Dropbox vs Google Drive vs One Drive

Cloud storage services are so handy nowadays as it saves space on your portable drive, smartphone or computer; it syncs all your files throughout all your devices, its cross-platform compatibility and best of all, you can get storage space for free. Sharing big or multiple files is also made easy while it securely keeps your files away from public computers.

1. Storage Space

Each service offers different amounts of free storage and a variety of premium storage spaces.

Dropbox : Dropbox starts you with 2GB of free storage but you get referral perks that is 500 MB of extra space for every friend you refer Dropbox to. More than 35 referrals later, you’ll be able to earn a maximum of 18GB, giving you a grand total of 20GB inclusive of your initial 2GB. For more storage, you can opt for the Pro Dropbox account that offers 100GB, 200GB and 500GB from $9.99, $19.99 and $49.99 per month.

Google Drive :Google Drive is readily available within your Gmail account. From there you start with 5GB worth of storage space. Additional space can be purchased with a wide variety of plans (ranging from 25GB to 16TB). Upgrading to any account will also give you the same amount of storage in Picasa while your Gmail Storage is upgraded to 25GB.

One Drive : One Drive comes with 7GB of free storage. They have the cheapest upgrade plans among the 3 services which you can see in the picture below. They classify their upgrades as add-ons to your 7GB of space; unlike the previous two services.

2. Supporting Platforms

We’ll now take a closer look at what platforms each cloud service currently supports: Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, Windows Phone.

Dropbox : The Dropbox desktop application is available on Windows, MAC OS and Linux. Dropbox is also available on iOS, Android and BlackBerry. Dropbox is the only service that currently natively supports Linux; and also the only service to support BlackBerry.

Google Drive : Google Drive is available for Windows and Mac OS; however unlike Dropbox, it has no native support for Linux and relies on third party programs. In terms of mobile, Google Drive is available only on iOS and Android.

One Drive : One Drive is readily available for Windows and Mac OS; just like Google Drive, it relies on third party programs for it to be used on Linux. For mobile platform support, One Drive is the only service that has their own app for Windows Phone; it is also available on iOS and Android.

Speaking of Windows Phone support, there is a third party Windows phone app that supports Dropbox, unlike Google Drive which has yet to enter the Windows phone scene.

3. Features

We'll now take a look at the unique and common features that can be found in each cloud service.

Dropbox : Besides ‘earning’ storage space through referrals, you can get more free space by using Dropbox’s Camera Upload feature on your desktop or smartphone. Dropbox also has an unlimited undo (version) history feature for an extra $39 a year, only available with a Pro Dropbox account. Dropbox has also successfully integrated with Facebook Groups where you can share files from your dropbox files to your Facebook Groups.

Google Drive : Google Drive allows you to disable automatic deletion of old versions which means you can keep all file revisions as long as you want although doing this maxes out your storage space quickly. Google Drive is also an online document editor which converts your Microsoft Office document (.doc / .docx) into a Google Document (.gdoc) before editing. There is a file size upload limit of 10GB on the desktop app and website version.

 one Drive : Installing the One Drive desktop application allows you to access every file on that PC it is installed in; so as long as your PC is turned on, connected to the internet with One Drive running, you’ll be able to access all your files through the One Drive website. One Drive also has Microsoft Web Apps which include Microsoft Office Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote on the web browser. Although it does not have every feature found on the desktop application, it is sufficient enough for quick editing jobs.

4. File Type Support : You can upload any file type to the cloud but you can view only file types that are supported. If the service does not support the file, all you can do is download it onto your computer to view and edit. Videos and images are supported on all three services.

Dropbox : Dropbox does not have any online document editor which means files only can be downloaded. However, for the Dropbox app on your smartphone or tablet, you are able to view Microsoft Office files, Apple iWork files, audio/video files, images, and PDF files. Documents cannot be edited with the app but can be opened with another editing app.

Google Drive : The Google Drive website supports unique files like Adobe Illustrator (.AI) and Photoshop (.PSD) files, Autodesk AutoCad files and Scalable Vector Graphics files. You can also view Microsoft Office documents, but can only edit it after converting it to a Google Docs file type.

One Drive : Most Microsoft Office file types can be viewed and edited thanks to its Microsoft Web App. The website version only supports playback for .MP4 and .WMV video files, while other video and audio formats can only be downloaded. The website also supports slideshows for images and PowerPoint files.