Dropbox vs iCloud 2023: Best Cloud Storage for Mac Users

Mac users aren’t always happy with Apple’s integrated iCloud storage. In this Dropbox vs iCloud matchup, Cloudwards.net compares these two cloud storage services to decide which is better for Apple aficionados.

Picking the right cloud storage solution for your Mac can be a challenge. Do you go with Apple’s built-in service, iCloud, or do you spend your money on a third-party option? There are plenty of variables to consider, so this Dropbox vs iCloud matchup will give you a stronger understanding of how both services measure up against each other.

We’re looking at the high-level similarities and differences between these two popular cloud storage solutions. If you’d like a deeper dive into the features each provides, check out our earlier iCloud Drive review and Dropbox review for a breakdown of both services.

Until recently, this battle wouldn’t have been much of a competition, because Dropbox (and other Dropbox alternatives) would easily beat out Apple’s built-in solution. However, Apple iCloud has been on the up-and-up over the last few years, with new useful features.

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• Dropbox offers more features and offers a simple, easy-to-use interface on all platforms, including on Mac and iOS. However, iCloud offers greater integration for Apple device owners, making it easier to share and sync your files. If you’re a Mac user, you’ll probably find that iCloud offers the best user experience — and it’s cheaper, too. For other device users, Dropbox simply has more to offer, even if you decide to pay a little bit more for the privilege.

• iCloud is integrated into every Mac, iPhone and iPad, so you don’t need to worry about installing it or setting it up. As a third-party service, Dropbox requires a few more steps to set it up, including creating an account and installing the desktop or mobile app. Both Dropbox and iCloud offer cloud storage, but Dropbox does offer more features, with Office integration, better file sharing and file versioning available.

• Dropbox is a great platform, even on a Mac. Casual users may enjoy the simplicity that iCloud offers, especially as photos, videos and music are all synced automatically. If you need access to collaboration or file-sharing features, then Dropbox will be the better choice.

Dropbox vs iCloud Matchup

For this battle between Dropbox and Apple iCloud, we’ll put each competitor through six rounds of tests. The winner of each round receives a point toward their total, and the provider with more points at the end is declared the winner. The rounds focus on features, pricing, usability, syncing and sharing, speed, security and privacy.

If both providers have matching scores by the end, then we’ll declare a winner based on how strongly each competitor won those rounds. Let’s get started.

1. Features

You don’t buy cloud storage just for the storage. After all, it’s important that the storage plan you subscribe to has the features you need, whether it’s for work or play. That’s why we’re taking a look at the features both iCloud and Dropbox offer to users, other than syncing and sharing, which we’ll cover in its own section later in this comparison.

iCloud has been designed with personal and business use in mind as a storage solution for documents, photos and more on Apple devices. Unfortunately, there are features supported in Dropbox that Apple iCloud doesn’t offer, like password file sharing.

However, Apple’s service still has several tools that users will find appealing. Among its most compelling is its native integration with the iWork suite of apps.

iWork is free for Apple device owners, so iCloud users have instant access to productivity tools that they’d have to otherwise pay for (unless you’re using Google Drive, as our Google Drive review explains). These documents are stored in iCloud and can be accessed (and edited) through the iCloud website.

Being able to complete all of your text, spreadsheet and presentation-based projects without having multiple subscriptions or purchasing a separate collection of programs can’t be understated. In addition to the iWork integration, there are several third-party apps that integrate well, including GoodReader and iA Writer.

Unfortunately, Dropbox does beat Apple iCloud’s productivity tools, thanks to its focus on business and team collaboration. The Dropbox Paper tool offers quick note-taking facilities but, if you need something more, you can integrate Dropbox with Microsoft Office 365, allowing you to edit Office documents in Office 365 online.

Sharing & Versioning 

If you’re thinking about cloud storage for the family, then you may not care too much about Word or Pages than about where (and how) you can store your family videos and photos. Thankfully, iCloud has a great set of family sharing options you can take advantage of, making it one of the best cloud storage options for families.

Of course, file storage isn’t just about a place to store one copy of your files. As one of the best cloud storage options for versioning, Dropbox lets you rewind your file edits, quite literally, thanks to Dropbox Rewind. This feature lets you restore earlier copies of files, with copies saved between 30 days (for Dropbox Plus users) and 180 days (for Dropbox Professional users).

This is a great way to protect against ransomware that could impact your files or, if you’ve made a massive mistake editing an important document, could just give you a chance to hit the reset button and switch things back to an older file. You don’t get unlimited backups, a feature you’ll find with Icedrive (see our Icedrive review), but it’s still a significant advantage over iCloud.

Finally, Dropbox has a robust web preview feature for files, where users can leave comments on specific sections of a previewed file. It’s great for quick collaborations that don’t need a user to completely open a large document or other supported file types, making it a great option for project workers.

Dropbox has been built with productivity in mind, while iCloud is very much geared around basic features for personal and family use. As features go, it’s a slam dunk; Dropbox simply offers more for consumers.

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2. Pricing

Features are great, but if the cost is extortionate, you won’t be getting value for money. Before you rush to subscribe to either Dropbox or iCloud, we’ll take a look at the pricing plans from both providers.

When it comes down to pricing, Apple iCloud offers far simpler plans than its competitor. No team or enterprise plans are available (iCloud is geared toward home consumers, after all), but you can increase your storage.

Free Storage

Like many of the cloud storage plans we review at Cloudwards.net, iCloud offers a free plan with 5GB of storage, and it also happens to be one of the best free cloud storage plans. Although 5GB is enough for documents and a decent number of photos, you’ll probably need to upgrade if you need video storage (we do have a guide that can help if your iCloud storage is full, though).

Dropbox, in comparison, comes with 2GB of free storage, which is poor and pretty much at the bottom of the pile, especially compared to other providers like Google Drive and Sync.com. However, this can be increased through referrals, especially if you take out a paid plan, with between 500MB and 1GB additional storage (up to 16GB for free users or 32GB for paid users).

If you want to start paying, you can upgrade your iCloud storage to 50GB for $0.99 a month, 200GB for $2.99 a month and 2TB for $9.99 a month; cheap, cheerful and not likely to break the bank. You also gain the benefit of integration, as iCloud automatically backs up documents, photos and more from your Apple devices.

In contrast, Dropbox’s pricing plans are a little harder to understand, with a focus on individual, team and business users. We’re looking at Dropbox’s individual consumer plans here, but you can check out our Dropbox Business review for a closer look at what it offers for business users.

The first paid plan Dropbox offers to consumers is Dropbox Plus, with 2TB of data for $11.99 per month. This (out of the box) matches the top end of iCloud’s storage, costing $2 more per month, but with added features to boot, such as 30-day file versioning and 2GB file transfers.

You can also save money by paying annually, which will cost (on average) the same as iCloud’s 2TB offering.

The second plan is Dropbox Professional, which gives users 3TB of data storage — 1TB more than Apple iCloud’s top end. The costs are higher, setting you back $19.99 per month (or approximately $16.58 per month if you pay annually).

Along with extra storage, you can also transfer files up to 100GB in size and increase file versioning to 120 days. This isn’t hugely competitive pricing, as Sync.com offers similar storage for around $10 a month, but you’ll have to pay annually, as our Sync.com review explains.

Cheap Plans

Dropbox and iCloud offer good plans at the lower levels. iCloud, in particular, offers storage for less than a dollar a month; you’ll rarely find storage at such good value, with Mac and iPhone users benefiting the most from it.

Dropbox’s pricing isn’t bad, but it isn’t the best, either. You’ll find a better value in a provider like Sync.com or pCloud. However, if you like the Office integration that Dropbox provides, it makes sense to stick with Dropbox Plus or Professional, even if Professional will cost much more than equivalent storage from other providers.

It’s not a decisive victory, but Apple iCloud wins this round. It’s all about the dollar, and for a single dollar bill, you can grab 50GB of storage — enough for storing a healthy photo collection and your most essential documents and files.

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3. Usability

Before you subscribe to a cloud storage service, you may want to consider how well it actually works. Usability is an essential part of any service, so if you can’t navigate around or find the files you want once they’ve synced, then you’ve probably wasted your cash.

Thankfully, this isn’t something you’ll struggle with if you subscribe to Dropbox or iCloud Drive, as we’ll explain. iCloud, in particular, has a great advantage in this regard, being the native cloud storage solution for Apple products. Baked into iPhones and Macbooks globally, you don’t need to install anything to start using iCloud — it’s ready to go, right away.

Like other Apple products, that means that everything about iCloud is built into the usual Apple design. iCloud is easy to use and navigate, both online and on iPhones and Macs. File organization is clear, icons are clean and colorful, and you can see your files and backups across all of the devices you use (as long as they’re linked to the same account).

You can even tag and color-code individual files or folders, making it easier to organize your files the way you want. iCloud Drive is Apple to its core, so if you like this, then you won’t struggle to get to grips with how iCloud handles files and backups.

Likewise, it’s been a pretty decent story for Dropbox when it comes to usability. It hasn’t rested on its laurels, undergoing several refinements over the years. As the MVP for cloud storage, Dropbox has improved itself as its technology and user demands have changed.

Dropbox’s Interface

The Dropbox interface — whether you’re using the web interface, desktop app or mobile apps — is simple and easy to use. Mac and Windows users will see Dropbox in Finder or Windows File Explorer, making it easy to drop or remove files from their cloud storage.

More recent updates to Dropbox have taken this further, offering a clean interface that you’ll recognize on any platform or mobile device. You can manage syncing, sharing, notifications and more from your web panel or the Dropbox settings area in the desktop app.

Despite how great Dropbox is, it still can’t overcome one thing that iCloud does better than almost any other provider (other than Microsoft OneDrive), and that’s integration. Using a native service like iCloud, you don’t need to worry about installing iCloud Drive or setting it up — that’s all done for you.

Dropbox, on the other hand, requires signups, app installations and more to get your file syncing the way you want. The exception to the rule is if you’re using Windows, where the situation is reversed: you’ll need to install the iCloud app from the Microsoft Store to access your files.

The app isn’t the best, but it does work, offering access to your files in Windows File Explorer (just like Dropbox). If you own an Apple device, this should let you access your files on Windows and sync them across platforms.

However, Dropbox works great on Mac and Windows devices as well as on mobile devices (including iOS and Android devices). It may take setting up, but you won’t find it hard to sync a file from a Windows 10 PC to a Macbook.

There’s a lot to love about iCloud, and if you’re an Apple owner, it’s probably the easiest service to use as it offers the best usability for Mac users. For all other users, though, Dropbox wins the day — and this round, too.

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4. File Syncing & Sharing

The ability to sync and share files between devices and to a cloud provider’s online servers is one of the most essential parts of the service. If you can’t upload and can’t back up properly, then the service isn’t fit for its purpose, failing to offer the most basic features.

That’s why it’s essential to consider how well services like Dropbox and iCloud Drive sync and share files. If you only care about backups and aren’t too worried about sharing files or syncing them regularly, then a service like IDrive or Backblaze is probably better suited for you, so take a look at our IDrive review or Backblaze review for more details.

Be sure to read our IDrive vs Dropbox and Backblaze vs Dropbox comparison guides to see how the services compare.

iCloud is integrated, so certain folders (such as the Desktop and Documents folders on macOS) automatically sync online. Likewise, videos and photos on iPhone and iPad devices (as well as device backups) sync automatically. You can customize this to suit your own needs.

If you’re a Windows user, you can install the iCloud app from the Microsoft Store to gain similar features. It isn’t a service that is built with Windows in mind, but this app will work to give you a Dropbox-style storage folder in Windows File Explorer for you to view, edit and modify your files with ease.

Syncing

Syncing your files is easy — any file added to iCloud on any platform automatically uploads to Apple’s servers. However, it doesn’t support incremental file syncing, so if you’re uploading large files, make sure your connection is stable before you begin.

In contrast, Dropbox supports block-level file syncing. Rather than copying the whole file each time, only the parts that have changed will be uploaded, making it much easier (and faster) to modify larger files.

Users with limited bandwidth or data caps may struggle with iCloud. You can’t limit the bandwidth it uses, so if you’re uploading or downloading data, iCloud will guzzle it all up, and potentially slow your connection in the process.

This isn’t the case with Dropbox, though. You can control the bandwidth usage in the Dropbox desktop and mobile apps, but even the default settings work to your advantage, with upload speeds capped at 75 percent automatically to limit the impact on your connection. If Dropbox isn’t syncing, you may need to tweak these settings to suit your connection.

Sharing Files

File sharing hasn’t always been something that iCloud has excelled at, and it still isn’t a contender as the best cloud storage for file sharing, but it is definitely something that has improved in recent years.

You can quickly share files between other family members on your iCloud account, which can be a great way for families to share photos, videos and important files with each other. Recent updates have added the ability to share files and folders online with other iCloud users.

For shared files and folders, you can set permissions to allow users to view, share or edit the shared content. Although this is better suited for Apple device owners, you could, for instance, access shared files from the iCloud website from your Android smartphone’s browser.

Unfortunately for iCloud Drive, file sharing is where Dropbox truly stands out. You can share files and folders from your file manager, the Dropbox desktop app via the website or by using the mobile app.

You can generate a link to share, or you can send it by email. It also offers support for other third-party services, letting you share files in Slack or Trello. If you’re a paid Dropbox customer, you can also password protect your shared files as well as set an expiry date for shared links.

Dropbox Transfer & Smart Sync

Dropbox also offers “Dropbox transfer,” a service to send read-only versions of files up to 2GB in size for free users or up to 100GB for paid users. All of these file-sharing features are limited to Dropbox, as iCloud offers only a more basic file-sharing service.

If you’re worried about file storage usage, then you can take advantage of Dropbox’s “smart sync” feature. This lets you switch some files to online-only mode, making sure they stay saved while keeping them off your hard drive. If you don’t need offline access to these files, then this could be a good way to save important disk space for other things.

You can also control and see who has viewed your shared Dropbox files, but you’ll need a paid plan to do this. While iCloud does offer some file-sharing features (especially for family members), it’s simply outmatched by Dropbox, which offers a number of advanced file-sharing features, as well as bandwidth controls for file syncing.

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5. Speed

The faster you can upload and download your data, the happier you’ll be — after all, who wants to wait around for a file transfer bar? Service speeds can have a huge impact, so that’s why it’s important to look at how Dropbox and iCloud Drive handle file transfers.

Dropbox servers are typically U.S.-based, with additional servers in Europe, Australia and Japan for Dropbox Business customers. As we’re looking at typical paid plans for individuals, we’ll assume that the servers we’re accessing are based in the United States.

We know a little bit less about Apple’s own servers, but the company has previously admitted it stores its iCloud storage on Amazon Web Services. AWS has servers across the globe, but as an American company, we’ll assume that iCloud files are being stored in the U.S. too.

To test how both providers work, we uploaded (then downloaded) a 1GB file from a Macbook based in the United Kingdom. Both services performed fairly equally, as you’d expect from two of the best cloud storage for Mac.

First Attempt:Second Attempt:Dropbox upload24:4426:40Dropbox download4:185:01iCloud upload18:1120:21iCloud download3:103:34

With slightly better times, though, iCloud wins this round, but some caution is advised. As we’ve previously mentioned, iCloud Drive handles bandwidth and file uploads differently than Dropbox.

If a large file is edited, Dropbox will use block-level sync to upload only the parts of the file that have changed, rather than the entire file. This will result in faster uploads and could save you a lot of time in the process. Dropbox also limits upload speeds by default, while iCloud Drive will use the maximum amount of bandwidth available to handle file uploads.

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6. Security & Privacy

If you’re looking for the most secure cloud storage available, then you’re probably going to be disappointed if you use Dropbox or iCloud. While both talk a good game, both companies are U.S.-based firms and subject to U.S. security and privacy laws, which aren’t the best.

However, files are encrypted on Apple’s servers with 128-bit AES encryption as standard. While some iCloud-linked services are encrypted with end-to-end encryption, iCloud Drive files aren’t, meaning that they can still be decrypted by anyone with the decryption key. Oh, and Apple holds these keys, so it could technically decrypt your files at will.

Like iCloud, Dropbox offers file encryption at rest but with the higher 256-bit AES encryption, making it less likely that files could be stolen and then decrypted without authorization. However, take that with a grain of salt, as 128-bit AES encryption would still take billions of years to crack.

Unfortunately, also like iCloud, Dropbox has control of your data encryption keys, giving it (and law enforcement) access to your files.

Thankfully, Apple has been known to actively resist requests to hand over data to law enforcement agencies in the past, but that isn’t guaranteed. If you want to keep your data secure, you’ll need to couple iCloud with a service like Cryptomator.

Zero-Knowledge Encryption

However, iCloud does offer zero-knowledge encryption for some data, including through its Keychain password and credit card management service (although it is limited). Both services support two-factor authentication for greater personal security, and paid Dropbox users can monitor who accesses their files (and when), making it easier to track unauthorized access.

There isn’t much between iCloud and Dropbox when it comes down to privacy. Encryption for files is to prevent unauthorized access, but there’s plenty of scope for authorized (meaning government) access to your files that may give you a reason to pause. If that’s a problem, check out a provider like Icedrive or Sync.com for total control of your files.

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Round: Security & Privacy

No clear winner, points for both

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3

The Verdict

When we’re considering providers like Dropbox and iCloud, we’re talking about billion-dollar — or in Apple’s case, trillion-dollar — enterprises. The features are rich, the prices are reasonable and, overall, there’s plenty to like (and dislike) about both providers.

It’s ultimately a matter of perspective. If you’re a Mac or iPhone user, the choice is simple, as iCloud offers easy-to-use product integration that Dropbox can only dream of — though there are some great iCloud alternatives.

For other users, though, Dropbox offers more, with collaboration features, file sharing and Office 365 integration that can’t easily be matched — even if iCloud Drive is a little bit faster.

Overall Winner: Dropbox

Privacy is an area that both services struggle with. A lack of zero-knowledge encryption means that Apple and Dropbox both have the last word when it comes to your files. This isn’t a disadvantage you’ll see with a service like Sync.com or pCloud, so don’t be afraid to look at our other cloud storage comparisons for alternatives.

Do you think Dropbox is a fair winner, or are you an Apple fan and think iCloud is the superior option? Let us know your thoughts, opinions, questions and criticisms in the comments below. As always, thanks for reading.

FAQ

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Was this post helpful?

Let us know if you liked the post. That’s the only way we can improve.

1. Yes, Dropbox stores files instantly. iCloud struggles to load heavy files.

2. The last paragraph says it all. I am in the process of choosing a cloud storage options. This article helps me identify main functions that suits my needs. That will be my focus and hopefully will help in the decision making process. Rather than picking the best plan offered, it should be based on the functionality required.

3. I mostly agree with this analysis, but it leaves out some important criteria (to me at least) like customer service, privacy policy, and so on, things that you really dinged Dropbox for in a separate review. For instance, Apple would seem to have a MUCH better privacy policy. That might be important to some of us. Also, there are other apps, like Ulysses, that are pro grade, have a strong user base, and ONLY work with iCloud. It would be even more helpful, in these comparison, if you would use your entire checklist.

   1. 

      Cloudwards.net – Writer, Former Chief Editor

      Hi,

      You’ll find a separate Dropbox review linked in the article that should answer all your questions.

      Thanks,
      Fergus

   2. You can sync Ulysses with Dropbox (External folder sync feature).

4. How do you get your old IPhoto library (150GB) to dropbox?

   1. Hahaha yeah, that will be struggle.

   2. Just drag and drop from iCloud to DropBox in your Files or Finder app.

5. I have used Dropbox for years and love it. It saved my bacon a couple times when I left my pc and open files on it and it lost power due to a brown out. I thought I lost hours of work, turns out it was all there in recent files in Dropbox. One thin I like to point out is it does easily store photos, I have thousands on my account with no issue

   1. Bacon is delicious!

6. Dropbox is way better for seem-less and instantaneous photo file uploading.

   I can’t get over how stupid it is that iCloud Photos doesn’t let you access the actual photo files from your Mac desktop, except through a browser.

   Don’t underestimate how much this sucks and how dumb Apple looks for not being able to match this capability of Google dropbox.

   With Dropbox, you can access photo files(i.e. *.jpg), in a folder on your desktop. However with iCloud you have to open up a Chrome browser to go through your photos.

   Despite my desire to use Dropbox, I have found over time that Apple devices are completely USELESS unless you have adequate cloud storage. This is for MBpro or iPhone. So since I have to buy a 1TB plan anyway, I decided to cancel dropbox and try to make apple work.

   But it sucks. iCloud sucks. Im telling you. But i’m still using it.

   1. uhhhhm, I think you’re missing something here.

      there’s an app for that on your mac called “photos”. think of it as a finder window exclusively for browsing your fotos & videos, that also has in-baked organizing and editing capabilities.

      If you need to grab the actual files for whatever purpose, it is as easy as drag&drop from the app window.

      It is actually pretty simple, no browser required.

      —

      apart from that I agree that icloud drive has some annoying limitations

7. 

   I fully agree with the article and also with Dustin’s latest comment. Dropbox is so far the best cloud storage service I have used, but I can’t understand why don’t they offer a family plan. (What if I have a wife and kids, shall we buy 5 accounts for 50 bucks?)

   On the other hand, iCloud’s photo “handling” really sucks. This is such a basic function, it is hard to understand why don’t they implement it. (That is, that one could put photos in any folders AND still handle them as a photo library.)

   1. 

      Just went to Dropbox to reinstall after drive failure and there is a family option. Apple just released Apple Premiere with all their cloud apps and 2TB of space for $29/mo for 6 total users.

   2. 

      I had to leave Dropbox over this issue of lacking a sensibly priced family plan (they now have one in 2020/21). I moved to iCloud 2TB package at £6.99 per month. Apple allows me to share my allowance with my family very easily. Therefore, all our phones back up to the storage. Exceptional value. Hard to beat. Also, many of the other features pushed by Dropbox I just didn’t use or ever need. I wanted a reliable storage/back-up, that was cost-effective and would cover my family. Apple is the only one that does this well.

8. After working for years with Dropbox, i agree that Dropbox wins today from the i-Cloud.
   Espacialy after the improvement during the latest years with the Office online integration and not less important, the integration of dropbox options trough windows explorer and the local software access to the stored files.
   The 1Tb upgrade as first/only upgrade option for 9.99€/month is the disadvantage.

9. Excellent article. It’s so tempting to switch to iCloud to streamline things but clearly iCloud is not there yet.

10. How can I delete photo’s from dropbox? I want to clean up some space because my dropbox is full. I do not want to upgrade. I would like to prevent dropbox from saving my photos all together since I have them on my iPad, iPhone and pc. Can you help. Thanks

11. Reconsider the Fact that files at Dropbox will be de-crypted and encrypted again with a key that the vendor controls. This means, that the vendor CAN access contents of files and the vendor CAN be forced to provide decrypted content to e.g. your stinky friends at the NSA easily.

    On the other hand Apple is not yet fully transparent in it’s guarantees – anyway it sounds more secure than dropbox at the moment and this makes it – for sensitive information – the better choice. But – and that’s important – Apple makes it very, very easy to lower personal security by allowing photo analysis, siri etc. – so if one tries to force Apple to provide information, it might be less information – but probably this information is enough to perform a targeted attack to the desired individual…

    The sad truth is: Do not store important and/or confidential information on remote servers – especiialy if you do not control them…

    1. 

       Cloudwards.net

       Thanks for the comment, Jack. We talk about that some in other Dropbox articles. The best approach to using Dropbox is probably to pair it with Boxcryptor or a similar service.

12. And your opinion has nothing to do with the referral fee of Dropbox?

    1. 

       Cloudwards.net – Writer, Former Chief Editor

       No, because Dropbox doesn’t offer one 🙂 Had you read the article before becoming all hard-boiled, you’d have seen that we very clearly explain and define our choices, every step of the way.

13. Interesting comments. I use both, but one big advantage of Dropbox seems to be that I can be much more selective of what I store there. I don’t want all my documents in the cloud, only this year’s, to keep it focused and tidy, not 20 years’ worth. Happy to be corrected if I’ve overlooked something. Thanks

14. To pay for my 50GB of icloud I buy an itunes gift card in my local store, I redeem it and I am done. That’s what made me choose icloud over dropbox.

15. I’m a hardcore Mac user and I installed and used Dropbox first when it released. Was so happy that I got a bunch of my clients and friends etc. to sign up and earned a lot of free space.

    Then, became a paid G-Suite user for my graphic design studio email service and I though Google Drive would be perfect with so much space available as part of my plan. Switched to that but unfortunately learnt that MS Office refused to connect with it epically when I needed to access documents etc. on my iPad on the move.

    So then I thought let’s switch to One Drive as it’s part of my Office subscription but it totally sucked in syncing correctly and also didn’t play good with lot of other apps. So then was wondering what to do.

    Being a Apple fanatic, always wanted to align myself with their cloud service but can see and know that iCloud is a pure Apple iWork friendly service which has not got the kind of features and versatility that Dropbox has.

    So have come full-circle back to Dropbox. Planning to sign up for the Pro plan now. The only downside I see is that for backing up WhatsApp etc. on the iPhone, one still needs to subscribe to Apple’s service as well.

    So basically at the end of it, I am not too happy that I will be paying Dropbox, Apple, Google and Microsoft all for their services. It’s just ridiculous!

    Oh and let me not start thinking about the video and audio streaming service subscriptions to add to this!

    Clearly, the tech companies have found ways of making far more money by moving everything online now!

    1. 

       I had a similar conundrum. Though I’m not a Windows user, I did try them all at some stage: Box, DropBox, Google G Suite and iCloud. I keep Gsuite for my freelance business. But my issue was around personal device storage options. I had Dropbox for years, but their prices kept going up and they failed to allow sharing of storage space with family members unless you bought a business package. They do now have a family option, but it’s too expensive for my liking. I then decide to go all-in with Apple, it works very well and my family devices which are all Apple just play nicely. In the long-run I think as consumers we will have to make a platform choice to benefit from the conveniences offered by AI. I’m with Apple for now as it just works better for me. Dropbox future is uncertain, they don’t have the deep pockets of the big tech giants to subsidise storage. Dropbox will need to do something smart strategically not to keep losing users to Google, Apple and Microsoft.

16. A big difference for those who are not geeks: there is no phone help or screen-sharing on Dropbox, only chat text, while you can talk to real humans who speak English on the Apple help line and screen-share. I could not get Dropbox work on a Mac, obviously because of lack of help features on Dropbox (I am not a Geek). So I dropped Dropbox (pun intended!)

    1. I’ve been using Dropbox on Mac for ages now. I wonder what sort of features you look for.

       1. I’ve had problems with sync working. Files are synced according to everything I’ve checked, including making sure it’s set up for my Mac, yet the same files show up as taking up space on my Mac. I’ve tried all the recommendations, but I do wish I could call up Dropbox and ask them to walk me through this as I can with Apple.

17. I had the misfortune to think that iCloud would be an intelligent way to keep my files safe and accessible. It caused me months of headache, months of payjng for a service i couldnt use and more hassle to get everything back on to my computer – even IT people couldnt understand why connection and download was so bad. Google docs connects faster wherever i am & easier to access, so much better. I havent tried Dropbox.

18. Dropbox: How can you Delete several photographs (or, ALL of them) at one time?

    1. Just right click on the folder and then click “move to trash”

19. Just made the switch over from Dropbox to iCloud. Not looking back. When you sync photos to dropbox from your mac it creates new file names as in (1) if you have over 10,000 photos from lets say your iPhone because it can’t distinguish between 2 photos with the same name. and Dropbox will crash when trying to upload from the photos app on mac. And even when just uploading using the desktop client, it crashes. With iCloud photos are seamlessly uploaded. I was hesitant on using another Apple service at first but they haven’t disappointed.

20. After getting a new Macbook, and restoring from a backup, I could not get my iCloud drive to sync. I tried everything, and tech is my career. Just switched to Dropbox, and no problems.

21. 

    After iCloud stopped syncing on my MacPro running Max El Capitan in the middle of a project, I am currently shifting over to dropbox, especially after finding out, that dropbox now even desktop, download and document shares and this also in a better way on El Capitan than iCloud does.

22. 

    I am switching away from Dropbox. Why? For one thing the amount of CPU Dropbox takes is staggering. Starting it up takes many minutes and during that time my machine – a 2017 iMac 5K with 40GB of RAM – is unusable. I used to use a MacBook Pro with Dropbox and have talked to them about this issue for many years. They said I needed a faster computer. To run a file sharing program. The computer was fast enough for video editing but not for Dropbox.
    For the last two months Dropbox has been unable to import a few videos from my iPhone. It tries every time the phone is plugged in and takes about 40 min. to quit. Support has tried for two months to address my problem but to no avail. I’ve offered to let a developer remotely debug but they won’t – or are unable to – take me up on it. I’ve been a developer for over 20 years and am disgusted with the inability to support their own software. I’m done with them.
    I’m going to try iCloud but will also have Sync going in parallel just in case.

    1. I had the same problems as yours, so I switched to iCloud, now I have a lot more problems. I’m thinking to go back to Dropbox.

       1. Jajajajajjaj good one.

23. So far (2021), if you delete a file from one of your devices connected to iCloud (e.g. iPad), the file will be deleted from the cloud also. This is one of the biggest flaws of iCloud. Dropbox at least ask you if you want to remove the file from the cloud and/or other devices.

24. Well, I’m still torn and I have both at the moment with 2TB storgae. Trying to decide which to keep. If I understand correctly, the one thing I like about Dropbox is I can decide which files i want on my hard drive and which files to keep in the cloud. Icloud, unless I’m wrong, decides this based on how oftern it is used so it feels like I dont really have control on which files take up harddrive space on my mac. The intergration is great, all be it a little slow to update photos from one device to the other can take a few minutes which can be a long time to wait when you’re in the middle of something (DB does this instantly)
    Also why can’t i get icloud storage inbetween 200GB and 2TB? like 1TB, I’m forced to pay for 1TB which i havn’t needed for years now.

25. I’ve decided to go with Dropbox since iCloud won’t allow the base folder to be moved from C drive on my PC. Dropbox lets me put it almost anywhere, which when you’re talking about 2 or 3 terabytes, is great

26. Dropbox is an absolute battery hog on 2021 MB Pros. For that reason alone I am considering dropping it.

27. Apple has screwed me in the buttox way too many times. We have a toxic relationship. I’m not sure why I still give them my money.

    Here’s a quick rundown:

    1. My MBP went into Apple Care warranty repair for a video card malfunction. They replaced my motherboard and as a *bonus*, upgraded my drive to new 1TB hdd. Without my permission and with no data transfer, they fucking threw my old drive away! After several service tickets and calls with supervisors, they were able to track my drive down and told me they actually destroyed it by drilling a hole straight through.

    I kid you not. Apple drilled a hole through my drive.

    I went bananas! The Apple store that had my computer and sent it off for repair told me they backed up my drive. Twice. I spoke to 2 separate reps on different occasions. They lied, there were no backups. When I went in to pick up the Mac, the guy said we don’t backup computers here. And called the cops on me because I left without paying the $50 repair service fee.

    2. A few years ago my 100gb iCloud account accidentally deleted by Apple Care rep. One time I was having trouble syncing up my new iphone and the tech support turd was trying different things and says “oh shit, I just deleted your entire drive permanently”. I was baffled. 4 years of photos and videos of the best times of my life gone in one click. She couldn’t recover the data. I swore off of iCloud and stuck iTunes local backups on my Mac.

    3. Just this past Christmas, I upgraded my phone, and started restoring the iTunes backup. Something in the new phone was stuck with random temporary storage and eating up my data availability. This was a new 256gb iPhone 13 that I was restoring from a 256gb iPhone 12. The transfer size was 100gb but the new phone kept saying there wasn’t enough storage to complete the transfer. Useless! Tried 1,000 things, searched for tips, and spoke to 4 different Apple Support Turds. They couldn’t figure it and just kept suggesting to upgrade my iCloud to do it that way. Remember when they accidentally deleted my iCloud? I was reluctant. But I couldn’t get my data into my new phone any other way. So had to buy iCloud storage.

    I’m positive Apple still has a strategy or AI that can mess with your devices to get you to “upgrade” and spend more money. That’s why there’s a trillion dollar company.

    They got sued and fined by the FCC for remotely tampering with peoples iPhones to trick them into thinking their batteries were bad so they had to upgrade. I worked at Verizon and had so many iPhone come in with some kind of problem right before the new models came out.

    For these reasons alone. I’d suggest to stay out of the cloud.

    Just my two cents. But thanks for sharing this comparison. Dropbox ftw!

    1. 

       Dropbox no longer works well with Mac OS 12.3 Monterey.

       Online only files show up as 0 bytes in Finder and cannot even be accessed by my Finder replacement, PathFinder.

       The chat only support from Dropbox is rude and horrible. And Dropbox sucks up a huge percentage of CPU.

       So I am considering dumping Dropbox for iCloud.

       Sorry about what happened to you with your repair. Was the facility an Apple Store or Authorized Dealer.

       You should know to never take your computer to be repaired without an up to date Time Machine backup to an external drive.

       Frankly I would never allow a third party repair facility to have access to my iCloud. I would turn it off and not give them the PW. They do not need access to your iCloud to repair your hardware.

       Hard lessons to learn from a bad experience. You cannot have too many backups. You should a tually have two Time Machine drives with one stored off site and swapping them weekly.

28. 

    I have a iMac w/1T storage and I have an iCloud subscription f or 1T. I have a free DB acct just to store some I keep my photos on an external HD because I have so many. My problem stems from not having enough space on my Mac to run updates… My biggest need is being able to share files between my Apple devices w/o taking up so much space on HDs. I don’t understand why my entire iCloud Drive is stored on my Mac HD? In the article, you spoke about sharing files between devices and that DB allows a user to only share select files on iCloud & they don’t have to include old documents… Would this feature in DB help eliminate this problem I have with iCloud? Second, you also mentioned that one drawback to DB with Apple devices is setting everything up. Under DB interfacing – “Dropbox, on the other hand, requires signups, app installations and more to get your file syncing the way you want.” Where can I find instructions/all the needed steps to switch to DB and get set up?

    1. 

       please excuse my typing errors, I hope you can still understand my Qs

29. Whatever Dropbox’s memory usage, the fact remains it just works and handles any sync challenge thrown at it. Whereas iCloud’s file sync is buggy. A MacOS bug where posting a file change in MacOs fails to propagate (the ICloud Drive sync progress bar in the Finder sidebar slows to a crawl) has not been dealt with in Ventura as that bug (which drives me nuts) is still there in the public beta!

30. I have the 2TB Dropbox option and have been using it for over 10 years. The latest version works great. I have it on a mix of Windows (Win10 and old XP) and 5 Apple machines (Leopard to Ventura). The BIGGEST feature that Dropbox has for me is the ability to choose which files I want to put i the cloud or keep locally. My laptops are tight for storage, so they have slimmed down sync list.

    The good thing is that ALL the files still show up in the finder, they just have an icon showing that they are still in the cloud. If I choose them from an app, they automatically get downloaded locally to edit or use. Right-clicking on a file in finder gives me the option to keep both locally and in the cloud, or just in the cloud. It also offers all the share options, like giving you a link to email or message and more.

    I was thinking about changing to iCloud+ since the fees are similar, but if iCloud makes you have all the files locally, it is a no sell to me. Also, the dial back revision system works great and has saved me in the past. I suppose if you had a time machine backup that wasn’t too old, it would work too.