OneDrive vs Google Drive vs Dropbox vs iCloud - Which Should You Choose?

You no longer need tons of HDDs or even SSD space on your PC. You can simply store everything in the cloud if you want.

Some of the cloud storage providers are even free! We've compared the best cloud storage providers available today and will help you choose the right pick based on your needs and use case.

Believe it or not, choosing the right one will make a world of a difference so choose wisely!

Keep watching.

[maxpayne.]

How much stock footage you need for this?
Director : *YES*

[Glenrsi]

I use Dropbox cloud and have the 2TB storage option. The reason i use cloud storage is every single external hard drive i ever owned has given up the ghost after 3 or 4 years (no warning, just won't work suddenly). If i only had one external hard drive, i would have lost everything saved. Luckily i have always had two hard drives at all times backed up with the same files in duplicate. Using Dropbox now, i know all my files will be safe and i can access them on any device and anywhere in the world. No need to travel with external hard drives, wherever i go.

[leonellthelion]

What's drawing me to OneDrive is their Microsoft 365 monthly subscription that bundles in Microsoft Office apps on top of the 1TB cloud storage.

[carloberruti]

By far Dropbox is the best. Beside Smart Sync, a very useful function that is not mentioned in the video is Selective Sync, that allows you to download to your PC and/or “release” back to the cloud any selection of folders, quickly and intuitively. Your hard drive becomes “à la carte” — as full or as empty as you need it to be, at any given time. Further pros: its interface works very well equally on Mac and Windows. Plus, their app for smartphones and tablet is incredibly handy and complete: you can move hundreds of Gigabytes between different folders at the touch of a finger and you’ll easily be able to retrieve any file from wherever and whenever on your smartphone in minutes. Big fan. (Not being paid for it 😄!).

[cluwhere]

Watching this because of Google just announced they gonna stop providing free unlimited storage in photos app.

[carvilgraphics]

4:44 Never seen someone so excited for a discount

[elysium]

I have been using Onedrive since it was Skydrive

[obu]

One Drive is by far the most professional. Just depends on the license you are willing to pay for in the Business category.

[therakshasan]

All Cloud storage companies use the stored data for a myriad of profitable purposes . If you carefully read the Terms of Service it allows them to use your data as they see fit . So long as they don't give out any Personal data .

[scottt]

I have used them all - noting I have all Apple devices. Google Drive is great for your Google Docs of course - but for bulk storage/archive/backup/DR it is clumsy and has very limited functionality. I have used Dropbox for years for bulk storage and for objects that I want to access from all my MacBooks - BUT, their support is consistently TERRIBLE and their SmartSync functions do not always work. I finally settled on iCloud as a replacement for Dropbox and I like it much better. Plus, its native integration with my MacBooks seems helpful. I have tinkered with OneDrive but have not found any advantages for my needs - though I suspect for Windows users it could make sense for natively integrated workflows.

[dannypgrizzle]

I’m no Microsoft Fan Boy, but one note: this review is focused on casual usage, and ultimately describes Dropbox as the most professional solution.

There is some truth to that, as Dropbox was an early leader and and had many early adopters. Dropbox enjoyed easy adoption because it was simple, but over the years features have been added, pricing tiers etc, and along with this came complexity.

This review approaches OneDrive as if OneDrive is a freestanding cloud storage system. Not true. Many people will approach OneDrive as an enhancement of Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.). If you use Microsoft tools in business, OneDrive has enormous professional capability that is not reflected in this video. The premise of this video that Microsoft 365 is a perk of OneDrive storage gets this completely backwards.

Just to be fair, Google Drive is also part of an ecosystem that includes productivity applications.

iCloud also is part of a larger ecosystem of productivity applications that are included with every Mac computer. These apps are actually very good, and more than capable for almost any user. The question is not so much in their power, but in how they interface into systems of standards in business and education, which are more likely to require Google or Microsoft because Apple lost their early lead in the education market.

I tell people these days that to understand technology you have to understand business models.

Google’s products appear to be free because they are not products. They are bait to catch fish, which in turn are packaged into product. If you use Google, you are Google’s product. Profiling users and selling them out to the highest bidder is Google’s business.

It is common knowledge that Apple products are expensive and carry a premium price. To state that differently, you know how Apple makes their money. But you also know that Apple is serious about privacy and security. They make a quality product, and you pay for it. What they don’t do is sell you out.

Microsoft is a mixed bag. Their business model began as selling operating systems (Windows) to anybody who wants to build a computer. Since Microsoft does not vet PC makers, most PC makers sell low cost machines that subsidized the cost of the computer by software companies who pay to have their software preloaded onto the machines. Collectively, this stuff is called “crapware” by IT professionals. At best, it pesters buyers to enroll in software subscriptions like anti-virus and whatever. All this garbage certainly eats up clock cycles and compromises the performance of the computer. It also wastes your time, and can hammer you with sales pitches. At worst, it may contain spyware and compromise your computer, and by extension, your privacy. This can potentially expose you to serious problems like identity theft.

Most people want the cheapest thing they can find, and if you go to Walmart or Sam’s Club you are going to find Chromebooks (Google Android) on the low end, and subsidized PCs with Windows for a little more money. Why are these machines cheap? 1) Partly because they are low specification, low performance, and low quality. 2) Partly because the computer is subsidized by companies who pay the manufacturer to preload their software as a means of marketing.

The paranoid among us might be concerned that, since most all consumer computers are made in China, that the Chinese government is involved in having advanced spyware tools embedded into the hardware of the computers. Using these means, it is entirely possible to bypass normal security in ways that cannot be detected at the operating system level, by using anti-virus scanners, for instance. In fact, there have been reports in the computer press (not the garbage political conspiracy rumor mill) that China may have counterfeited integrated circuits and inserted these into the supply chain as materials are moved inside China. In this way, any manufacturer might be duped into installing what appears to be a legitimate part, but the altered counterfeit adds instruction sets that can be used by the Chinese state to compromise computers without detection by end users.

[bertfarry]

Onedrive is to slow and always just gives up on uploading stuff

[kipa_chu]

Onedrive is backed my Microsoft and used in most of the offices. It is the best when it comes to price and the features they offer

[totem]

For cost-effective I think no one can beat Google Drive, even self-host one, can't beat Google Drive.

[jagernull]

To anyone who questions dropbox
None of them support all OS like dropbox
None of them run as stably as dropbox on all OS they support (especially icloud sucks on windows)
None of them sync as fast as dropbox. Dropbox allows you to sync 15 files simultaneously, and you most likely not reaching their bitrate limit
If you use Win+Mac+Linux, sorry dropbox is the only choice youhave

[mikkio]

in summary. onedrive is business oriented, operate well in microsoft ecosystem, it syncing speed is superb. while Google drive has alot of function, syncing speed is slower on windows, operate well on Google ecosystem. better for none business type of person. one more thing Google drive seems to slow your systems shutting down and startup, but far better to use on android. also Google are generous in free storage capacity. what a confusing state to choose which drive to go for.

[randolfmacdonaldstudies]

Very thorough complete and straightforward explanation. Nice job thanks.

[wjdn]

google drive’s 15 gb kind of grabbed my attention but again there’s gotta to be something i’m paying google with, like maybe the photos or data

[tmavoip]

That was the most interesting and helpful video of I have ever seen about storage. Probably going with OneDrive.

[jrapplefan]

The real question is that many user like me do not need to put content in others people's hands. A simple local backup with a raid 5 or NAS will do the job at a better cost.