iCloud Drive vs Dropbox vs Google Drive vs etc

[BJMRamage]

Am I the only one who thinks 5GB is pretty miserly in this day and age? Like someone else mentioned, I'm using almost all of mine just for device backups and mail. Unless this changes, Apple is punishing you for owning more iDevices. The more you have, the more backups you have, the more iCloud space you have to purchase. At the very least they need to change it so device backups don't count against the limit.

Also, their prices aren't that good for additional storage. $100/year for a total of 55GB? Microsoft and Amazon will give you that much for half the price. Not to mention, they introduced a HUGE price increase without anyone noticing. 20GB for $1/month ($120/year) once iCloud Drive is released, when right now it's $40/year for the same amount.

I do wish they gave you more iCloud storage per iOS device and also tied to your iDevice size. I have just an iPhone and iPad backed up and mostly used the 5GB...and that's with no photos/videos.


but you also have your math wrong as others have said. $120 is the 10-year plan.

 

[Nozuka]

Am I the only one who thinks 5GB is pretty miserly in this day and age? Like someone else mentioned, I'm using almost all of mine just for device backups and mail. Unless this changes, Apple is punishing you for owning more iDevices. The more you have, the more backups you have, the more iCloud space you have to purchase. At the very least they need to change it so device backups don't count against the limit.

Also, their prices aren't that good for additional storage. $100/year for a total of 55GB? Microsoft and Amazon will give you that much for half the price. Not to mention, they introduced a HUGE price increase without anyone noticing. 20GB for $1/month ($120/year) once iCloud Drive is released, when right now it's $40/year for the same amount.

they are changing the pricing, its not that bad.



Apple iCloud Drive:
Free storage: 5GB
20GB: $0.99 per month (about £0.60, AU$1)
200GB: $3.99 per month (about £2.40, AU$4.30)
1TB: Price to be determined


Google Drive:
Free storage: 15GB
100GB for $1.99 per month (about £1.20, AU$2.15)
1TB for $9.99 per month (about £6, AU$10)
10TB for $99.99 per month (about £60, AU$108)


Dropbox:
Free storage: 2GB
100GB for $9.99 per month, or $99 per year (about £6 or £60, AU$10 or AU$108)
200GB for $19.99 per month, or $199 per year (about £12 or £120, AU$21 or AU$215)
500GB for $49.00 per month, or $499 per year (about £30 or £300, AU$54 or AU$540)
Unlimited business plan costs $15 per user, per month, with a minimum of 5 users. (about £9, AU$16)


Microsoft OneDrive:
Free storage: 7GB
50GB for $25 per year (about £15, AU$27)
100GB for $50 per year (about £30, AU$54)
200GB for $100 per year (about £60, AU$108)
1TB for $2.50 per user, per month (£1.50, AU$2.70)



Amazon Cloud Drive:
Free storage: 5GB
20GB for $10 per year (around £6, AU$10)
50GB for $25 per year (around £16, AU$27)
100GB for $50 per year (around £30, AU$54)
200GB for $100 per year (around £60, AU$108)
500GB for $250 per year (around £150, AU$270)
1000GB (1TB) for $500 per year (around £300, AU$540)


Box:
Free storage: 10GB
100GB for $5 per user, per month (about £3, AU$5.40)
Unlimited - $15 per user, per month, with a minimum of 3 users. (about £9, AU$16)

 

[parseckadet]

Not sure how many months you have per year but $1/month for 12 months is only $12/year and that is very cheap.

lol I saw the same thing and was scratching my head.

but you also have your math wrong as others have said. $120 is the 10-year plan.

You're all right on my math. Not sure what I was thinking.

 

[ZombiePete]

You're all right on my math. Not sure what I was thinking.

Happens to the best of us. ;-)

 

[AbSoluTc]

Atleast Devs get 50GB till November

Where did you read this? Dev here and don't see it unless I just missed it entirely. Thanks!

 

[Mac Write]

I hope they introduce a plan at $1.99/month and $2.99/month as 99¢ to $3.99 is a huge jump.

$1.99 - 50GB
$2.99 - 100GB

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I have 168gb of space on OneDrive. Most of it has been free promotions, but the fact remains I haven't paid a cent for it.

Apple is still expensive, like always. The difference is now you can make apples to apples comparisons.

 

[AxoNeuron]

My biggest question is will there be an online website interface for iCloud drive? Like, could you access it at icloud.com? That will be the make-it-or-break-it deciding factor for me.

Also, Apple charges $3.99 per month for 200GB storage, while Dropbox charges $19.99 per month? What the HECK is going on with you people Dropbox!

-------

I have 168gb of space on OneDrive. Most of it has been free promotions, but the fact remains I haven't paid a cent for it.

Apple is still expensive, like always. The difference is now you can make apples to apples comparisons.

Um.....what...? It would probably be helpful if you actually did this "apples to apples" comparison you speak of. Let me break it down for you:

Apple is charging $3.99 per month for 200GB while Microsoft is charging $8.33 per month for the same amount (via the $100 per year for 200GB).

Are you hallucinating? You might have gotten some free promotions, but that doesn't mean anything.

 

[Saturn1217]

Totally agree and really do hope you can store / configure local space on iOS!!!

My only fear is that third party apps dont embrace it, especially MS Office on iOS which is valuable to tons of people. They are pushing the One Drive thing so hard that I fear they will not allow iCloud Drive integration somehow

This is my fear as well. If all apps supported icloud drive i think that would solve my file management needs. Honestly i tried the one month trial of office 365 and the biggest downside was having to rely on onedrive. Seems silly too since office 365 is not free. So Microsoft will still get plenty of money even if they add support for other cloud services!

 

[Fattytail]

This is my fear as well. If all apps supported icloud drive i think that would solve my file management needs. Honestly i tried the one month trial of office 365 and the biggest downside was having to rely on onedrive. Seems silly too since office 365 is not free. So Microsoft will still get plenty of money even if they add support for other cloud services!

As long as it's not a complete bear to integrate into apps, I'm sure the vast majority of apps will support iCloud Drive. Adoption will probably take a little bit of time, but if you're an iOS developer, why would you not provide support for an iOS-tailored cloud interface knowing that a large number of your users are going to want it?

This is actually a very exciting development because it means we should finally be able to attach multiple files to emails and other routine tasks that up to now have been impossible without stupid workarounds. I still want to run it through its paces before I'm a believer, but I'm very excited about iCloud Drive. The pricing is phenomenal as well. I wish they'd have a few more tiers in between 20GB and 200GB though.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Um.....what...? It would probably be helpful if you actually did this "apples to apples" comparison you speak of. Let me break it down for you:

Apple is charging $3.99 per month for 200GB while Microsoft is charging $8.33 per month for the same amount (via the $100 per year for 200GB).

Are you hallucinating? You might have gotten some free promotions, but that doesn't mean anything.

It does though. With not a lot of work, you can get enough space for free, all year long. If you really want to save some cash, use bing a few times and redeem their points for free gb's of OneDrive space, too.

 

[ziggie216]

Any idea how the iCloud Photo Library and iCloud backup space is going to work together? Trying to figure out if I enable the iCloud Photo Library, is the backup still going to include the camera roll photos or exclude it since it's already been uploaded to the iCloud.

 

[JoeShades]

how does it work with the apple tv?

 

[S.B.G]

how does it work with the apple tv?

To the best of my knowledge the new iCloud Drive doesn't have anything to do with the Apple TV, at least yet that has been announced.

 

[nheilweil]

Hate to be so clueless but how do I access iCloud Drive? Don't seem to have any way to get to it from Phone or web.

 

[JoeShades]

To the best of my knowledge the new iCloud Drive doesn't have anything to do with the Apple TV, at least yet that has been announced.

i would hope you would be able to access your photos like you can now with the apple tv through photostream

 

[S.B.G]

i would hope you would be able to access your photos like you can now with the apple tv through photostream

That's certainly a possibility and one that I could see happening by the time it is ready for public release.

 

[doug in albq]

Am I the only one who thinks 5GB is pretty miserly in this day and age? Like someone else mentioned, I'm using almost all of mine just for device backups and mail. Unless this changes, Apple is punishing you for owning more iDevices. The more you have, the more backups you have, the more iCloud space you have to purchase. At the very least they need to change it so device backups don't count against the limit.

Also, their prices aren't that good for additional storage. $100/year for a total of 55GB? Microsoft and Amazon will give you that much for half the price. Not to mention, they introduced a HUGE price increase without anyone noticing. 20GB for $1/month ($120/year) once iCloud Drive is released, when right now it's $40/year for the same amount.

Yes. I currently, through an old promo, have 50GB of space on Box.com...for free for life.

 

[richwoodrocket]

I hope they introduce a plan at $1.99/month and $2.99/month as 99¢ to $3.99 is a huge jump.



$1.99 - 50GB

$2.99 - 100GB

Seriously? The amount of storage they give you for the money is crazy! Be happy with what they will be offering.

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Hate to be so clueless but how do I access iCloud Drive? Don't seem to have any way to get to it from Phone or web.

You can't yet. It's not released to the public.

 

[Nozuka]

Also, Apple charges $3.99 per month for 200GB storage, while Dropbox charges $19.99 per month? What the HECK is going on with you people Dropbox!

i expect dropbox to announce new prices soon. there's no way they can keep this up.

 

[nheilweil]

You can't yet. It's not released to the public.

Thanks...didn't know if they had rolled out a file browser for iOS8b1.

 

[screensaver400]

Can anyone who's tried the Yosemite beta comment on how well iCloud Drive works? In other words, is it closer to Dropbox (uploads feel instantaneous, because you're just copying files to a local folder, with the Dropbox app uploading the files in the background) or iDisk (slow as molasses)?

 

[kultschar]

Can anyone who's tried the Yosemite beta comment on how well iCloud Drive works? In other words, is it closer to Dropbox (uploads feel instantaneous, because you're just copying files to a local folder, with the Dropbox app uploading the files in the background) or iDisk (slow as molasses)?

Dont believe its active yet!

 

[Yptcn]

In Dropbox I can "favorite" some things and get them offline ,which is very useful when traveling abroad .
Is this possible with iCloud Drive ?

 

[maflynn]

In Dropbox I can "favorite" some things and get them offline ,which is very useful when traveling abroad .
Is this possible with iCloud Drive ?

What do you mean get them offline. All my files are available offline in dropbox. I can access any file on my laptop regardless if I'm connected to the net.

OneDrive works differently on Windows 8 where you can specify online only or available offline which sounds like what you're mentioning with dropbox