I used to hate paying for Google One, but not after these 2 updates

As someone with thousands of photos/videos in Google Photos, and as a regular user of both Gmail and Drive, Google One has been a necessary subscription for years. When so much of my life revolves around these Google services, paying for Google One isn’t really a choice for me — it’s just something I have to do.

While I’ve been a regular Google One subscriber out of necessity, that doesn’t mean I’ve always enjoyed paying for it. For years, Google One has lacked basic features, been riddled with confusing plans/pricing, and has frequently left me wanting more.

But over the last few months, that’s started to change. Google has made several key improvements to Google One, and at this point, it’s now one of the subscriptions I can’t see myself quitting. Not because I need it, but because I genuinely like it that much.

When it launched in 2018, Google One was primarily focused on cloud storage and a couple of additional perks. But as time went on, it gradually expanded to include more — such as a built-in VPN service, Google Store cashback rewards, and extra Google Photos editing tools.

These were all fine additions, but they never elevated Google One to live up to its name. Apple One is truly the “one” subscription you need to access virtually all of Apple’s paid services, but Google One never reached that point. It included more than just cloud storage, but it also didn’t bundle things like YouTube Premium, Google Play Pass, Nest Aware, or Fitbit Premium — all other Google subscriptions that existed outside of Google One.

But last October, we saw the first hint of this changing.

As part of Nest Aware’s rebranding to Google Home Premium, Google announced that the service would be included for free with the Google One AI Pro tier. In other words, a subscription that Google One subscribers would normally have to pay $10/month for was now bundled into their Google One plan at no extra cost. That didn’t mean much for me at the time, but having recently bought my first house and using Google Home more than ever, it’s quickly become a wonderful perk.

Fast forward to May 2026, and we’re seeing Google do the same thing once again. As part of the Fitbit -> Google Health transformation, Google is also turning its Fitbit Premium subscription into Google Health Premium. And just like before with Google Home Premium, Google Health Premium is now included with Google One AI Pro.

Google Health Premium includes all the same features that Fitbit Premium used to offer — including Google’s AI-powered health coach, more detailed sleep tracking, and full access to Fitbit’s workout videos and meditation sessions. You can pay $10/month for the service on its own, but if you have Google One AI Pro (or shell out $250/month for Google One AI Ultra), you now get it for free.

This bundling of other Google subscriptions is exactly what I’ve wanted from Google One for years. Google Home and Health Premium aren’t throwaway services. If you use Google Home for your smart home and have a Fitbit or Pixel Watch, both are essential.

If you subscribed to Home and Health Premium individually, you’d pay $20/month for both. It just so happens that Google One AI Pro also costs $20/month and includes not just Home Premium and Health Premium, but also 5TB of cloud storage, priority access to new Gemini features, extra Google Meet features, Google Store cash back, and more.

Google has essentially doubled the value of a Google One AI Pro plan in the last seven months, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see other subscriptions join the party as time goes on.

All of this is clearly great news for Google One. As someone who uses Google Home daily and has started wearing a Pixel Watch again, my Google One AI Pro plan is an unbelievably great value. I may have initially signed up for cloud storage, but I’m now also getting two other Google subscriptions I would have had to pay extra for — saving me $20 every month. That’s not too shabby.

Having said that, including Home and Health Premium subscriptions doesn’t solve all of Google’s problems.

While bundled subscriptions are great, Google One’s plan structure is still a mess. Of the six available plans (Basic, Standard, Premium, AI Plus, AI Pro, and AI Ultra), Home Premium and Health Premium are included only in the last two. Meanwhile, every Apple One plan includes a mix of bundled Apple subscriptions. Google needs to add value for everyone, not just its highest-paying customers.

Similarly, Google needs to streamline its Google One plans considerably. Even as someone who writes about Google for a living, it doesn’t take long for the official Google One plan breakdown to make my eyes glaze over. I’m all for giving people more storage options (even though Google also struggles here, with no middle ground between 200GB and 2TB), but having six differently-branded plans isn’t the way to go.

Finally, I hope the recent inclusions of Home Premium and Health Premium are a sign of more to come. If Google really wants Google One to be the “one” ultimate Google subscription, there are still plenty of other services to either outright include or offer permanent discounts on — including YouTube Premium, YouTube Music Premium, YouTube TV, and Google Play Pass.

There’s certainly still work to be done, but for the first time ever, I’m actually confident that Google will do it.