The online storage wars continue! Yesterday, Dropbox announced new pricing plans which doubled the storage space for users at no additional cost, and today, new player Cubby is also making a change that it hopes will incentivize users to make a switch. The company is now offering users 1 GB of additional space every time they refer a friend to the service. That’s double what Dropbox’s is offering today (500 MB). And if you invite 5 friends, the referral rates doubles from 5 GB to 10 GB.
Cubby, in case the name doesn’t ring a bell (don’t feel bad, you’re not alone) is a recently launched service from LogMeIn, which you probably do remember as the company behind the remote access software that lets you view your work files at home or vice versa. The need for consumer-grade remote access solutions was a big deal in the days before “the cloud,” but web services have been eating away at this market for years. Besides Dropbox, there’s also Microsoft’s SkyDrive, Box, and SugarSync, to name just of few of the more popular players. (Please don’t email me.)
In addition the referral offer, which is retroactive for early adopters, Cubby is also rolling out the next phases of its beta today, which includes an updated iOS application that supports opening files from other apps in Cubby and moving files from Cubby to other apps. The company is now allowing unlimited sharing of “cubbies” (i.e., folders), too – previously, sharing counted against your beta invites. And there’s a new Cubby icon for desktop folders which better indicates its Cubby-enabled status.
Although the software is still in closed beta, the first 5,000 TechCrunch readers can get in by clicking here.
So, how does this news break down in terms of the competition? Here are few examples:
- Cubby is free during its beta, and pricing is not yet set.
- Google Drive gives you 5 GB for synced and uploaded files for free, and doesn’t count those created or converted to Google Docs format. You can buy more storage here. It offers 25 GB for $2.49/month or 100 GB for $4.99/month.
- Dropbox starts at 2 GB for free, and now offers 100 GB for $9.99/month, 200 GB for $19.99/month or 500 GB for $49.99/month.
- Box for personal use is 5 GB for free, 25 GB for $9.99/month, and 50 GB for $19.99/month.
- SkyDrive is 7 GB for free, 20 GB for $10/year, 50 GB for $25/year, and 100 GB for $50/year.
But remember, in the cloud storage wars, pricing is not the only concern. Availability of mobile applications, ease-of-use, feature set, sharing functions, file size limits, and more will all contribute to consumers’ choice here. However, it’s worth noting that with Google in particular, its recent launch of Google Drive on iOS has forced competitors to step up their game. The move has prompted Dropbox to lower prices, as now, simply having an iOS app is no longer a key advantage. It will be interesting to see where Cubby decides to factor itself in when its pricing is set…and also, whether the space has room for yet another player.