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Google One Reaches 150 Million Users Driven by AI Expansion

Prime Highlights

  • Google One hits 150 million subscribers, up 50% since early 2024.
  • New $19.99/month AI plan attracts millions of new subscribers.

Key Facts

  • Subscriber base grew from 100 million in Feb 2024 to 150 million through May 2025.
  • AI features offered in the pay plan are a prime reason behind this boom.

Key Background

Google set a new milestone when its subscription product Google One reached 150 million subscribers globally. The figure comes as Google rolled out an AI-centered subscription product at $19.99 per month. The new subscription, released in February 2024, was powered by word from day one, with Google indicating that millions signed up for the new plan. Google One Vice President Shimrit Ben-Yair credits the increasing subscriptions to the AI features offered in the premium plan upgrade.

Initially envisioned as a paid cloud storage service, Google One is now a multi-faceted subscription product with not only increased storage space but also in-house utilities and benefits. The new top-line tier blends access to more sophisticated AI features—presumably aligned with Google’s Gemini AI platform—with shaking things up in the way Google designs and prices its AI products.

This strategic expansion into AI-enabled services aligns with Alphabet’s broader shift towards subscription-based revenues. In 2024, more than three-quarters of Alphabet’s $350 billion revenue came from advertising. However, the rise of generative AI platforms like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s own Gemini has changed how users interact with search engines. For the first time, traditional search volumes on Apple’s Safari browser dropped—a trend acknowledged during antitrust proceedings involving Google.

With the technology titans reacting to AI disruption of conventional search infrastructures, profitability of AI in the form of direct subscriptions is now being prioritized. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, during the recent earnings call, emphasized that subscription services area of focus would be the highest in the future ahead. In the wake of monetization success with YouTube Premium, Pichai again emphasized Google’s scale-up imperative for AI-based services on a subscription basis. With 150 million and growing customers, Google One’s success may be the model for consumer-oriented AI products in the future.