Google drive dropbox comparison

One of the main benefits is that Google Drive allows for simultaneous online editing of documents by people in a group, eliminating one of the headaches of coordinating the activity of large groups.

Additionally, it allows for documents to be locked by the administrator from further editing. Documents in Google Docs are automatically saved to Google servers to help prevent data loss. All documents in Dropbox are encrypted, and logging into the web client requires a two-step authentication process. Additionally, the Dropbox mobile app is the only one that requires a 4-digit passcode.

Dropbox for Teams allows the creating of groups for sharing with different permission levels. The downside of this is that it creates another set of permissions independent of any other programs that must be managed.

Dropbox supports the following file types: Microsoft Office, Apple iWork, audio, video , and image files. Google drive supports the following file types: Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, AutoCad, vector graphics files, audio, video and image files. More details are as follows. Firstly, Dropbox features a two-step verification to prevent anyone from accessing your files.

However, Dropbox pulls metadata to speed up file retrieval, which is a security concern. Similar to Dropbox, Google Drive supports optional two-step verification and it encrypts your data both in transit and at rest. Google Drive extract metadata for indexing files as well. In addition, Google Drive uses laser grids and biometric scanners to enhance security.

The worst aspect of Google Drive is the privacy issues. To remove illegal content and gather information about you, the Google can scan your cloud files.

OneDrive also encrypts your data in transit but it does not offer any file encryption at rest unless you have a Business Subscription. This will leave your files exposed and it might be a big issue for OneDrive. In conclusion, Dropbox and Google Drive do well in term of security and encryption. OneDrive is worse due to the lack of at-rest encryption and security for individuals.

Another key feature of cloud storage providers is file synchronization. When we make some changes on a cloud file, it will be updated on all the devices connected to your storage account. The greatest difference of Dropbox sync is block-level file transferring.

That means when you make changes on a file online, only the changes are synced online while the rest of data remains as it is, which speeds up the rate of sync.

But the speed of full-file transferring is much faster because it is supported by a global server network. Smart Sync Auto-Evict lets you clear out space from your hard drive by moving dormant files to the cloud. With this plan, you can also recover older versions of files and restore deleted files for up to days.

Both Dropbox and Google Drive have some clever integrations. For example, Dropbox makes it simple to send a file to HelloSign for instant eSignatures.

And they have a great way to instantly add a watermark to an image. But you can't annotate files from Dropbox or Google Drive. What if you could just click to annotate an image or PDF — that would be sweet. That's what's missing from Google Drive and Dropbox. Image annotation directly the file browser, without leaving the tool. They just need to integrate it and it's super easy.

Just to get a sense of how instant annotation works, here is a video showing how it could work in a typical SaaS application. Or better yet, just try it for yourself. Here's a quick demo showing the annotation library in action. Just click the annotate button, add whatever annotations you want, click done and watch the magic.

People store their files in the cloud to keep them safe, but the files in the cloud need security as well. Google and Dropbox are equal when it comes to this. With both Google and Dropbox, you can set up two-factor authentication. You can protect your Google account using your phone and password. Even if someone gets a hold of your password, two-factor authentication can help keep them out. Meanwhile, the other two only let you collaborate on files online.

However, Google Drive is a cheaper option overall with a larger free plan, and Dropbox is more flexible. In most other instances, OneDrive should be a better option. OneDrive has a free account with 5GB of storage, but you can expand that storage with a paid plan. While neither will win any security accolades, OneDrive is marginally safer than Google Drive and Dropbox, thanks to its private vault feature, which adds a PIN-protected folder to your cloud storage.

These are three huge names in cloud storage, so which one comes out on top as the better cloud storage provider? However, Sync. Microsoft OneDrive is easy to use and offers fast syncing — you can also manage multiple OneDrive accounts. Lastly, Google Drive offers the most free storage space and has better customer service, but there are well-known privacy issues read our guide to Google Drive alternatives.

If the round is too close to call, it may end in a two- or three-way tie. Without further ado, let the battle commence. OneDrive is a Microsoft cloud storage product, so it plays very nicely with other Microsoft apps. For example, if you receive an attachment in Outlook, you can right-click and save it directly to any OneDrive folder of your choice.

Integration with Gmail is also excellent. You can use third-party media players, photo and video editors, accounting software and more in your Google Drive interface. It even lets you take and share screenshots and screen recordings. However, because of its lack of office apps, you might expect Dropbox to be less useful as a collaborative tool.

In fact, the opposite is true, as Dropbox works with files from both Microsoft and Google. If you want to switch between services, Dropbox makes this easy. All three of these cloud storage providers offer excellent collaboration tools, which is why we recommend each service on our best cloud storage for collaboration short list. If you share an Office document with others, you can all work on it simultaneously.

All changes automatically save to your OneDrive account. Microsoft also gives you access to Microsoft Teams. OneDrive integrates with Skype as well, letting you share and preview documents directly within the app though, why are you still using Skype?

You can see other collaborators viewing the file, with their name appearing as a different-colored cursor as they add new text. Google also offers a communication tool in the form of Google Meet. Plus, if you get Google Drive as part of Google Workspace, integration between services becomes even tighter, letting you collaborate on Google Drive documents from within other Google apps.

Click on any Google document in your Dropbox cloud storage, and it will open it in the relevant Google app. You can collaborate in exactly the same way as you can with Google documents in Google Drive, but your changes will automatically save to Dropbox.

The one niggle we have with this is that your Google email has to match your Dropbox email for the integration to work. Dropbox also lets you collaborate on Microsoft Office files in exactly the same way as you would in OneDrive.

The files will still save in your Dropbox storage in the original Microsoft formats. You can even share files directly to Teams, just like you can with OneDrive. However, with support for additional third-party services, Google Drive pushes out OneDrive to be the overall winner here. All three providers offer some level of free storage, as well as various perks that come with a paid account. In fact, all three cloud storage services make it onto our list of the best 1TB cloud storage providers.

Both services are similar in that they limit certain features from free accounts. Google Drive comes out the highest of our three contenders in our rundown of the best free cloud storage providers , offering a generous 15GB of free storage. Besides beating both OneDrive and Dropbox in terms of sheer free storage space, the free version of Google Drive has no limitations like the other two cloud storage services do.

Paid tiers are where things get more complicated. Looking at prices alone, Dropbox is by far the most expensive cloud storage option in this comparison, while Google Drive is the cheapest, with OneDrive in the middle of the pack. Dropbox has only one personal plan, the Dropbox Plus plan. Looking at the OneDrive storage plans, you get cheap cloud storage, plus access to other Microsoft apps, but the cap for storage is low — only 1TB.

To get more storage than that, you have to get a Microsoft plan. Like Dropbox, Microsoft offers a personal and a family plan. In addition, it offers 1TB of OneDrive file storage per person. The simplest way to increase your Google Drive storage is to purchase a Google One plan. This lets you share your account with five other users, as well as access some bizarre offerings, like discounted stays at certain hotels. For an improved collaborative experience, you can upgrade your Google account by grabbing a Google Workspace plan to share with co-workers.

The Dropbox Business Advanced and Enterprise plans use similar wording, with no clarity as to whether both offer truly unlimited storage. Since Google Drive offers the largest amount of free storage and the cheapest 2TB personal option, Google Drive is the winner on pricing. Dropbox is the company that first popularized the sync folder model used by all three providers.

It sets up a sync folder on your computer for you to use, with any files or folders placed in that folder synced to the cloud read our guide if Dropbox is not syncing. All three providers offer selective sync. This allows you to choose which folders sync to your hard drive and which remain solely in the cloud to save space on your drive. Unsynced folders will not be visible on your computer. Dropbox gets around this with its Smart Sync option, which is available for all paid plans.

OneDrive has a similar system called Files On-Demand. If you download an online-only file, it will remain on your hard drive after you close it. One of the most important factors when choosing a cloud storage provider is the sync speed and whether or not the provider you choose uses block-level sync.

This splits up each file into smaller pieces. When you make a change to the file, only the part that you change syncs, which removes the need to sync the whole file again.

This can significantly speed up sync times, especially for large files. Both Dropbox and OneDrive use block-level sync. OneDrive used to only use this method for its own Microsoft Office file formats but now applies block-level sync to most major file types. Version history is another useful feature of cloud storage. Dropbox offers version history for up to 30 days on its personal plans, while its business plans get day versioning.

In fact, Dropbox makes our list of the best cloud storage for versioning , alongside Sync. OneDrive limits version history to 30 days for personal accounts.

For business accounts, the default is to store up to versions. Google Drive keeps previous versions of files for up to 30 days or until you reach versions. However, you can also select individual versions to keep forever.

Google Drive also fails to use block-level sync, unlike the other two providers. All three providers make file sharing simple by creating shareable links. Dropbox and Google Drive even squeaked onto our list of the best cloud storage for sharing , although other paid providers like pCloud beat it.

Each service gives you the option to determine whether the recipient can edit or view a file. Google Drive also allows you to set who can comment on the document. Check out our guide on how to share files in Google Drive if you want to know more. Dropbox and OneDrive also allow you to password-protect your links and set expiration dates to provide temporary access. File sharing through links is a simple but effective method that makes things easy for the sender and recipient.

This is one of the reasons why all three providers appear on our list of the best cloud storage for multiple users. When it comes to sharing large files, there are some differences in the maximum file size you can upload. OneDrive will let you upload and share files up to GB in size see our OneDrive file size limit guide. Google Drive lets you upload files up to 5TB in size unless these are documents, spreadsheets or presentations, where other file limits apply.

Dropbox has a special option for large file sharing, called Dropbox Transfer. Thanks to its extensive sharing features, as well as its file transfer service, Dropbox wins this round. All three providers use the same tried-and-tested method to sync folders, with an accessible system tray or menu bar icon that allows you to quickly change settings. The experience is pretty similar across all three platforms. However, a small issue we have with this is iconography.

In a stunning sign of originality, Google Drive and OneDrive both use icons in the shape of a cloud, and these look to our eyes fairly similar. If you use multiple clouds, this may cause a fair bit of confusion. Dropbox, at least, uses a fairly distinctive box icon. Luckily, Dropbox seems to have fixed this, so that folders show up first before files, and all are listed alphabetically. All three providers offer mobile apps for Android and iOS. All three cloud storage services also have stellar iOS mobile apps.

The Dropbox and OneDrive apps are similar and include a photos page that allows you to search your photos. You can install Google Photos if you want more similar functionality for your Google Drive images. For general use, all three apps are fairly similar. With more functionality and slightly better features, OneDrive nudges past Google Drive to be the winner here, although all three apps offer a pretty good experience on mobile devices.

The gold standard for security in cloud storage is zero-knowledge encryption. Sadly, none of these three providers offer zero-knowledge encryption. Another option is to use third-party encryption software, such as Boxcryptor, which can encrypt your files before you upload them to the cloud. You can check out our Boxcryptor review to learn more.

Although none of our providers offer zero-knowledge encryption, they do all offer industry-standard levels of security in other areas. In addition, data in transit is encrypted with the TLS protocol. Even with services that offer zero-knowledge encryption, your account is only as safe as your password. We always recommend using strong passwords, which may be more difficult to remember, but you can keep them safe by using a password manager to save them.

Take a look at our list of the best password managers for information on options like Dashlane. Another layer of protection you can use is two-factor authentication , which all three cloud storage services offer.

It will also automatically lock after 20 minutes of inactivity. In terms of security, none of the providers offer zero-knowledge encryption, so neither is ever going to be the best cloud storage for encryption in our eyes. As with security, none of the providers here have a great reputation when it comes to privacy, either. Google states that it collects this data to provide better services as well as personalized ads. OneDrive is a little less intrusive. Dropbox was also famously hacked in , with a leak of nearly 70 million user passwords, although it has upped its game since then.

This means that whichever service you use, you might have a complete stranger sifting through your files, which is not an appealing thought. All the companies named were quick to clarify the situation.

Dropbox was not listed as one of the companies participating in the program, but the leaked documents did state that there were plans to add Dropbox as a partner. Since none of these providers offer zero-knowledge encryption, any information disclosed will be fully accessible by those agencies.

Finding a winner is tough, as none of the providers paint itself in glory when it comes to privacy. Google and Microsoft are notorious for harvesting and using your data, and Dropbox is the only one of the three to have had a major hacking incident.

This might just be the toughest round to call. During tests, Dropbox live chat responded almost immediately find out how to delete your Dropbox account. The quality of the support was reasonable, although they were unable to offer a resolution to the Mac and iOS app issues other than suggesting that we put it forward as a feature request.

Google also responded in less than a minute. The responses were useful, in general, although they were unable to tell us what kind of encryption the service used. They also sent follow-up emails that offered some more useful information relating to the query, which was a nice touch. OneDrive is far less helpful. Your first port of call is a less-than-useful virtual assistant. When you request to talk to an agent, you can request a live chat. During working hours, we had a response within five minutes, with a link to chat with a Microsoft OneDrive expert.

The first time we tried this, we received a useful response. The second time, we received out-of-date information. Both Dropbox and Google Drive offered round-the-clock live chat support, but trying to chat with a human on OneDrive was quite a challenge.

With immediate support and helpful follow-up emails, Google Drive takes this round. It was always going to be a decision based on the smallest of margins.

With three points each, the competitors of this Dropbox vs Google Drive vs OneDrive battle remain tied. In other areas, like file syncing and sharing, Dropbox and OneDrive shared the glory, with both providing full account versioning and easy link sharing. It also did well in plenty of other areas, including offering the best interface for mobile and desktop users, with Google Drive closely matching it. For customer support, Google was the winner there, with Dropbox offering a strongly useful alternative and OneDrive falling behind.

Which is your favorite? Do you agree with our judging, or would you rather see a different winner? Leave your comments below and, as always, thanks for reading. In the world we leave in today, more and more people store more and more data, there is a great need for larger online cloud storage. With the amount of photos and videos from mobile phones and cameras being taken year round, google is the only one providing reasonable storage at a reasonable price.

Yes, this is the problem with DropBox. For individual users including their individual professional plan, Dropbox limits to 1TB. That leaves me with two options: a buy a 5-person Dropbox business plan for one person; or b switch to Google Drive. Dropbox needs to allow the purchase of additional storage space for individual professional plans.

That option only leaves the others out of the game. Both Dropbox and OneDrive allow you to limit which folders get replicated, but DropBox makes it very hard to do. We use both at work and will likely transition to Onedrive as it is more integrated with Windows.

The desktop client might stop syncing altogether, leaving you no option but to manually reset it, and it frequently misplaces files with the same filename, i. Google Drive occasionally has some issues with syncing too, but the worse that can happen here is you end up with a few duplicate files that you can easily remove later. That OneDrive flaw makes it worse than useless for serious storage of data. I just stumbled on a mess of empty folders after noticing that OneDrive had hung when uploading a folder with just 4 GB of data.

Spread the word: OneDrive is a hazard! Totally agree. I had the same experience and have pulled my hairs more than once for services which are sold to bring peace of mind…. I have to disagree. I used Dropbox to back up my files while my laptop was being fixed.

I could only access all of the data on the original laptop.