud storage, however beneath the brand new Google One identify, Google wished to make it clear that you simply didn’t simply get Google Drive house — you additionally acquired household sharing and entry to 24/7 buyer assist.

As time went on, these additional perks expanded to Google Retailer money again, extra enhancing instruments in Google Images, and extra options in Google Meet and Google Calendar. Final 12 months, Google added AI to the combo when it launched the Google One AI Premium plan — providing you with all the ordinary Google One perks, plus entry to Gemin Superior.

I believe Google in the end nonetheless needs Google One to be the one-stop subscription for getting essentially the most out of the corporate’s apps/providers, however the way in which it’s going about issues at present isn’t working. So, what ought to Google do?

Actually, I’d like to see Google mimic what Apple presents with Apple One. Apple has three distinct decisions accessible, and the storage/characteristic variations between them are clear. I do know precisely what providers I’m getting with every Apple One plan, and if I ever want extra space, I can simply purchase extra iCloud storage.

I additionally suppose Google must take a web page from Apple and add extra worth to its plans. Apple One Premier offers you 2TB of iCloud storage, Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, Apple Information Plus, and Apple Health Plus. It encompasses all of Apple’s providers right into a single plan higher than something Google One presents.

Google’s Premium and AI Professional plans add additional AI options and a few further instruments all through Gmail, Images, and Calendar. However is that basically sufficient? If Google One is the one subscription for all issues Google, the place’s YouTube Music Premium? The place’s Google Play Cross? What about discounted charges on YouTube TV and Google Fi? Google has taken one step in the correct route right here by together with YouTube Premium with the brand new AI Extremely plan, however we have to see these varieties of advantages exist past the $250/month choice.

I ought to level out that I say all of this as a comparatively pleased Google One subscriber. Google One stays important for anybody who spends numerous time in Google Images/Google Drive, and complicated plans or not, it’s a subscription I see myself maintaining for the foreseeable future.

However I believe it’s necessary for Google to handle that Google One wants a makeover. Plans should be simplified, the branding must be reworked, and the characteristic set of every plan must be intently checked out. There’s a future during which Google One is without doubt one of the greatest subscriptions on the market, and I hope we get to see it.