How do I switch from Google Drive to another provider?
Three routes: download everything via Google Takeout (clean, slow, free), use your new provider’s built-in importer (pCloud, Koofr, and others connect directly to your Google account and copy server-to-server), or sync locally and re-upload. Plan for Gmail and Photos separately: Takeout exports them, but they need a destination strategy of their own.
The mechanics are easier than the procrastination suggests. Google Takeout (takeout.google.com) packages everything (Drive, Photos, Gmail) into downloadable archives; for libraries over 50 GB expect multiple zip files and a patient evening. The elegant alternative skips your home bandwidth entirely: several providers offer server-side migration. pCloud’s backup-from-Google feature and Koofr’s native Google Drive connection copy files cloud-to-cloud, and dedicated migration services (like rclone for the technical, or Mover-style tools) handle big libraries while you sleep.
The planning questions matter more than the transfer. Google Docs and Sheets export as Office or PDF files: fine for archives, but live collaborative documents need a new home (most people keep a slim Google account purely for collaboration, which is a legitimate outcome). Photos deserve their own decision: exports lose Google’s albums-and-faces organization, so pick the new photo home first (iCloud, a folder structure on pCloud, or a service like IDrive backing up the phone directly). Shared files and links break on migration; warn collaborators.
The destination depends on why you are leaving. Privacy: Proton Drive or Sync.com, encrypted by default. Cost over time: a pCloud or Internxt lifetime plan. De-Googling without drama: Koofr even lets you keep Google connected during a gradual transition, browsing old and new side by side. Whichever route: keep the Google account alive but empty for a few months as a safety net, and only then close the door.