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Dropbox vs iCloud: An easy choice for everyone

It doesn’t matter what device you’re on or what you want to save, share or store. With Dropbox, you can do more.

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If you like more features, more functions and more collaboration across devices, you like Dropbox

Whether you’re a creative professional who wants a couple of terabytes of storage space and effortless collaboration with your colleague – or a picture-happy household that wants to safely share memories and securely store important documents – Dropbox has more to offer than iCloud.

Access everything you need from anywhere you’re working

Windows, Mac, Linux – no matter what tools you use, Dropbox’s industry-leading sync capabilities mean you can access any file you need, anywhere you go, on any device you have. iCloud is built mainly for iOS devices, and that limits how you work, where you work and how you share your work.

And because it’s Dropbox, you can – like 700 million other registered users – trust that everything is secure.

Keep thousands of images organised

With Dropbox, you can keep photos and videos from all sorts of sources – smartphones, DLSR cameras, screenshots, scanned documents, etc. – in one well-ordered place. And high-quality images don’t get compressed or changed from the originals. So your pictures aren’t only better, they’re easier to find.

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It’s a dream collaboration tool without the versioning nightmares

When you compare iCloud Drive vs Dropbox, you see just how much easier it is to share important documents like insurance forms and travel plans – and how you can clearly collaborate with friends, family or your freelance clients, so no one wastes time editing version #2 when there’s already a version #5.

Dropbox also lets you customise the sharing experience with your personal “brand”, so anyone you may be working with immediately recognises the look and knows it’s you. And with links to third-party services like Canva, WhatsApp and iMessage, you can share those files and folders in your preferred platform – directly from your file manager, the mobile app or the Dropbox desktop app.

Unlike iCloud, there’s also a preview feature, so users can comment on a file, and you can take action. You can upload files up to 2 TB (versus iCloud’s 50 GB), and you can even go back in time with Dropbox Rewind, which lets you restore deleted files or revive old versions.

We said we have more features. Here’s proof.

When you get Dropbox, you get so much more than iCloud:

  • Simple integration with Microsoft Office 365 and other rich media integrations
  • Rewind – for restoring and reviewing old or deleted files
  • Replay – offering frame-based commenting for video and time-based commenting for video and audio
  • Capture – simple screen recordings so you can make your point without scheduling a meeting
  • Transcription – automatically create video transcripts and closed captions
  • Paper – your online document workspace

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Dropbox vs iCloud: A closer look

Devices

Dropbox 

iCloud

Mac

Yes

Yes

Windows

Yes

Limited

Linux

Yes

No

Storage and Sync

Dropbox

iCloud

Desktop file size upload limit

2 TB

50 GB

Team storage

Starts at 5 TB

2 TB

Ability to designate specific files to cloud-only content

Yes

No

Sync small changes to files

Yes

No

Automated folders

Yes

No

Viewing and Project Collaboration

Dropbox

iCloud

Preview 100s of file types

Yes

No

Preview professional audio and video codecs (MXF, MTS)

Yes

No

Large file previews

Up to 150 GB

No

Passwords file sharing

Yes

No

Metadata search

Yes

Yes

Branded file transfer (up to 250 GB)

Yes

No

Frame-based commenting for video*

Yes*

No

Time-based commenting for video and audio*

Yes*

No

Request files without requiring login

Yes

No

See who viewed each file (and when)

Yes

No

Natively integrated e-signature

Dropbox Sign

No

Screen recording for quick and easy communication

Yes

No

Deep Adobe Integration

Dropbox

iCloud

Preview and annotate Adobe files (PSD, EPS, AI and more) without a licence 

Yes

No

Native integration with Premier Rush

Yes

No

*Available with the Replay Add-on

See how Dropbox frees you to do more.

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