Google Drive vs Dropbox – Comparison of the big two offering cloud storage services

 Wondering which one of the two (Google and Dropbox) offers the best data storage services? Here is what you need to know about the offerings from these two leading cloud storage service providers. Starting with Google Drive, developed by Google, is the most popularly used cloud storage providing the best when it comes to finding a secure cloud storage. On the other hand, Dropbox, developed by Microsoft also provides cloud storage facilities with multiple features. Before getting deeper into the comparison first let us clear our ideas about a cloud storage solution.

Everything you need to know about cloud storage –
Used and adopted by multiple enterprises across the globe, cloud storage is basically a virtual platform offered by the storage service providers for storing data. In terms of storing your data for a longer time, and securely, so it is best to go for the best cloud storage solution online. Cloud storage is basically a remote storage platform that are entirely virtualized and has a multi-tenant infrastructure helping provide enterprises or entities with scalable storage resources that can be customized accordingly.

The cloud storage service providers make use of the data servers to help users connect via the internet in order to upload and store their data in the virtual storage servers. From users end, data or files are uploaded in an automated manner via the internet directly to the data servers which then forwards it to multiple storage servers and store the data which can be accessed only through a web-based interface. To secure the data, a cloud storage solution is best suggested by the internet geeks and there are a vast number of data servers serving the purpose and ensures their availability as well.

Coming back to the comparison of Google Drive and Dropbox, both offer different options and features for storing data on the virtual platforms. Here, it might be difficult for an individual to choose the right option, but this comparison will clear it all. The comparison is better done in terms of –
•    Storage size
When it comes to storage fees, Google Drive offers totally free of cost storage facilities and gives you total 15 GB of free storage space. Whereas, Dropbox only provides 2 GB of storage space and there is an option of getting extra 500 MB of storage space on reference of a friend willing to use Dropbox services, and it can be further extended to a maximum of up to 19 GB of free storage space as well. However, in this term, Google Drive might run out of storage space if you are using Gmail, Google Photos, and other Google products then the 15 GB storage space is less compared to the space offered by Dropbox.

•    File sharing options
To go for the best cloud storage solution online it is very important to check if the cloud storage platforms offer the best file sharing options. Dropbox and Google Drive, lets you share files and folders and are quite the same in terms of the features offered. However, Dropbox is better as it offers a bit more than compared to Google Drive in terms of file sharing. Dropbox lets you set passwords and expiration date for the shared files so that you are one who can access those files, and once the expiration date passes then sharing files will stop immediately. Google Drive does not offer such a feature in terms of file sharing.

•    Data sync
Both (Google Drive & Dropbox) leading storage service providers offer their own data syncing methods having different data syncing speed as well. When it comes to finding the right cloud storage solution, data sync stays on the top of the priority list. In terms of syncing, Google Drive lets the downloads and uploads to be synced with the entire document, but if you have a slow internet then syncing files on Google might be slow and might even lead to the loss of files to be synced. On the other hand, Dropbox syncs the files in blocks which is much faster as compared to that of Google Drive, and it even allows to access the latest version of the file in any other device as well.

•    Storage security
To keep the files safe from hackers it is best not to use the cloud storage services because the files being stored in cloud storage requires additional protection. When it comes to security, Google Drive provides 2FA or two-factor authentication support allowing you to secure your files using an authenticator app and by signing in on your phone. On the other hand, Dropbox also offers an authentication process along with a password-less login-in process which might compromise data security. Here Google Drive is the clear winner and offers the best and necessary to secure your data while it’s stored on their servers.

Apart from finding newer ways for secure cloud storage, it is also important to know your requirements first as both Google Drive and Dropbox have adopted different standards that are widely accepted across the globe. These two cloud storage services are almost the same but only differs by minor additions and subtractions.