The Short Answer
Google Takeout is better if you want to export everything from your account (Gmail, Photos, Calendar, Drive) at once, and you don't mind a slow, manual process.
DriveSwap is better if you specifically need to move Drive files to another Google account quickly, with files staying in native Google format.
Google Takeout
Google Takeout is Google's official data export tool. It can export your entire Google account — Drive, Gmail, Photos, Calendar, Contacts — as a downloadable archive.
For Drive specifically:
- Google Docs are exported as .docx files (Microsoft Word format)
- Google Sheets are exported as .xlsx files
- Google Slides are exported as .pptx files
- When re-uploaded to Google Drive, they are stored as Office files, not native Google Docs
- Large exports take hours and arrive as multiple zip files (max 2GB each)
- You must manually download, unzip, and re-upload everything
Best for: Full account backup, exporting Gmail/Photos alongside Drive, archiving data you may not actively use.
DriveSwap
DriveSwap uses the Google Drive API to copy files directly from one Google account to another. Files are exported and re-imported in their native format — a Google Doc in the source account becomes a Google Doc in the destination account.
- No downloading or uploading zip files
- Docs, Sheets, and Slides stay as native Google formats
- Transfers run in parallel (much faster for large file counts)
- Optional AI organization sorts files into folders automatically
- Handles files shared with you, not just files you own
- Sends a completion email with a link to your transferred files
Best for: Moving Drive files to a new Google account (school→personal, work→personal, consolidating accounts). Read our school-to-personal transfer guide for step-by-step instructions.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Factor | Google Takeout | DriveSwap |
|---|---|---|
| Preserves Google Docs format | No — converts to .docx | Yes — stays as Google Doc |
| Speed (1,000 files) | 1–4 hours | ~15 minutes |
| Manual steps required | Many | None |
| Transfers to specific account | Manual re-upload | Direct transfer |
| Uses your internet bandwidth | Downloads + re-uploads all files | Zero — server-to-server |
| Safe on school or work Wi-Fi | Can bottleneck shared networks | No local traffic at all |
| Includes Gmail/Photos/Calendar | Yes | Drive only |
| AI file organization | No | Optional |
| Cost | Free | 500 files free, Pro $9 |
The Hidden Problem with Takeout: Bandwidth
Google Takeout requires you to download your entire Drive to your device, then re-upload it to your new account. For a typical student with a few gigabytes of files, that's a lot of data moving over your internet connection — twice.
If you're doing this at school, this is a real problem. School Wi-Fi is shared across hundreds of students and staff. One person downloading a large Takeout archive can noticeably slow down the connection for everyone else on the network — and if multiple students all try to export their Drives at the same time (say, end of semester), the school's bandwidth takes a serious hit.
DriveSwap works entirely differently. When you start a transfer, the files move directly between Google's servers — from your school's Google Drive to your personal Google Drive. No data is downloaded to your laptop. No data is uploaded from your Wi-Fi. The school's internet connection isn't involved at all. You could run a DriveSwap transfer on the slowest school Wi-Fi and it wouldn't affect a single other user.
Our Recommendation
If your goal is to move Google Drive files to a new Google account, DriveSwap is the better choice in almost every scenario. The native format preservation alone is worth it — re-opening a .docx in Google Docs often causes formatting issues that don't exist with native Docs.
Use Google Takeout as a supplement if you also want to archive Gmail or Google Photos.