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CLOUD STORAGE · MIGRATION GUIDE

Switching from Google Drive to OneDrive

For business accounts, Microsoft’s Migration Manager copies Google Drive files, metadata and permissions to OneDrive and SharePoint; tenants under 300 licences get the simpler Migration Manager Lite. Personal accounts move by download and upload.

Bill Belcamino
Bottom line up frontby Bill Belcamino, founder of HelpCompare
Editorial assessment

Bottom line up front: How does a business move from Google Drive to OneDrive?

With Microsoft's Migration Manager: from the Microsoft 365 admin center (Setup, Migration and imports) it connects to Google Workspace and copies files, metadata and permissions to OneDrive and SharePoint.

Tenants under 300 licences get Migration Manager Lite, which skips the scan and mapping steps, and that's exactly where I'd slow down. Identity decides who owns what on the other side, so create every Microsoft user first and confirm each Google account lands on the right one, or shared folders arrive with the wrong owner. Know what won't make it: Apps Script, Google Forms and anything that only runs inside Google's apps do not convert, and there are file size limits and unsupported file types. List the forms and scripts first, because they're often quietly feeding a spreadsheet someone depends on. Run a small pilot group before the whole company.

My read of the verified data on this page, checked against vendor sources on September 25, 2026. Disagree or spot an error? Tell Bill

Estimate · your inputs

Switching Cost & Friction Estimator

Most buyers only budget for the new subscription. This estimates the hidden labor, data-cleanup, and retraining cost of actually making the switch.

25,000
10

Estimate assumes: 1 hour of data-mapping/cleaning labor per 2,000 records, a blended $75/hr ops rate, tiered migration & cleaning tooling fees, and 4 hours of retraining per seat at a $45/hr fully-loaded rate.

Estimated Migration Time —
Data Friction Rating —
Total Hidden Switching Cost $0

    Why teams move from Google Drive to OneDrive

    1 TB per person

    Microsoft 365 Personal and Business Basic both include 1 TB each.

    Desktop Office apps

    Word, Excel and PowerPoint on the desktop from Microsoft 365 Personal or Apps for business.

    Family plan

    Up to six people with 1 TB each for $129.99 a year.

    How the migration actually works

    OneDrive’s free tier is 5 GB, against Google’s 15 GB, and Microsoft has no step between 100 GB and 1 TB for one person.

    StepWhat you do
    1Set up Microsoft 365Business: buy licences, verify your domain and create users. Personal: choose Microsoft 365 Basic (100 GB) or Personal (1 TB).
    2Create a migration projectBusiness: in the Microsoft 365 admin center, open Setup, Migration and imports, and choose Google Drive or Google Workspace. You need a Global admin, OneDrive/SharePoint admin or Microsoft 365 Migration Administrator role.
    3Connect to GoogleSign in with a Google account that can read the drives you are moving and install the Microsoft 365 migration app from the Google Workspace Marketplace.
    4Scan, map and migrateStandard Migration Manager scans drives, lets you review destination paths and map users and groups, then copies files, metadata and permissions. Migration Manager Lite (tenants under 300 licences) skips straight from connecting to migrating.
    5Personal accounts: download and uploadDownload your Google Drive files to a computer and upload them to OneDrive; Google Docs, Sheets and Slides download as Office files.
    6Re-share and cancelCheck shared links, then cancel your Google One plan or Workspace subscription.

    What this path doesn’t do for you:

    Migration Manager has file size limits and unsupported file types (see Microsoft’s Google migration FAQ). Apps Script, Google Forms and anything that only runs inside Google’s apps do not convert.

    Pricing side by side

    PlanGoogle DriveOneDrive
    Pricing basisPer account (personal); per user (business)Per account (personal); per user (business)
    Entry priceGoogle One Basic $1.99/mo, 100 GBMicrosoft 365 Basic $1.99/mo, 100 GB
    Free plan15 GB, shared with Gmail and Photos5 GB
    Business entryWorkspace Starter $7/user/mo, 30 GB pooledBusiness Basic $7/user/mo, 1 TB each
    Importer for the otherData import from OneDrive (business)Migration Manager (business)

    US prices checked on each vendor’s pricing page on September 25, 2026.

    Feature parity check

    CapabilityGoogle DriveOneDrive
    Office appsDocs, Sheets, Slides in the browserWord, Excel, PowerPoint (desktop on Personal)
    Free storage15 GB shared5 GB
    ImporterData import from OneDrive (business)Migration Manager for Google Drive (business)
    Entry price$1.99/mo, 100 GB$1.99/mo, 100 GB

    Going the other direction, or want the full comparison first?

    Read the OneDrive vs Google Drive comparison Switching from OneDrive to Google Drive instead?
    Verified data

    Security & access: what changes when you switch

    Security, offline and access rules that differ between Google Drive and OneDrive. Rows where both tools are the same (7) are left out; the full side-by-side is on each tool’s page: Google Drive, OneDrive.

    What changesGoogle Drive (today)OneDrive (after)
    Other certificationsISO/IEC 27017, ISO/IEC 27018, ISO/IEC 27701, FedRAMP, BSI C5, MTCS (Singapore)sourceISO/IEC 27017, ISO/IEC 27018, ISO/IEC 27701source
    Single sign-on (SAML/OIDC)YessourceYesBusiness Basicsource
    Two-factor authenticationYesEnforcement: Admins can require 2SV (edition not stated)sourceYesEnforcement: All Business plans via security defaults; Conditional Access MFA policies need Entra ID P1 (Business Premium)source
    Admin audit logYesEnterprise Standard (Drive log events)sourceYesBusiness Basicsource
    Data residency choicesUS, EUBusiness StandardsourceNot published
    EncryptionAll customer data encrypted in transit; stored data encrypted at restsourceBitLocker and per-file encryption at rest; TLS and IPsec in transitsource
    Offline limitsOffline use in the browser needs Chrome or Edge with the Google Docs Offline extension and doesn't work in private browsing. On iPhone and iPad, offline editing happens in the Docs, Sheets and Slides apps.sourceOnline-only files need a connection to open. On iPhone and iPad, taking whole folders offline needs a Microsoft 365 subscription.source
    IP allowlistingYesEnterprise Standard (Context-Aware Access)sourceYesBusiness Premiumsource
    Device & session controlsYesEnterprise Standard (Context-Aware Access)Context-Aware Access can limit app access by device security status, company-owned devices, encrypted storage and network location.sourceYesBusiness PremiumBusiness Premium adds Intune Plan 1 endpoint management, Defender for Business device protection and Windows 11 Pro upgrade; Basic and Standard do not include Intune.source
    Editorial assessment

    Before you cut over

    • Set up single sign-on in OneDrive on Business Basic before you invite the team, so accounts are created through your identity provider rather than by hand.

    Checked September 25, 2026 against each vendor’s own trust center, help docs and app pages. Hover or tap “source” to see the exact wording we relied on. “Not published” means we could not find the vendor saying it on its own site; it doesn’t mean the feature is missing. Plan names are the lowest plan the vendor says includes the feature. Security · Offline · Remote vs office · Download the data

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Is there a tool to move Google Drive to OneDrive?

    For business accounts, yes: Migration Manager in the Microsoft 365 admin center copies Google Drive files, metadata and permissions to OneDrive and SharePoint.

    What is Migration Manager Lite?

    A simplified version turned on by default for Microsoft 365 tenants with fewer than 300 licences: connect to Google, then migrate and monitor, without the scan and mapping steps.

    Will it cost more?

    Not at the entry tier: 100 GB is $1.99 a month on both. For a business, both start at $7 a user; Microsoft includes 1 TB per user.

    Do version histories move?

    Plan for the latest version only. Google’s OneDrive import copies only the latest version of each file; download-and-upload moves only current files too.

    Sources

    Prices on this page were recorded from each vendor’s own pricing page on the date shown at the top of the page. Vendors change pricing often — check the live source before you buy.

    Every figure is also in our open dataset (JSON and CSV, CC BY 4.0), with its source page and verification date. See how we research pricing.

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    Bill Belcamino, founder of HelpCompare
    About the author

    Bill Belcamino

    Founder and author, HelpCompare

    Engineer by training, operator by experience, marketer by choice. Bill spent nine years as an engineer at HP, was COO of Auctiva (the number one third-party selling platform on eBay, past 200,000 users) and ran Google’s $70M/year search syndication partnership at Alot.com. Then he spent 13 years building his own web properties with his own money at stake. He has bought, trialled, integrated and cancelled more SaaS tools than he can count, and started HelpCompare because the real cost of switching tools is the part nobody covers.

    “I’ve sat on both sides of the table: the agency recommending the tool and the client paying for it.”

    Researched and fact-checked by the HelpCompare team. Pricing on this page was last verified on September 25, 2026. No paid sponsorships, no affiliate commissions.