In this article, we will overview the most popular business-storage solutions on the market - Microsoft One Drive for Business, Gsuite from Google and Dropbox Business. If you need to evaluate a new solution, looking to move from bulky on-prem to the cloud and just want to simplify your daily office routines, continue reading.
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Comparison of Dropbox for Business vs OneDrive for Business vs Google G Suite
No matter the scale and size of a business, an organization generates hundreds or even thousands of files each day, some of which need to be retained for financial or legal purposes. Choosing a cloud storage platform that aligns with your business needs is critical as it is a cost-efficient and secure way to ensure that business data remains accessible and protected. Are you confused about whether to choose OneDrive for Business or Dropbox for Business or do you have some questions about the full-scale capabilities of Google G Suite?
Here is a head-to-head comparison of these options.
Evaluation of Pricing and Features
Basic Plan
| OneDrive for Business | Dropbox for Business | G Suite | |
| Pricing | Plan 1
$60.00/year per user (storage only) |
Standard plan
$12.50 /user/month (annual payment) starting at 3 users |
Basic
$5.00/month per user |
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Advanced Plan
| OneDrive for Business | Dropbox for Business | G Suite | |
| Pricing | Plan 2
$120.00/year per user (storage only) |
Advanced plan
$20.00 /user/month (if billed annually), starting at 5 users |
Business
$10.00/month per user |
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Security and administration controls
eDiscovery for emails, chats, and files
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Enterprise Plan
| OneDrive for Business | Dropbox for Business | G Suite | |
| Pricing | Office 365 Business Premium
$150.00/year per user (storage + Office 365) |
Enterprise plan
Price is given on request |
Enterprise
$25.00/month per user |
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eDiscovery for emails, chats, and files
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If you are on a tight budget then you can explore the reasonably priced storage plans supported by OneDrive for Business and G-Suite as the features provided by Dropbox for Business come at a higher rate of $12.50 per month for each user.
Both Google G Suite and Dropbox for Business provide 14-day and 30-day trials respectively to prospective customers. Even though OneDrive for Business does have a trial by itself, the MS Office365 for Business trial is applicable for OneDrive’s Office 365 Premium Business Plan.
File Storage Capacity
Whether you’re exploring the capabilities of OneDrive for Business vs Dropbox for Business vs Google G Suite, file storage capacity remains the utmost priority for enterprises especially if they have legacy data files and documents that must be retained for prolonged periods due to legal and compliance requirements.
OneDrive for Business comes with 1TB of space per user, which is expandable to 25 TB. The standard pricing plan provided by Dropbox for Business provides 3 TB of storage space. However, if your organization chooses to opt for advanced or enterprise plans in both storage services, then users can benefit from having an unlimited storage space.
G-Suite comes with 30 GB worth of space for a basic plan while advanced and enterprise plans support unlimited cloud storage. However, if the platform is being used by less than five employees, the storage per user is limited to 1 TB.
Sync and File Sharing
Many prospective organizations are confused about whether to opt for Dropbox or OneDrive for Business. Dropbox boasts of a secure file sharing infrastructure that has top-rated sync and encryption capabilities in its class. The platform also supports Smart Sync, which allows users to use virtually zero hard-disk space by placing each folder and file on Dropbox. Moreover, the platform also allows users to place sharing permissions on data to help them decide the type of access other users have over the shared document within the network.
OneDrive for Business makes syncing easy with the additional option of the supporting generation of local copies or folders sync. Its file-sharing capabilities are comparable to Dropbox for Business and G-Suite; they’re seamless and fast.
With G-Suite, you have the benefit of managing users and setting file-sharing permissions. The platform comes with two distinct sync solutions – Drive File Stream (for streaming Drive files directly from the cloud to computer and freeing up disk space and network bandwidth) and Backup and Sync (for synchronizing local files to Drive on the web making them available on all devices) to help you organize files across different devices.
Assessing Email and Calendar Features
Both Dropbox for Business and OneDrive for Business have user-friendly and highly functional capabilities. With OneDrive for Business, you can benefit from features, such as Outlook interface, web, and desktop browser email access, 50 GB worth of space, and 150 MB of attachment limit if your plan comes with Office 365.
Dropbox for Business does not come with its own set of mail and calendar features. You can only unlock these functionalities by integrating your Dropbox for Business account with Office 365.
On the other hand, G-Suite along with business email through Gmail offers the option of sharing a calendar when sending automatic invites via business emails that have an enterprise domain.
Security and Privacy
OneDrive for Business boasts of advanced encryption and sophisticated security features. Sync client settings can be controlled via Group Policy while it also allows you to set device access controls and remotely wipe lost or stolen devices through the admin center. The platform’s sharing capabilities are secured by allowing the administrator to see which file is being shared while in-app sharing mechanisms can be set to comply with organizational policies.
G-Suite comes with forward secrecy, email encryption, monitoring of suspicious log-in, encryption, and management of cloud access through a centralized system. Data loss prevention remains a priority of this service as it is equipped with mechanisms to prevent malware, spam, and phishing attacks. The platform fully complies with HIPAA and GDPR regulations as well as the clauses mentioned in the EU Model Contracts and more.
Further reading An MSP’s Guide to Google G Suite Security
Our third contender is Dropbox for Business. It comes with 256-bit AES and SSL/TLS encryption, version history, file recovery, and supports advanced file sharing options, such as password-protection and expiring shared links. With a device wipe that is performed remotely, administrators can also clear data from devices that are lost or stolen. Like G-Suite, this platform complies with HIPAA and has the added advantage of integrative support with external EMM providers.
Summary
…And the winner is
Selecting the perfect storage services depends on your organizational preferences. From the perspective of affordability, OneDrive for Business and G -Suite are the winners. However, when it comes to OneDrive for Business vs Dropbox, the latter is more suited to meet the needs of large-scale organizations. All in all, the perfect way to make a decision is to understand your enterprise requirements and identify the platform that best suits those needs.
- Check out the pros and cons of professional and consumer cloud storage solutions
- Compare pricing, security, data management and more
- Decide which solutions best suit your needs
