What Is Cloud Storage and How Does Google Cloud Storage Work?

Do you know what Cloud Storage, sometimes called Google Storage, is? It’s Google Cloud’s object storage service, built to store unstructured data such as documents, images, videos, backups, and log files securely and at any scale.

Keeping company data on physical servers may feel safe at first. But space is limited, new hardware is expensive, and there’s always the risk of a hardware failure that wipes out important files and backups.

In this article, we explain what Cloud Storage is, how it works in practice, how it’s priced, and the benefits it offers your business.

What is Cloud Storage?

Cloud Storage is one of the services in Google Cloud. It runs on Google’s global infrastructure to store files in the cloud, with access from anywhere, at any time, on any internet-connected device or from your company’s systems.

What is Cloud Storage used for?

Every company has important data, such as documents, sensitive files, and backups, that needs to be stored somewhere secure yet accessible.

Many still rely on external drives and on-premises servers, which offer limited space at a high cost, plus the risk of corrupted files and hardware damage.

With Cloud Storage, you can store unstructured data of any type and size directly in Google’s cloud. It also serves as the foundation for other Google Cloud solutions, such as data analytics and artificial intelligence.

How does Cloud Storage work in practice? How much does it cost?

Cloud Storage is scalable: it grows with your business, so you don’t have to forecast or buy capacity in advance.

There’s no minimum fee. Pricing depends on how much you store, the region, the operations you run, and the storage class.

Storage classes determine how much it costs to store and to access each file:

• Standard: for frequently accessed data, with no minimum storage duration;
• Nearline: for data accessed about once a month, with a 30-day minimum storage duration;
• Coldline: for data accessed about once a quarter, with a 90-day minimum storage duration;
• Archive: for data accessed less than once a year, with a 365-day minimum storage duration and the lowest storage cost.

In other words, the less often you access a file, the less you pay to store it, but the more you pay when you do access it. And if you delete a file before its class’s minimum storage duration, you’re still charged for the remaining time.

Two features help automate these choices:

• lifecycle rules, which move or delete files based on age or when a newer version exists;
• Autoclass, which automatically moves files between classes based on how often they’re accessed.

To estimate costs, see the Cloud Storage pricing page.

5 benefits of Cloud Storage for your business

1. Scalable storage: grows with your business and its needs.
2. Pay-as-you-go pricing: you pay for what you store and access, so it works for companies of every size.
3. Security: data is encrypted by default, and access is controlled through permissions, limited to authorized people and systems.
4. Durability: every class offers 99.999999999% annual durability, dramatically reducing the risk of data loss.
5. Data in the region: Google Cloud has regions in Latin America, including São Paulo and Santiago, so you can keep data close to your operations and meet local data protection requirements. [validate regions]

Cloud Storage with Maplink Cloud

If you’re looking for efficient, secure cloud storage, Cloud Storage is one of the most complete options on the market, with costs that scale with your business.

With a Cloud & AI First approach, Maplink Cloud helps your company use Cloud Storage as the foundation for data and AI projects on Google Cloud. As a Premier Partner for Google Cloud and Google Maps Platform, we have a specialized, certified team to plan your migration, set up storage classes and lifecycle rules, and optimize costs, backed by our Managed Services.

Talk to a Maplink Cloud specialist ➜