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Battle of Online Storage: Dropbox vs. Google Drive vs. OneDrive
Which one should you shop for?
We all live in an increasingly digital world—there’s no escaping that. Almost anything can be done online, whether you want to shop, pay for your bills, watch a movie or more. The thing is, with the increasing interactions with these intangibles, people today need a highly secure virtual file cabinet. All those media files like photos, documents and music need to somewhere to stay.
And thanks to cloud storage, filing away these important things has never been more convenient. You no longer have to lug around hardware with you just to access a file outside of your device’s memory.
Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive are some of the biggest names when it comes to cloud storage. But the question remains: Which one should you pick? Here’s a comparative guide to help you decide.
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Dropbox
Image via Dropbox
Dropbox is a popular and user-friendly cloud storage tool. Each user gets 2GB of cloud storage for a free plan—one of the lower options out there. However, what it lacks in free storage space, it makes up for in design and functionality.
Although Dropbox doesn’t have high levels of free storage from the get-go, it allows you to earn more storage as you use the service. For instance, taking their Getting Started tutorial will provide you with 250MB. If you choose Dropbox as your default storage option for mobile photos, that’s an extra 3GB. Lastly, their referral schemes allow users to earn 500MB for each successful signup.
Dropbox also doesn’t have a file upload limit, but it does depend on your internet connection when it comes to how fast your files get uploaded. The cloud storage platform is available across all platforms such as PC and Mac, Android and iOS, Linux and more.
Upgrading your Dropbox subscription will of course give you more access to features. The two plans described below come with MS Office 356 integration, as well as the option to be billed on an annual or monthly basis.
- Plus: US$9.99/month. Comes with 1 TB of storage, email support, ample collaboration tools and 30-day file recovery and revision history
- Professional: US$19.99/month. Comes with 2TB of storage, priority chat support, more productivity tools and a 120-day file recovery and revision history.
There are also other plans available for teams on the Dropbox website.
Google Drive
Image via Yugatech
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Google Drive may be the most popular of the three simply because every Gmail account owner gets space for free—you don’t even have to set it up. What’s more is that you get 15GB of storage from the beginning. This is currently the most generous free storage plan among all cloud storage solutions.
Since Google Drive connects to all other Google services, you can store files, photos, notes, emails and more with the drive. It’s one place for everything Google.
What’s more is that you can upload local computer files to your Google Drive. Some Android phones even have the option to save all media to Google Drive, which means they can access photos and videos on other devices with internet connection.
If you have Google for Business, on the other hand, your drive storage automatically upgrades to 30GB. If you’re a regular user, there are five payment options to choose from should you wish to increase your storage:
- 100GB – P89/month
- 1TB – P479/month
- 10TB – P4,799/month
- 20TB – P9,599/month
- 30TB – P14,399/month
All plans boast high security from Google, sync across all devices seamlessly, as well as file sharing and offline mode. There’s also a website version, a desktop app and a mobile app.
OneDrive
Image via Microsoft
Last but not least is OneDrive. Windows 8 and 10 users have this drive readily built into their laptop’s software.
Just like the previous cloud competitors mentioned, you can upload different types of media and documents here and access them from any device. And just by signing up, you isntantly get 5GB of free storage.
The most significant advantage of OneDrive is its integration with the Microsoft Office suite. Launching your Microsoft Word application, for instance, will allow you to pull up past documents you recently saved.
An Office 365 subscription will let a group of people collaborate on these files in real time—quite similar to Google Docs. Also like Google Photos and Dropbox’s services, you have the option to sync all photos and videos stored on the cloud if you have a Windows phone.
Most of the plans on OneDrive are aimed for business use, as well as those who plan on getting an Office 365 plan, which in turn includes other tools relevant to corporations such as the Microsoft Office suite. However, personal plans can be upgraded to include 50GB of additional storage for P99.99/month.
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All three options certainly have amazing features and competitive pricing. Which one's your pick?