Comparison

Google Drive vs Mail

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Google Drive

Securely store, organize, and access your files from any device. Collaborate with others, scan documents, and search for content with ease. Offers advanced features for businesses and individuals.

Highlights
  • Secure cloud storage
  • File organization
  • Cross-device access
  • Document scanning
  • File sharing and permissions
  • Offline access
  • AI-powered insights (Workspace)
Features
Read full description

Google Drive lets you securely store, intelligently organize and collaborate on files and folders from anywhere, on any device. With Drive, you can: • Safely store and access your files anywhere • Edit and store 100+ file types, including PDFs, Office files, videos and more • Scan and upload paper documents using your device’s camera • Quickly access recent and important files • Search for files by name and content • Filter files by type, last modified date and more • Share and set permissions for files and folders • View your content on the go while offline • Receive notifications about important activity on your files Google Workspace subscribers have access to additional Drive functionality, including: • Using AI to summarize information, retrieve quick facts, and surface insights from your files • Security and management controls for admins to help meet data compliance needs • Sharing files and folders directly with groups or teams within your organization • Creating a shared drive to store all of your team’s content • Requesting electronic signatures and manage vendor agreements, customer contracts, and more Learn more about Google Apps update policy: https://support.google.com/a/answer/6288871 Google accounts get 15GB of storage, shared across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. For additional storage, you can upgrade to Google Workspace or Google One as an in-app purchase. Storage subscriptions purchased from the app will be charged to your iTunes Account, and automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Subscriptions and auto-renewal may be managed by going to iTunes Account Settings after purchase. Google Privacy Policy: https://www.google.com/intl/en_US/policies/privacy Google Drive Terms of Service: https://www.google.com/drive/terms-of-service Follow us for more: X: https://x.com/googleworkspace and https://x.com/googledrive LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/googleworkspace Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/googleworkspace/

About

Mail

Consolidate all your email accounts into a single, organized inbox. Prioritize important messages, quickly respond with smart replies, and manage your inbox efficiently with features like scheduling and snoozing. Enjoy enhanced privacy with IP address hiding and read receipt prevention.

Highlights
  • Unified inbox for multiple accounts
  • Automatic message categorization
  • Priority Messages and summarization
  • Schedule send, snooze, and unsend emails
  • Smart Reply for quick responses
  • Mail Privacy Protection
Features
Read full description

Access, view and manage messages from all your email accounts in one place. Categorize your messages into easy to browse categories. Catch up on email easily with Apple Intelligence powered Priority Messages and summarizations. Manage your inbox by scheduling emails to send later, snoozing emails you want to get back to later and unsend an email in one tap. Features • Access email from iCloud, Gmail, Exchange, Yahoo, and Outlook as well as many other email providers - all in one place. • View all of your accounts in a single inbox, choose a specific mailbox or filter to see just Unread or Flagged messages. • Automatically organize your messages in to Primary, Transactions, Updates and Promotions categories and focus on the messages that matter most. • Stay on top of emails with Priority Messages, a new section at the top of your inbox that shows urgent emails. • Use Smart Reply to quickly respond to messages with a few taps. • Catch up on email quickly with summarization of messages and threads. • Find messages by sender, recipient or subject. Top hits make it easy to find what you’re looking for. • Manage your inbox by blocking a sender or muting notifications from an overly active thread. • Flag important contacts as VIPs to receive notifications when their emails arrive. • Triage email messages using swipe gestures that help you quickly archive, delete, flag, or mark messages as read or unread. • Use Mail Drop to send large attachments from any account through iCloud. • Hide your IP address with Mail Privacy Protection so senders can’t link it to your other online activity or determine your locations, and prevent senders from seeing if you’ve opened their email. • App Keywords (do not to exceed 70 characters): Mail, email, email app, productivity email, intelligent email

Screenshots

Google Drive4 screens
Mail3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Mail at none against Google Drive's 14. Mail also leads on device support (5 vs 2) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 17.0). Google Drive's advantage is review sentiment (65% vs 34%) and update cadence (weekly vs every 11 months). On price, ratings volume and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Google Drive sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Mail asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Google Drive holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 7.8M and 4.4M respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 65% of Google Drive's written reviews are positive against 34% of Mail's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Google Drive ships an update weekly, Mail every 11 months. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Google Drive versus Mail: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGoogle DriveMail
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (7.8M ratings) — better4.6 (4.4M ratings)
Positive reviews65.1% of reviews — better33.9% of reviews
Number of ratings7.8M — better4.4M
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 11 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#8 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS17.010.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size439 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGoogleApple

Customer experience

Google Drive

All ratings7,811,107 ratings
Positive95.0%
Neutral2.0%
Negative3.0%
Written reviews4,274 reviews
Positive65.1%
Neutral6.0%
Negative28.9%

Mail

All ratings4,444,576 ratings
Positive90.8%
Neutral2.7%
Negative6.5%
Written reviews8,358 reviews
Positive33.9%
Neutral8.1%
Negative58.0%

User reviews

Google Drive

From 7.8M App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Convenient cloud storage
  • 🔒 Secure file backup
  • 👍 Easy file sharing and collaboration
  • 👍 Accessible from any device
  • 🚀 Seamless integration with other Google apps

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Unreliable uploads and syncing
  • 🔍 Difficult file organization and navigation
  • 🔍 Limited editing capabilities within the app
  • 🔋 High battery drain on mobile devices

Mail

From 4.4M App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Efficient email management
  • 🔒 Secure and private
  • 👍 Simple and intuitive interface
  • 💡 Useful categorization of emails

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Inconsistent swipe gestures
  • 🐛 Unreliable search function
  • 🐛 Emails disappearing or not syncing properly
  • 🐛 Slow email download and loading times
  • 🐛 Buggy performance after updates

Bugs and requests

Google Drive

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Compatibility issues with older iOS versions
  • Frequent app crashes and freezes
  • Inconsistent file upload and download performance

Requested features

4 requests
  • Allow bulk file/folder management
  • Improve offline file access and editing
  • Integrate more advanced productivity tools
  • Enhance search and file organization features

Mail

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Emails not downloading from server
  • Inconsistent behavior when deleting emails
  • Notifications not working as expected
  • Drafts and sent emails disappearing

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add snooze functionality
  • Improve email organization and filtering options
  • Provide more customization options
  • Integrate better with other Apple apps and services

In-app purchases

9 purchases

Google Drive

Subscriptions9
  • 100 GB1 Month trial4 variants$1.991 Month
  • 100 GB$1.991 Month
  • 200 GB2 variants$2.991 Month
Show 6 more
  • 200 GB1 Month trial$2.991 Month
  • Google AI Plus (2 TB)2 variants$9.991 Month
  • Google AI Plus (2 TB)1 Month trial$9.991 Month
  • 100 GB1 Month trial$19.991 Year
  • 100 GB$19.991 Year
  • 200 GB$29.991 Year
None

Mail

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Google Drive free?
Google Drive is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Mail free?
Mail is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Google Drive or Mail?
Google Drive is rated higher. Google Drive averages 4.8 out of 5 from 7.8M ratings, while Mail averages 4.6 from 4.4M ratings.
Do Google Drive or Mail have ads?
Neither Google Drive nor Mail shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Google Drive or Mail?
Google Drive ships an update weekly, and Mail every 11 months. Most recently, Google Drive was updated on September 24, 2026 and Mail on September 24, 2026.

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