Dropbox was the first online file storage company to capture widespread public interest. It is a great service, with an easy to use interface, and apps for all mobile devices and OSs.
However, Dropbox is no longer the only cloud file service available – there are plenty of others, often with better options for storing and sharing files.
Below is a comparison of the features offered by each of the popular ‘personal’ online file-storage services….
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| Google Drive | Dropbox | Box | OneDrive | Copy | iCloud Drive | |
| Free storage | 15 Gb | 2 Gb | 10 Gb | 5 Gb | 15 Gb | 5 Gb |
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| Web access to files | |
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| OS X Client | |
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| Win 7/8 Client | |
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| Linux client | |
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| Local context. menu | |
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| iOS App | |
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| Android App | |
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| Online ‘Office’ Apps | |
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| Cost for 50 Gb (pa) | – | – | – | $24 | – | $18 |
| Cost for 100 Gb (pa) | $24 | – | $138 | – | – | – |
| Cost for 200 Gb (pa) | – | – | – | $54 | ||
| Cost for 250 Gb (pa) | – | – | – | $48 | $49 | |
| Cost for 1 Tb (pa) | $89 | $129 | $89 | $99 | $180 | |
| (incl Office 365) |
| Pros and Cons…. | |
| Dropbox | |
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Pros: Interface, contextual menus for local client, available on all OSs, referrals to increase free space to 20Gb. Cons: Cost, meagre free allocation, basic web interface. |
| Box | |
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Pros: 10Gb for free, Box Sync client contextual menus, huge range of sharing options. Cons: No referral options to increase free space. (Though every now-and-then Box does offer promotions that boost your free allocation to 50Gb!) |
| Google Drive | |
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Pros: 15Gb free space, contextual menu in local app, integration with Google Apps. Cons: Duplicate files don’t overwrite previous versions of the file. |
| OneDrive | |
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Pros: Integration with MS Office apps. Cons: Lack of contextual sharing menu in local app (Have to share files through the web interface). |
| Copy | |
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Pros: 15Gb free space, 25Gb free space with referrals, contextual sharing menu in local app, shared files only counted once. Cons: Hard to find any! |
| iCloud Drive | |
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Pros: Tight integration with iCloud, OS X and iOS. Cons: Integration with other platforms |
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