iCloud vs Dropbox: Which is the Best Cloud Storage and Why
Do you think it is hard to choose iCloud or Dropbox to store and manage your photos because both of them are popular? This post will help you by providing you with introductions and full comparisons of them. If you still can’t decide, the post will also show you the quickest way to sync iCloud Photos with Dropbox via MultCloud. After the synchronization, you can use them together.
April 17, 2023 | 4 minutes read
iCloud and Dropbox Overview
iCloud is one of the Apple services. It is used to store your photos, memos, documents, or other content on the cloud and update them on all your devices automatically. You can also share the content with your family and friends easily through iCloud. Besides, iCloud has more features, such as iCloud Photos which is used to save and sync photos and videos across different Apple devices.
Dropbox is a cloud-based file storage and sharing service. It allows its users to access the files that are saved on Dropbox on any device with the same Dropbox account. Others can upload files to your Dropbox through the Dropbox File Requests. You can also use Signatures on Dropbox to add a signature on the documents.
iCloud vs Dropbox: Which One is the Best?
The former parts introduce iCloud and Dropbox to you separately and you must have a basic understanding of them. This part will further compare iCloud Drive vs Dropbox from the perspectives of price and storage, accessible devices, syncing and sharing, and productivity tools.
iCloud vs Dropbox: Price and Storage
Both iCloud and Dropbox have their paid plans and the price, storage, and features of these plans are various.
You can get 5 GB of free storage as a new iCloud user. However, if you want to get more storage, it is necessary to upgrade to iCloud+ (iCloud’s paid plan). iCloud+ offers 3 choices.
The price of iCloud+ varies with the countries and districts. For the United States, the storage and price are showed in this chart.
| iCloud+ Storage/month | iCloud+ Price/month |
|---|---|
| 50 GB | $0.99 |
| 200 GB | $2.99 |
| 2 TB | $9.99 |
On the other hand, Dropbox gives every Basic user 2 GB of free storage to store files. Also, you have to upgrade to its paid plan to get more storage. There are 6 kinds of plans in Dropbox and the storage spreads from 2 TB to unlimited per month.
| Dropbox Plans | Price/month | Storage/month |
|---|---|---|
| Plus | $11.99 | 2 TB (1 user) |
| Family | $19.99 | 2 TB (up to 6 users) |
| Professional | $19.99 | 3 TB (1 user) |
| Professional | $18 | 5 TB (3+ users) |
| Advanced | $30 | Unlimited (3+users) |
| Enterprise | Customizable | Customizable |
iCloud vs Dropbox: Accessible Devices
Since iCloud is designed to seamlessly collaborate with Apple devices, you can use iCloud only if you are an iOS or macOS user. As an Apple user, you can use iCloud on your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac, or PC.
But Dropbox can be used more widely. It supports Android and iOS devices, as well as Windows and macOS computers. That means people who have any device can use Dropbox as long as their devices can be connected to a network.
iCloud vs Dropbox: Syncing and Sharing
If you turn on iCloud on your Apple devices, content like photos, contacts, and calendars will be synced from your devices to iCloud automatically when iCloud has enough storage. So, you can access the content on any device that you log in to the same iCloud account. For file-sharing, iCloud can be used to share files and folders with others. Also, you can decide whether the recipient can view and edit the shared files.
Unlike iCloud syncing content generally, Dropbox users can choose a specific file or folder to sync. But when you want to sync your computer or other devices to Dropbox, you have to go to its website or download the Dropbox app. To share files, Dropbox provides you with more sharing options, such as tracking changes made by collaborators in real time.
iCloud vs Dropbox: Productivity Tools
iCloud mainly integrates with the iWork suites of apps and these apps are free to use. iWork can be used to create documents, built spreadsheets, and design presentations on your Apple devices or PC. The content you created by iWork will be stored on iCloud and you can access or edit it on the iCloud website.
However, Dropbox integrates with Microsoft Office 365. In this regard, the documents, sheets, or other content edited on Office 365 can be stored on Dropbox instantly. Also, Dropbox allows multiple users to work on the same document simultaneously without switching websites between Dropbox and Office 365.
iCloud vs Dropbox: Summary
After the Dropbox vs iCloud comparison, you can see that Dropbox can perform better than iCloud when it is used for business because Dropbox has more customizable options. But if you are a personal user and you have Apple devices, iCloud can be a good choice since it has 5 GB of free storage overweighing the 2 GB of Dropbox.
Bonus Tip: Sync iCloud Photos with Dropbox via MultCloud
After introducing iCloud and Dropbox, and comparing Dropbox vs iCloud Drive, if you still can’t make a decision to use which one for photos, you may sync them. To sync photos between clouds, MultCloud can help you a lot. You can use MultCloud Cloud Sync to sync iCloud Photos and Dropbox easily without downloading and uploading. The steps for using Cloud Sync are showed below.
Step 1: Open MultCloud and click “Sign up Free” to get a free MultCloud account.
Step 2: Click “Add Cloud” and tap the iCloud Photos and Dropbox icons to add them to MultCloud. To log in to iCloud Photos, you have to go through the two-factor authentication and make sure that you have switched on iCloud Photos on the device.
Step 3: Tap “Cloud Sync” in the left sidebar and select the cloud drives or photos that you want to sync from/to. Or you can switch to two-way sync and the synchronization will run back and forth. Then click “Sync Now” and iCloud Photos is synced with Dropbox.
Note: If you want iCloud Photos to auto-sync with Dropbox, you can choose Real Time Sync instead of Normal Sync. Because Real Time Sync will run constantly unless you stop it manually or there is nothing that changes for 7 days.
Conclusion
You must know which is better between iCloud and Dropbox by the iCloud vs Dropbox comparison. If you think both of them are of great use, you can try the method showed in the bonus tip to sync iCloud with Dropbox by MultCloud Cloud Sync and make them work together.
Additionally, MultCloud has other functions such as Cloud Transfer, Cloud Backup, Share, and Remote Upload. If you don’t need to sync photos but only transfer from iCloud to Dropbox, you can also use MultCloud.
