Google Drive / Google One vs Proton Drive

This is the core split. Google Drive is fast and convenient precisely because Google can index, process, and yes — analyze — your files. That's the deal. Proton Drive's zero-knowledge architecture means your files are encrypted before they ever leave your device, so Proton literally cannot hand your data to anyone because they don't have it. If you're storing anything sensitive, that's not a feature — it's the whole point.

Google Drive isn't just storage — it's the connective tissue of an entire productivity suite. Docs, Sheets, Gmail attachments, Meet recordings, Android backups — everything flows in and out of Drive automatically. Proton Drive is storage and only storage, with a thin integration story outside the Proton ecosystem. If your work lives in third-party apps, Google wins this by a mile.

Multiple Reddit users specifically call out Proton Drive's slower upload speeds compared to Google Drive, and this isn't a minor quibble. If you're syncing a folder of RAW photos or uploading a video project, the difference between Google's speed and Proton's is the difference between walking away and sitting there watching a progress bar. For light document storage it's fine — for heavy use, it grates.

Google gives you 15GB free, which sounds generous until you realize it's shared across Gmail, Photos, and Drive — and Gmail alone can eat through that in a year of normal use. Proton's free tier is a stingy 1GB, but it's honest: it's just Drive storage. Neither free tier is actually usable long-term, but Google's creates a false sense of space that catches people off guard when they suddenly can't receive emails.