Dropbox or Google Drive? Dropbox vs. Google Drive Comparison
Looking for a solid online file storage solution? Can't decide between Dropbox and Google Drive services? In this post, we will compare two of the most popular services for storing your files online and try to help you decide which one to choose.
As more software, applications and systems are transferred to the cloud, or to the online world in other words, and as the Internet and mobile access spread around the world rapidly, being able to store and share files and folders online became critically important. Whether you want to create a backup copy of your personal files just in case, or you need to share work related project folders with your co-workers, or you need to attach some images to your email, you can make use of online file storage and sharing services to help you with such tasks.
Online storage sites basically allow you to upload, store and share almost any type of files and make them available to anyone in the world that you want to share with. Especially with the development of online office tools, they are more useful than any time before. Online file storage services don't work like web hosting servers, i.e. you can't host your website itself, but they are quite nice for storing backups of your website files, unless you are using a website builder.
TIP: Remember to make multiple backup copies of your important files on offline (e.g. external hard drive) and online storage systems regularly. Especially if you are operating websites, it is recommended to make regular backups and store them at secure places.
There are many websites and online services that offer file storage, backup and sharing, often for free or for great prices. While the pricing may be an important deciding factor when choosing an online file storage service, technical features and safety of your files also play an important role. Since storing and backing up files, which might be important personal or business related files, require consistent availability, ease of access and security, you should make your research well before leaving your files in the hands of a company.
Fortunately, there are some very well known companies such as Google (with Google Drive) and Dropbox who offer great online storage services, and they can easily be counted among the top of the online file storage sites. If you have neither used those two services before, it is quite normal that you are trying to figure out which one to choose: Dropbox or Google Drive.
Now, let's see the comparison between Google Drive and Dropbox to have a better idea about their features.
Dropbox vs. Google Drive Comparison
We will present some of the important features of Dropbox and Google Drive on the following comparison table. Note that this page lists the features of both services at the time of writing this post. The features may show difference when you check each service at a later time.
| Dropbox | Google Drive | |
|---|---|---|
| Website | dropbox.com | google.com/drive |
| Offers Free Plan? | Yes | Yes |
| Free Plan Storage Space | 2.5 GB (More free space can be earned by referring others, up to 16GB.) | 15 GB (This space is shared between all your G Suite applications such as Drive, Gmail, Docs, etc.) |
| Paid Plan Cost | 1 TB @ $9.99/mo | 1 TB @ $9.99/mo (There's also a 100 GB @ $1.99/mo plan) |
| Can Upload Photos, Music, Videos, Documents? | Yes | Yes |
| Drag & Drop File Uploads? | Yes | Yes |
| Sharing Files Easily? | Yes | Yes |
| Invite Others to Edit Files | Yes | Yes |
| Easy to Use Interface | Yes (Though both services have quite simple to use interfaces, I personally like the interface of Dropbox more.) | Yes |
| Secure & Safe | Yes | Yes (Both companies are multi-billion dollar companies and they invest a lot in their security systems, so your files will be quite safe on both sites.) |
| Can Use in a Web Browser? | Yes | Yes |
| Offers a Desktop App? | Yes | Yes |
| Offers Mobile Apps? | Yes (Both services offer mobile apps for Android and iOS devices.) | Yes |
| Allows Sync to All Devices? | Yes | Yes (You can easily sync with all devices connected to your account.) |
| Email Integration (e.g. attachments) - Yahoo, Outlook, Gmail | Yes | Yes |
| Social Media Sites Integration - Facebook, Twitter etc. | Yes | Yes |
| Upload/Download Speed | About the same | (Keep in mind that this mostly depends on your Internet connection speed, but in general both services have decent and comparable download and upload speeds.) |
As you can also see from the above table for comparing Google Drive vs. Dropbox, both services are quite similar in terms of their features, except that Google Drive starts with a larger space compared to Dropbox for free accounts. If you still can't decide, you can simply create a free account on both services, try their services for a certain period and see which one you want to continue using.
I personally use both services actively, because I like having backups of my files at multiple locations (imagine the frustration you will have if your files on one of the services were gone for any reason and that was your only backup), so you can also keep using both Dropbox and Google Drive for storing your files.