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Dropbox vs. Google Drive: How creative teams get more done

If you’re looking for basic cloud file storage and sharing, both Dropbox and Google Drive can do the trick. But what’s the best cloud storage solution? Well, Dropbox is who teams turn to when they need to get work done across platforms and devices, systems and software, internally and externally.
Two people working on a project and scanning documents

Why Google customers love Dropbox

Organizations often need more than Google Workspace to do their best work. And with Dropbox, teams can collaborate on terabytes of audio and video files, preview large Adobe design files, and collect feedback from clients and vendors with time-based commenting (and even frame-accurate commenting with the Creative Tools Add-On). The best part? It all works with the Google Workspace apps you use every day. 
Someone viewing various personal files on their Dropbox account

Dropbox simplifies content collaboration

Shifting between desktop and mobile in Google Workspace is challenging enough when it’s just you, but when your customers and vendors use different productivity suites, like Microsoft 365—or they’re Mac OS and you’re Android—things can really get frustrating. And if everyone’s trying to work together on large files, it can be downright chaotic.

Collaboration in today’s remote-working world is critical, so it must be effortless. Dropbox makes it easy for individuals and teams to quickly preview, manage, review and deliver complex files of any type from anywhere, on any device.

Agility in Mind on working with Dropbox 

You can easily choose tools from the start that can scale with you. The best way for a business to be flexible is to remove existing constraints. And with Dropbox, there are no constraints.
Andrew Jones, CEO, Agility in Mind 
A photo of Andrew Jones, CEO, Agility in Mind

Google doesn’t support deep collaboration around rich media, but Dropbox can shoulder the weight

Dropbox is tailored to the needs of large-content creators—offering more TB of storage—so you can sync file uploads as big as 2 TB (even massive CAD files and 4K video) and keep on working. Google Drive, on the other hand, stops you from uploading additional files after hitting 750 GB in a single 24-hour period. And when that happens, you’re done for the day. 

Plus, small changes are quick and seamless, as our incremental backup function uploads only the updated portions of large files, so you don’t have to wait for transfers to complete. 

For marketing, advertising, design, and film/video workflows, Dropbox is a one-stop shop. It’s where you can start a project; write content; then share, review, edit files, comment on and deliver the end product to the client—all in one secure place

A camera operator adjusts settings on their equipment

Dropbox won’t let you go down in version history

Google Drive only offers strong version history for their file types—Docs, Sheets, and Slides. For everything else, users need to enable version history tracking for each file, one by one, every single time. With Dropbox, teams can see a full history of changes made to each file, regardless of the file format. And with Extended Version History, you can maintain brand consistency across projects, because you have easy access to historical content. With one-click file recovery and backup, you can save, access, and update file versions—even recover a lost folder or project—for up to 10 years.
Someone restoring deleted files on their Dropbox account

Dropbox simplifies video and audio reviews

By previewing video and audio files entirely through Dropbox, you can save both time and bandwidth. You simply skip the download and streaming versions of your content, making things easier for you, your stakeholders, and your clients. 

The Dropbox robust preview engine supports 288 different file types, three times more than Google Drive previews, so when you need to get quick access to a file your review process won’t get tripped up with downloads.

Dropbox Transfer helps you make a strong impression with secure, polished file delivery

Branded file transfer seamlessly delivers files up to 100 GB (250 GB with Creative Tools Add-on), ensuring your final project—whether it’s going to your client or CEO—is wrapped in a polished, easy-to-access, branded package. And you can even track downloads, add password protection, or set an expiration date, so you can control who sees what—as well as what it looks like.
Someone sending 2 password protected PDF files with Dropbox Transfer

How does Google Drive compare?

 Storage and sync

Dropbox

Google Drive

Desktop file size upload limit

2 TB

5 TB

Daily upload limit

None

750 GB

Ability to have cloud-only content

Yes

Yes

Sync small changes to files

faster file syncing for large files

Yes

No

Simultaneous upload / download for large files

Yes

No

Accelerated sync over local network

Yes

Yes

Mobile

Dropbox

Google Drive

Automatic camera uploads

Yes

No 

Document scanner

Yes

Android only

Viewing and project collaboration

Dropbox

Google Drive

Preview 100s of file types

Yes

Limited to <50

Preview professional audio and video codecs (MXF, MTS, ..add)

Yes

No

Restore previous versions of all files in 1 click

Yes

Google file types only (Docs, Sheets, Slides)

Metadata search

Yes*

Yes [in beta]

Branded file transfer (up to 250 GB)

Yes

No

Request files from collaborators

Yes

No

Frame-based commenting for video*

Yes*

No

Time-based commenting for video and audio

Yes

No

See who viewed each file (and when)

Yes

No

Natively integrated eSignature

Dropbox Sign

No

Deep Adobe integration

Dropbox

Google Drive

File transfer within Photoshop

Yes

No

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

Yes

No

Native integration with Premier Rush

Yes

No

Extend Dropbox

Dropbox goes deep with rich media integrations

Do everything you need to do—right from Dropbox—while using your favorite video, audio, and transcription tools. Just use these integrations:  

Two hands connect a jigsaw together
Stay Secure

Shore up security on your creative content

When it comes to your valuable content, niche apps frequently don’t offer the same level of security, control, or visibility that an enterprise-grade tool like Dropbox does. 

Here’s a snapshot of the security features Dropbox offers:

A hand types in a numeric password

Dropbox + Google: Better together

Dropbox can help content collaboration go one step further in Google Cloud, powering deeper collaboration for rich media use cases and streamlining other Google-based workflows.
Someone viewing various files in their Dropbox account

See how Dropbox has more power to deliver.

Work better with Dropbox