In this modern digital era, cloud drives have become undeniably integral to almost everyone when keeping important data, files, information, and documents. The top stars or the front runners in this field of offering storage services are Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive. They offer not only storage for your important files and data in cloud drives but also protection on those files. This includes secure passwords and being able to apply restrictions on who can access them. In this blog, Onsite Helper talks about OneDrive vs Google Drive vs Dropbox and which is the best for medium-sized businesses this 2022.
Unlike hard drives, no one needs to carry around a physical storage device when you use the cloud. All you need to do is to secure an account to any file hosting service platform and get your device connected to a network. It’s easy-peasy!
And with these cloud storage providers, businesses nowadays no longer need to have a NAS (Network Attached Storage) or server hosting their files to maintain solid security. This simply means businesses will never have to worry about downtime when the server fails.
But among the top stars, Google Drive vs OneDrive vs Dropbox, which one fits well with your medium-sized business? Sure enough, as a business owner, this question has been long lingering in your mind. Well, today, let Onsite Helper give you insights about the three top cloud drives in the market today to help you know what’s best for your business.
Onsite Helper also offers cloud services to mid-sized businesses and enterprises.Our cloud services ensure that you are receiving more collaborative features and secure systems with less outlay. See how you can benefit from our cloud services.
Google Drive vs OneDrive vs Dropbox: A Comparison
Of course, when choosing the best one for you, taking into account the disadvantages rather than the advantages alone is important. You must examine if the features fit your needs, how its file sharing and storage options support collaboration; also, does the price fit your budget. Dropbox technically popularised the concept of cloud storage service, however, Microsoft and Google are two giant players in the software industry. Without a doubt, choosing among the three is tough.
Know Their Features
OneDrive
A cloud storage product of Microsoft, it generally plays very well with other Microsoft apps. Take, for instance, receiving an attachment in Outlook, you can save it directly to any OneDrive folder you have.
OneDrive also comes with all the perks of natively integrating both Microsoft apps and Windows. When you’re on the business version of OneDrive, third-party apps integrations are enabled.
It’s worth noting that there are some apps that work with OneDrive, regardless if you’re on the business version or not. But this is more of a case of the apps having integrations with OneDrive and not the other way around.
Google Drive
Just like with Microsoft, Google Drive works smoothly with most Google Workspace apps, especially Google Docs and Sheets. Integration with Gmail is excellent because you can attach a file from your Google Drive directly within your ‘compose’ window.
But probably the best feature of Google Drive is its integration with third-party services – this beats Microsoft OneDrive. Consequently, this means you don’t have to rely on Google’s default feature set. You can use third-party media players, multimedia editors, and other software in your Google Drive interface.
Dropbox
Unlike the two software giants, Dropbox doesn’t have its own office or email suite. But it has a note-taking app, document signer, its own file transfer service, and a good password manager to offer. Taking screenshots and screen recordings are also allowed on Dropbox.
Interestingly, Dropbox works with files from both Microsoft and Google. Additionally, You can even add it as well to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Rather than choosing what you’d prefer, Dropbox allows you to use two services.
As with third-party apps, Dropbox has its own app store where you can find add-ons such as Trello, Canva, Procreate, and AutoCad.
How’s Their Cloud Security?
Google Drive vs OneDrive vs Dropbox
Security highly matters when choosing the right cloud drive for your business. If one can’t give you the assurance that all your valued and confidential business information and data won’t be accessed easily by anyone, especially hackers, then what’s the point of choosing that particular cloud drive, right? So, the security of the cloud drive can make or break your business.
Fortunately for these three, Google Drive vs OneDrive vs Dropbox, they’re in a tight race when it comes to security. And all have different sophisticated security measures from each other.
Speaking of security, did you know that during the shift of working from offices to homes, device crossovers were inevitable leading to a lot of data being lost or leaked, and worse infected with ransomware? It’s time for a serious security clean-up. How sure are you that your system is still safe?
OneDrive
OneDrive uses SSL and TLS to protect files in transit. It also offers two-step authentication to protect accounts. However, its encryption feature is only available for paid accounts.
Google Drive
Drive uses TLS and 256-bit AES encryption in protecting their data transmission and storage, from the computer and the cloud drive itself. Google Drive also provides two-factor authentication to provide added security for all its users.
Dropbox
You can also find two-step verification when using Dropbox. It has adjustable security settings to protect accounts. Dropbox uses 256-bit AES encryption when transferring files, protecting their transit and encrypting the files at rest.
File Sharing
All three providers make file sharing simple. Creating shareable links are present in all of the three. Each service also gives you the option to determine whether a recipient can edit or view a particular file.
Dropbox and OneDrive allow you to password-protect your files and even set expiration dates providing temporary access. You can’t find this in Google Drive unless you have a business account.
There are some differences among the three providers when it comes to sharing large files. And it’s in the maximum file size that you’re allowed to upload. OneDrive lets you upload and share files up to 250GB. Your recipient won’t need to sign in to a Microsoft account to see the files.
Meanwhile, Google Drive lets you upload files up to 5TB in size, that is if these documents, spreadsheets, and presentations are not under Google’s file limits.
Dropbox has a special option called Dropbox Transfer which allows you to send files up to 100MB in size by default or up to 250GB with the Creative Tools add-on. These files aren’t kept in your Dropbox account, so they don’t take up any space in your storage.
File Syncing
Dropbox is the first one that popularised the sync folder model. This was later used and adapted by the other two cloud storage providers. The model lets you set up a sync folder on your computer where any files you place within it can be synced to the cloud.
Selective Syncing
All three providers offer selective sync, which means that you can choose which folders are to be synced to your hard drive and which should remain solely in the cloud. Unsynced folders will not be visible on your computer.
Dropbox has its Smart Sync option for all of its paid plans, allowing users to set files as ‘Online Only’ which means you can see your sync folders on your computer but won’t take up space on your drive. OneDrive has a similar option called ‘Files On-Demand.’ This enables you to download a file that will remain on your hard drive unless you right-click on it and choose the ‘Free Up Space Option,’ returning it online.
Google Drive offers this file stream called Google Drive for Desktop, which lets you stream your Drive files directly from the cloud to your computers. This frees up disk space and network bandwidth.
Version History
This cloud storage feature allows you to revert the files to their previous versions. Dropbox offers version history for up to 30 days on its personal plans and 180 days on its business plans.
The version history of OneDrive is limited to 30 days on personal accounts. But for OneDrive business accounts, you are allowed to store up to 500 versions of a particular file. Google Drive keeps past versions of files up to 30 days or until you reach 100 versions.
One great thing to know about is that Dropbox also has the feature of allowing you to revert to a particular version of your entire account after encountering an issue such as a virus attack. OneDrive has a similar feature called Files Restore, on both of its personal and business plans, with a maximum limit of 30 days. Unfortunately, Google Drive doesn’t have the same aforementioned capabilities.
We always recommend to our clients to have 3rd party backups to protect their files, regardless if they’re using Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox, for 30 days is not long enough, especially when dealing with accidental or malicious behaviour coming directly from a staff member in their organisation. To know more about this, read our blog about cloud backups!
Google Drive vs OneDrive vs Dropbox: Pricing Plans
Things get a bit more complicated when it comes to pricing plans. Obviously, Dropbox is by far the most expensive cloud storage, while Drive is the cheapest. In the context of looking at these three providers in the field of business use, Onsite Helper has put together a table showing the comparison of these three’s pricing plans targeting the business market.
*Introductory price rates are not included here.
What Fits Your Business Best?
Google Drive vs OneDrive vs Dropbox: Which one would it be?
Drive offers the largest free plan and the cheapest cloud storage with the best cloud collaboration features in Docs, Sheets, and Slides. None of the three is immaculately secure, but OneDrive offers an extra level of two-factor authentication. Meanwhile, Dropbox has superb features creating solid confidence when sharing and syncing files.
In the end, it’s hard to draw out an absolute winner when comparing the three leading cloud storage providers. Knowing which is the best provider for your business highly depends on your business’ cloud storage needs. Cloud storage is very vital, especially when you’re doing a remote business.
We understand that running a remote business is really hard. But you want to nail it, you want every inch of it a success. Don’t worry. All you need to do is reach out to us. Hit on the button below and together let’s build a perfect remote business.
