Dropbox and OneDrive are two of the most popular cloud storage services currently available on the market. They are on par in many areas, but have enough differences to make them appealing to different consumers.
Dropbox is integrated with several third-party creative and communications-based services, including Adobe Premiere Rush, WeVideo, Otter.ai, Simon Says, DaVinci Resolve, LumaFusion, and Sprout Social. The service is more affordable for creatives and artists who may use their cloud storage to store videos, images, and music and can benefit from access to tools that can aid their expression.
OneDrive is integrated into the Microsoft 365 suite, alongside the brand’s popular productivity applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Notepad, Clipchamp, Outlook, and OneNote. This service can better support customers with simpler goals, especially those already tied to the Microsoft ecosystem.
Both cloud storage services offer free and paid plans to suit the needs of different users. Read on in this Dropbox vs OneDrive comparison guide to find out which cloud storage service might be the right option for you.
Storage and prices
One of the main differences between Dropbox and OneDrive is that Dropbox’s main feature is storage capacity and there are additional features that support that storage. OneDrive’s storage capacity, on the other hand, is one of the many features in Microsoft’s productivity suite and the storage supports many of the other apps. Both services have multiple pricing tiers tailored to different types of users.
Paid subscription options for Dropbox start with the Plus plan for personal use at $10 per month for 2 TB of storage for one user. The Essentials plan for professional use costs $16.58 per month for 3 TB of storage for one user. The Business plan starts at $15 per month for 9 TB of storage for a team of 3+ users. The Business Plus plan for enterprises starts at $24 per 15 TB of storage per month for a team of 3+ users.
Dropbox’s free Basic plan offers 2GB of storage for storing and sharing files. Enterprise customers can also contact Dropbox for a plan tailored to their specific needs.
Paid subscription options for standalone OneDrive start at $2 per month for 100GB of storage for one user. The Microsoft 365 Personal plan costs $7 per month for 1TB of cloud storage for one user. Microsoft 365 Family costs $10 per month for up to 6TB of cloud storage, with 1TB per person for up to six people. OneDrive professional for business starts at $5 per month for 1TB of cloud storage for one user. The Microsoft 365 Business Basic plan costs $6 per month for 1TB of cloud storage per user for up to 300 employees. Microsoft 365 Business Standard costs $12.50 per month for 1TB of cloud storage per user for up to 300 employees.
The free Microsoft 365 plan offers 5GB of storage for storing various files on OneDrive. Microsoft also offers several enterprise pricing tiers. Customers can contact the company for more information about these offers.
In terms of the value of the storage plans, Dropbox leads the way with a 2TB offering to start with, while you have the option to purchase a higher tier if you need more storage. OneDrive offers a total of 1TB of storage per user, but doesn’t increase its storage offering depending on its tiers. It increases the number of apps, services, and support offered with each tier. However, the value proposition for you could depend on the types of apps and services you need.
OneDrive offers better value for free users with its 5GB storage option just by signing up for a Microsoft account. The brand’s 100GB offering is also a solid, cost-effective proposition for those who just want to use OneDrive with few additional bells and whistles.
Features
Both Dropbox and OneDrive offer many features in their services. Although they differ in many ways, they still have many features in common that can make choosing a service a challenge. Here are some of the key similarities between Dropbox and OneDrive.
- Both services support 265-bit AES security protocols, which allow you to enable two-factor authentication at all levels. Certain business levels support multi-factor authentication and single sign-on (SSO).
- Both services support block-level syncing, which syncs only portions of updated files, a more efficient process than re-uploading an entire file.
- Both services support file and folder access, allowing you to discover and edit permissions for files and folders in Dropbox and OneDrive.
- Both services support advanced file sharing with features such as password setting, time-limited access, and disabling downloads.
- Both services support their own Vault features, which are notable aspects of both services as they provide a secure setup for files that need extra protection. The Vault for each service requires a second login, such as a PIN or one-time SMS code. The Dropbox Vault can be set up for both personal and professional business plans. However, only OneDrive’s personal plans support the Vault. The free plan can host up to three files.
- Both services support cross-platform use between desktop and mobile. You can sync your projects from your Windows desktop to your Android smartphone or from your Mac desktop to your iOS device and vice versa.
Although there are many similarities between the two services, the differences in how they work become apparent.
Dropbox
Both platforms offer a similar folder-based user experience. Many users say that Dropbox’s interface is intuitive and overall easier to learn and use. While Dropbox may be more storage-focused, taking advantage of the available storage is particularly valuable due to its commitment to third-party app integration.
In addition to the integration mentioned above, the company has partnerships with companies like Adobe, Hubspot, Autodesk, Canva, and AWS. Many platforms require an additional paid subscription to work with Dropbox.
However, many others, such as Microsoft web apps, work with the service completely free of charge. Dropbox also supports other productivity suites, such as Google Workspace. It also has its own word processor. You can access all of the brand’s available third-party apps through the App Center.
Other notable features of Dropbox include signature requests, PDF editing, and password manager. Features that align with the platform’s creativity focus include Dropbox Replay, which lets you share media files such as audio, images, and videos and leave comments along the file’s timeline or frame.
A ride
OneDrive is notorious for having issues in its user interface. There are no suggestions, recently opened files, or search history to help users pick up where they left off. When uploading files for storage, many users may have a preference that they treat as a “set it and forget it” until it’s time to find the file again.
The Business plans have an admin console that can be used to manage all the apps in the Microsoft 365 suite in addition to OneDrive, but this is a complex feature that is more for IT or cybersecurity personnel than the average user. It includes features such as ransomware detection and data recovery.
OneDrive’s feature list also includes Microsoft’s productivity apps, email, privacy, and add-on support for Copilot Pro, depending on the tier.
Which is better?
Many people like Dropbox because of the easy integration of third-party apps with both paid and free services. The user-friendly interface is a big plus for those who use the platform frequently. The larger and varied storage options give consumers greater data capacity for their projects.
On the other hand, many people prefer OneDrive because they already have a Microsoft 365 subscription and want the option to forgo additional costs. This may be especially true if you want to have a printed copy of the productivity suite installed on your desktop. OneDrive is also the cheaper option overall. The free option offers a solid amount of storage without having to invest any money, and it syncs pretty well with your Windows PC.
For that reason, we give OneDrive the overall win. However, for creatives, Mac users, or even those who just like third-party integration, Dropbox is still a good option.
