Google One plans are a mess, and Google needs to fix 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 more. At one point during the show, Google announced a new Google One plan.

It’s called Google AI Ultra, and has just about everything you could ask for — including access to Google’s latest and most advanced AI tools, 30TB of cloud storage, and (just for good measure) a YouTube Premium subscription. You get all of this for the low, low price of $250/month, or $3,000/year.

On its own, the AI Ultra plan is easy enough to poke fun at. But it also got me thinking about the current state of Google One as a whole. Simply put, it’s a mess. The identity of Google One is confused, the plan choices don’t make sense, and it’s all due for some major change.

What does the current slate of Google One plans look like today? Honestly, that’s a more complicated question than it should be. The Google One plans available to you largely depend on your Google account and whether you’re currently subscribed to Google One.

For example, if I visit the Google One website without being logged into a Google account, I see just three plans to choose from. They include:

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

However, if I visit the Google One website logged into my personal Google account, which is currently subscribed to that $20/month Google AI Pro plan, I see the following options I can upgrade to:

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

And it keeps going. If I open the Google One app on my Pixel 9a, I see all of the plans listed here, plus an additional Standard (200GB) plan for $3/month. And that’s still not all! While I can’t see them on my Google account, there are two other Google One plans floating somewhere in the nether. As 9to5Google points out, some accounts can still sign up for the Premium (20TB) and Premium (30TB) plans ($100/month and $150/month, respectively).

In short, there are currently nine different Google One plans out there, and all of them work a bit differently.

The Basic and Standard plans only offer cloud storage and nothing else. All Premium plans have additional Google Photos and Google Workspace features, but not all Premium plans have the same AI capabilities. There are two separate 2TB tiers, one without AI features called Premium and one with AI features called AI Pro. However, higher storage amounts with the Premium name get the AI goodies, while AI Ultra has even more. Confused yet?

I shouldn’t have to go in-depth about why this is bad. The number of plans is overwhelming, Google’s branding is all over the place, and which Google One plan you can actually see and sign up for is something of a crapshoot. Everything about this is the opposite of how a company should operate a subscription, yet this is the path Google has chosen — and it’s an awfully frustrating one.

When Google launched Google One in 2018, it was essentially a rebrand of the company’s paid Google Drive subscriptions. The main point of the plans was still cloud storage, but under the new Google One name, Google wanted to make it clear that you didn’t just get Google Drive space — you also got family sharing and access to 24/7 customer support.

As time went on, those extra perks expanded to Google Store cash back, more editing tools in Google Photos, and additional features in Google Meet and Google Calendar. Last year, Google added AI to the mix when it introduced the Google One AI Premium plan — giving you all of the usual Google One perks, plus access to Gemin Advanced.

I think Google ultimately still wants Google One to be the one-stop subscription for getting the most out of the company’s apps/services, but the way it’s going about things today isn’t working. So, what should Google do?

Honestly, I’d love to see Google mimic what Apple offers with Apple One. Apple has three distinct choices available, and the storage/feature differences between them are clear. I know exactly what services I’m getting with each Apple One plan, and if I ever need more space, I can just buy more iCloud storage.

I also think Google needs to take a page from Apple and add more value to its plans. Apple One Premier gives you 2TB of iCloud storage, Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, Apple News Plus, and Apple Fitness Plus. It encompasses all of Apple’s services into a single plan better than anything Google One offers.

Google’s Premium and AI Pro plans add extra AI features and some additional tools throughout Gmail, Photos, and Calendar. But is that really enough? If Google One is the one subscription for all things Google, where’s YouTube Music Premium? Where’s Google Play Pass? What about discounted rates on YouTube TV and Google Fi? Google has taken one step in the right direction here by including YouTube Premium with the new AI Ultra plan, but we need to see those kinds of benefits exist beyond the $250/month option.

I should point out that I say all of this as a relatively happy Google One subscriber. Google One remains essential for anyone who spends a lot of time in Google Photos/Google Drive, and confusing plans or not, it’s a subscription I see myself keeping for the foreseeable future.

But I think it’s important for Google to address that Google One needs a makeover. Plans need to be simplified, the branding needs to be reworked, and the feature set of each plan should be closely looked at. There’s a future in which Google One is one of the best subscriptions out there, and I hope we get to see it.