5 reasons why SkyDrive exceeds Google Drive

SkyDrive is not just on Microsoft's homegrown Windows Phone platform, you can also get SkyDrive on your iPhone or iPad. That's perhaps not as extensive as Dropbox, which is available on Android, BlackBerry, and iOS, and Drive will have a larger reach once it supports both Android and iOS. But for the moment SkyDrive has the upper hand.

In my experience, I also found the SkyDrive mobile site to be better than the mobile version of Drive. SkyDrive mobile was easier to navigate and more responsive than Google's site. However, Microsoft is lacking a way to edit documents using your mobile browser for those times when you really need to change a document in a pinch.

Better Pricing, More Realistic Options

Drive has a wide variety of payment options for 25GB extra storage for $30 a year all the way up to 16TB for a whopping $9,600 per year. The reality, however, is that most people looking for extra storage are looking at 25GB for $30 per year, 100GB for $60 per year, and perhaps a few users may even feel the need to get 200GB for $120 per year.

SkyDrive's maximum is 100GB, but that's a good amount of storage for the average user, and it's $10 cheaper per year than Google at $50 compared to Drive's $60. You can also buy just 20GB for $10 per year or you can get 50GB extra for $25 per year with SkyDrive.

Remote Access

An added bonus with SkyDrive's desktop client, at least for Windows, is that it effectively gives you remote access to your PC via SkyDrive.com. So if you are on the road and need to access a file that is not in your SkyDrive folder, as long as your desktop at home is powered up, retrieving that file won't be a problem. This feature also requires two-factor authentication such as a secondary access code sent to your mobile phone or alternate e-mail address. That prevents a bad actor from accessing your PC if your Windows Live credentials are stolen.

If you haven't given SkyDrive a look recently, you should check it out, especially if you're running a Windows machine.