Apple iCloud vs. Dropbox

Apple iCloud

596 Reviews and Ratings

Dropbox

4083 Reviews and Ratings

Overview
Product	Rating	Most Used By	Product Summary	Starting Price
Apple iCloud	Score 7.9 out of 10	N/A	Apple iCloud is a document management software offering from Apple. It includes features such as access to music, photos, calendars, contacts, and documents, and it is built into every new iOS device.	$0.99 per month
Dropbox	Score 8.3 out of 10	N/A	Dropbox is a cloud storage solution, equipped with features that help users to save time, improve productivity, and collaborate with others. Users can edit PDFs, share videos, sign documents, and collaborate with stakeholders without leaving Dropbox.	$9.99 per month

Pricing

Apple iCloud

Dropbox

Editions & Modules

50GB: $0.99
per month
200GB: $2.99
per month
2TB: $9.99
per month

Plus: $9.99
per month
Essentials: $18
per month
Business: $20
per month per user
Business Plus: $26
per month per user
Basic: Free

Offerings

Pricing Offerings
Apple iCloud	Dropbox
Free Trial
No	No
Free/Freemium Version
No	No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No	No

Entry-level Setup Fee

No setup fee

No setup fee

Additional Details

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More Pricing Information

Community Pulse
	Apple iCloud	Dropbox
Considered Both Products	Apple iCloud Verified User Director Chose Apple iCloud Apple iCloud is great for keeping me on the same page with all of my devices as far as photos, contacts, calendars, etc., are concerned. However, Box or Dropbox are easier to use for collaboration. I like the ability in Dropbox or Box to have a folder on my desktop that … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Technician Chose Apple iCloud We actually use both Dropbox and iCloud depending on what is needed. We like iCloud because we mostly have Apple devices and it works seamlessly with those devices. We use Dropbox when we need to share documents and collaborate with multiple users. Incentivized Helpful? Anand Chhatpar CTO Chose Apple iCloud iCloud is the most well integrated into Apple's operating systems. There is no comparison between Meldium's auth, which is browser based, and KeyChain, which is pre-installed and integrated into iOS and Mac OS. Dropbox doesn't do backup/restore of logins and auth-data yet, … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Executive Chose Apple iCloud We actually use all three, apple iCloud, Google Drive, and Dropbox. We use them for storing different kinds of files. With word documents and excel documents, we use Google Drive. For large saved files (designer files) we use Dropbox, and for Apple we use all of our photos, and … Incentivized Helpful? Mike McCloskey Owner Chose Apple iCloud Dropbox is a fine product. The thing that makes iCloud shine is its deep integration with Apple and Apple's legendary support. Finally, we are confident that Apple will be fully committed to privacy and our data remains safe. But, none of this is to denigrate Dropbox in any … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Project Manager Chose Apple iCloud Apple iCloud is more user-friendly and universal than either Box or Dropbox because most people already have an Apple product and an Apple account. Other products are fine to use, but they require that all users create a unique account and login, and that isn't always ideal, … Incentivized Helpful? Michael Timms Network Administrator II Chose Apple iCloud I prefer Google Drive to Apple iCloud. That being said, iCloud does have a huge and very loyal fanbase, and as I have seen in my career it is not going anywhere. If you need a cloud platform just for filesharing, I would pick Dropbox or Google Drive over iCloud. If you need a … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Professional Chose Apple iCloud Google Drive is great and it offers way more free storage than Apple iCloud, however, Google is known for sharing their user's data much more freely than Apple. To some people, this might not be a big deal. I prefer to pay a few dollars for added security. Dropbox is a … Incentivized Helpful? Emily Hammell Marketing and Social Media Coordinator Chose Apple iCloud iCloud integrates all my date from phone and laptop and was more affordable. I love the security and customization options. File storage and organization is great and you can't beat having all your documents in one easily accessible place. Sharing can be easier with Box or Dropb… Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Director Chose Apple iCloud While I have to use Dropbox on occasion, I greatly prefer to use iCloud for file sharing. I also have used Google's Apps, and because I'm a Mac/iPhone user, iCloud has more easily fit into the normal routine of what I'm already doing and using. Dropbox has some minor features … Incentivized Helpful? TM Thomas Myers Associate Chose Apple iCloud Dropbox is the king of cloud environments, and where Apple iCloud should go to. I have tried others but don't even remember their names now. We have our own personal cloud as well. I have used cloud environments since 2007 and would love to see Apple iCloud step up to a full … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Project Manager Chose Apple iCloud Already a part of the Apple ecosystem, so if it suits our needs, we will use it. We have a Department shared Dropbox account specifically for sharing large projects with vendors, so Apple iCloud is for lighter internal projects such as shared spreadsheets for project … Incentivized Helpful? Gavin Scott-Miller IT Consultant Chose Apple iCloud iCloud is probably the best option for someone who uses primarily Apple devices and services. If you are multi-platform in your technology use I would make sure you test out the free version of iCloud before you make the switch, Apple likes to play nice with Apple, which means … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Administrator Chose Apple iCloud One Drive can allow users to collaborate in realtime and rare crashes on documents. The storage is very generous, and pricing for business, especially non-profits, is fair. One Drive also allows for better photo storage for us as a school. We can keep yearbook items and also … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User C-Level Executive Chose Apple iCloud Apple iCloud is specially made for iOS devices. Nothing and no one will ever be able to service an Apple product's needs better than Apple themselves. The Apple iCloud software is designed specifically for iOS devices, ease of use, and mindless security for automatic backups. … Incentivized Helpful? MK Matt Kennicott Vice President of Communications Chose Apple iCloud The security and functionality of iCloud beats out any other products I've tried. While two-factor authentication is available elsewhere, Apple seems to take security a step further with notifications across all devices. In addition, the pricing is right - the low cost of 1TB … Incentivized Helpful? Joshua Melder Customer Account Manager Chose Apple iCloud Overall, iCloud performs quite well against some of its larger competitors. In my opinion, iCloud may be better suited for personal and social sharing compared to business cloud platforms like OneDrive and Google Drive. iCloud is incredibly strong if your organization is fully … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Employee Chose Apple iCloud Apple iCloud is extremely similar to Google Drive. You’re able to access files from anywhere, even a PC, without needing to be on the device where the file was originally created. Incentivized Helpful? Gary Gray Founder Chose Apple iCloud While the others are superior for file sharing with other people or teams, they aren't part of the Apple ecosystem and as such don't provide the core functionally that iCloud provides of in-app integration. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User C-Level Executive Chose Apple iCloud Unlike other solutions, iCloud automatically backs up data without the user needing to download an additional application. Additionally, iCloud is the only application to keep and manage iPhone backups. Lastly, iCloud's pricing options are much more favorable than the other … Incentivized Helpful? Shelby Bowden Graduate Research Assistant Chose Apple iCloud I selected Apple icloud mainly because it is the best for using with pesky apple file types, but overall it does a pretty poor job against competitors. It is more expensive, offers less storage, and is much more difficult to use. I'd stick to an alternative program if it were … Incentivized Helpful? Jeff Eaton Senior Digital Strategist Chose Apple iCloud iCloud is better than any competitors for single-user cross-machine file syncing on iOS and MacOS devices. It's passable for Windows machines but definitely not as well integrated into the OS. For multi-user file sharing scenarios (putting all of a team's shared files in one … Incentivized Helpful? Matt Heerema Director Chose Apple iCloud For a Mac user in a Mac-only shop, iCloud is by far the best of breed. If your company has a mix of Mac and Windows users, it will not be the right primary tool (go to Google Drive for that). iCloud is a necessary and built-in part of a Mac user's experience and so will … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Employee Chose Apple iCloud Apple iCloud is convenient, as most team members already have Apple ID's and devices. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Account Manager Chose Apple iCloud I don't think it is enterprise ready like Box or Dropbox, and seems to cater more to individual users, so I use it on a personal level just for redundancy. Incentivized Helpful?	Dropbox Verified User C-Level Executive Chose Dropbox Most people are only familiar with Apple iCloud if they are Apple/Mac users. iCloud is also a little harder to set up access security on specific documents. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Director Chose Dropbox Apple iCloud is more used for personal use. Google Drive for sharing documents during calls. Dropbox for work use & thousands of files/photos. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Manager Chose Dropbox Stacks up fine, I dont prefer it but it works very well. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Employee Chose Dropbox iCloud struggles to sync and I don't trust it as much as Dropbox for a business setting. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Director Chose Dropbox Dropbox is much faster and easier to use than OneDrive. Google Drive is nice as it pairs with email, one advantage it has over Dropbox. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Consultant Chose Dropbox It's a bit faster and more reliable than iCloud but not as great for photo sharing or management. It is much easier to access than iCloud, with fewer authentication steps. Overall, I like the format better, as well as the fact that I can control it more easily (and set it in … Incentivized Helpful? NS Neel Shah Student Chose Dropbox Better reliability and affordable solutions for storage. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Employee Chose Dropbox Dropbox has a better pricing for our office and also has better integration and speed to deliver files with team members, clients and directors of area. Incentivized Helpful? Dan Letchinger AV Consultant/Producer Chose Dropbox Google doesn’t integrate as well/display files as well via browser. iCloud is the worst and deletes files randomly, just about the only thing it does well is photo sync but even then I recently lost all my photos taken before 2014. Only reason I still have them is because of … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Engineer Chose Dropbox Google Drive has a limited maximum storage option and is not very convenient to use now. 1. Google Drive cannot easily open files from other formats other than their own. 2. Google does poorly in converting these files to their native format and scrabbling the contents in the … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Consultant Chose Dropbox Dropbox has easy to use UI and the storage options that are available for free are very user friendly and helpful for sharing and storing important and sensitive data. Incentivized Helpful? Aaron Henderson Marketing Specialist Chose Dropbox Dropbox gives us more control over what we are trying to accomplish, and that is key. Egnyte wanted such a large outline of capital to get their system up, and then we would become married to just their system. I didn't like that because then we were at their mercy, and with … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Board Member Chose Dropbox Google Drive and OneDrive are very complicated to use. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Professional Chose Dropbox No others; I want this one to be better and HIPAA-compliant. Incentivized Helpful? Nils Petter Nordskar Owner Chose Dropbox I only use Google products for smaller projects - Dropbox is my go-to-place for storing and sharing tons of information. Incentivized Helpful? TD Tami Deleeuw CFO Chose Dropbox It sits in the middle of these two. iCloud is expensive and hard if you are not on an IOS device and google is a bit the same but on an android front. Dropbox is a bit more agnostic on this front. Incentivized Helpful? Michael Ng Lead Photographer Chose Dropbox As stated earlier, Dropbox, as an agnostic platform, just plays well with a wide variety of devices. This broad compatibility is the primary reason why I decided to switch over to the platform. Close integration within a suite of apps is hardly worthwhile when it hinders your … Helpful? NL Niccolo Lentini Software Engineer Chose Dropbox Dropbox has results more easier to manage with respect to them. Incentivized Helpful? Chrisostomos Prodromou Senior lecturer Chose Dropbox I've not considered others, but I find that Dropbox is so versatile that I have not considered another platform. Dropbox makes it so easy for what I need to do. It allows me to store lots of related information tougher and to easily search for it. It allows me to share it too. Helpful? CR Chuck Ramage Controller Chose Dropbox iCloud I have used, but I prefer Dropbox as I believe it can be used on multiple platforms, whereas iCloud seems to require all users to have Apple hardware. OneDrive I have used as well, and it seems to work fine, but again iCloud seems to be used more universally and is … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Manager Chose Dropbox Dropbox is easier to use and friendly with all devices even if it's not Apple. Helpful? Verified User Manager Chose Dropbox I think Dropbox is just the simplest and focuses on a few things rather than trying to do too much. It also doesn't rely on having a web browser open which I really appreciate. Incentivized Helpful? AM Alece Montez Co-Executive Director Chose Dropbox Google is better when it comes to simultaneous collaborative work on documents. The version history in Google is also really helpful. I'd love to be able to upload directly to dropbox from our working documents in Google. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Account Manager Chose Dropbox I prefer iCloud for personal stuff, WeTransfer is convenient to receive files but I've never used it so send some. SharePoint and Google Drive are great if you're in one of the ecosystems but Dropbox is great if you're in several ecosystems because of the way it interacts with … Incentivized Helpful?
Top Pros	Pro Apple devices Pro Set up Pro Apple products	Pro Easy to use Pro Large files Pro Sharing files
Top Cons	Minus Web interface Minus Storage space Minus Windows users	Minus Free version Minus Customer service Minus Google drive

Features

Apple iCloud

Dropbox

File Sharing & Management

Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
	Apple iCloud 9.1 74 Ratings 7% above category average	Dropbox 7.6 731 Ratings 11% below category average
Versioning	8.750 Ratings	7.4575 Ratings
Video files	9.270 Ratings	7.8572 Ratings
Audio files	9.267 Ratings	8.0514 Ratings
Document collaboration	8.963 Ratings	7.6638 Ratings
Access control	8.461 Ratings	7.3681 Ratings
File search	9.766 Ratings	7.1708 Ratings
Device sync	9.473 Ratings	7.8673 Ratings

Cloud Storage Security & Administration

Comparison of Cloud Storage Security & Administration features of Product A and Product B
	Apple iCloud 8.7 70 Ratings 0% below category average	Dropbox 7.5 701 Ratings 15% below category average
User and role management	8.654 Ratings	7.3641 Ratings
File organization	8.266 Ratings	8.0691 Ratings
Device management	9.467 Ratings	7.2598 Ratings

Cloud Storage Platform

Comparison of Cloud Storage Platform features of Product A and Product B
	Apple iCloud 9.5 74 Ratings 10% above category average	Dropbox 7.9 691 Ratings 8% below category average
Performance	9.674 Ratings	7.9685 Ratings
Reliability	9.674 Ratings	8.2689 Ratings
Storage Reports	9.158 Ratings	7.6526 Ratings

Best Alternatives
	Apple iCloud	Dropbox
Small Businesses	SugarSync Score 10.0 out of 10	SugarSync Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies	Druva Data Resiliency Cloud Score 9.7 out of 10	Druva Data Resiliency Cloud Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises	Druva Data Resiliency Cloud Score 9.7 out of 10	Druva Data Resiliency Cloud Score 9.7 out of 10
All Alternatives	View all alternatives	View all alternatives

User Ratings
	Apple iCloud	Dropbox
Likelihood to Recommend	9.2 (74 ratings)	7.7 (754 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew	10.0 (4 ratings)	6.3 (29 ratings)
Usability	10.0 (21 ratings)	8.0 (27 ratings)
Availability	- (0 ratings)	7.7 (3 ratings)
Performance	8.2 (12 ratings)	6.4 (7 ratings)
Support Rating	7.5 (20 ratings)	5.0 (33 ratings)
Online Training	- (0 ratings)	8.2 (2 ratings)
Implementation Rating	- (0 ratings)	9.1 (3 ratings)
Product Scalability	- (0 ratings)	7.7 (3 ratings)

User Testimonials
	Apple iCloud	Dropbox
Likelihood to Recommend	Apple iCloud is also great to keep access to photos synced across devices. Ex: I can snap a photo at a job site and have access to that photo on my desktop when I return to my office. I can then drop the photo into a document that is stored in iCloud and have instant access to that document on my iPad at a client's office later in the day. Seamless transitions make life much easier. Incentivized Doug Fish Finance Director Read full review	Dropbox It's good for organizations with a lot of information that use Microsoft Suite directly. The fact that you can save things for ten years now is awesome, too. We use Google, and it's a bit cumbersome now. Also, getting the team to manually upload everything they're making and using on other platforms is hard, but I know that's always the case with technology. It's pretty robust, so there should be training. Incentivized KR Kelsey Redfoot Office Manager & Bookkeeper Read full review
Pros	Apple Syncing files, appointments, Notes and contacts. If I'm away from home, and set an appointment using my phone, that appointment automatically updates real time to my home laptop and vice-versa. It stores files (e.g photos) nicely Once it's set up, it's fairly easy to use. Incentivized Michelle Braun Learning & Organizational Development Manager Read full review	Dropbox Shared data among all peoples who have access to certain folders. Data stored online so it frees lots of space from the personal computer. Updates really fast. You can access all the information on a file on your computer and on the Dropbox online platform. Incentivized Diana Lamaj Student Read full review
Cons	Apple Customization - iCloud is great at the stuff it does well. But it lacks features that some competitors (in Google Drive or Dropbox) do really well. API support for third-party apps is really great for some other people. Remote use - Managing or accessing information from iCloud while not on one of your logged-in apple devices can sometimes be an issue. From a work computer for example. It doable, but the experience is much less user-friendly. Ability to edit documents on the cloud similar to google docs or some other competitors Incentivized Gavin Scott-Miller IT Consultant Read full review	Dropbox In my opinion the website is hard to use. Instant syncing: I have to go back and forth to get the green check in the desktop app. Have a way to open the Dropbox file by default as an Excel on the web instead of an uneditable Dropbox version of the Excel page first. Incentivized Sean Park Head of Talent Read full review
Likelihood to Renew	Apple It's so seamless that I can't imagine another product doing a better job synchronizing all of my devices. I simply do not think about it at all. Everything happens behind the scenes and I'm confident that Apple keeps my data safe and secure. I'm a happy customer as far as this is concerned. I have not had a bad experience with this service. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	Dropbox Dropbox is a user-friendly, easy tool which requires little to no skill and they offer a free version with a good amount of storage available. There are other file sharing tools available however at a cost. Dropbox free version I have used for years and it serves every purpose I need. Incentivized Michelle Hidalgo Development and Marketing Manager Read full review
Usability	Apple While it may be great to use with other Apple products, I find it's an absolutist-style workflow to be debilitating and to lead to many problems. When you sign into the cloud, it completely takes over your device in many ways that you don't notice at first until there is a problem. Incentivized Shelby Bowden Graduate Research Assistant Read full review	Dropbox [Its] functionality and usability are very good, however[,] on every computer that I have ever installed the app on, Dropbox assumes I want it to update the files every time I start the system up. That's not always true, but the app assumes it is. I can switch that function off, but I would rather that function default to "Off" and then I can decide to turn it on as needed. Incentivized Daniel Epstein Producer/Videographer/Editor Read full review
Performance	Apple Occasionally, large files that haven't yet been synced require a few minutes to pull down but I've rarely noticed delays. It does a good job of keeping data cached on my local machines while updating them with changes from other machines transparently. Incentivized Jeff Eaton Senior Digital Strategist Read full review	Dropbox Dropbox is really useful, you can access any file from anywhere and you can upload and even edit files online, but, sometimes it can be slow. Downloading, uploading, and syncing is a bit slow, it can take several minutes. Furthermore, the search engine for large amounts of data can be slow too and it is not powerful. Incentivized AR Adriano Rosa Programmer Read full review
Support Rating	Apple Apple customer service is fantastic. iCloud is built with Apple in mind and its design is extremely intuitive and user-friendly. Additionally, whenever our team has encountered issues, the speed of Apple support has been more than timely in addressing our issues and solving our request. We have encountered relatively few issues in my time with the platform and this only improves our overall score for those who keep the platform stable. Incentivized Joshua Melder Customer Account Manager Read full review	Dropbox It has not been necessary to go to customer support lately, since everything works perfectly. However, I must add that at the beginning when I started using Dropbox, and I had any doubts about how it worked, customer support was always attentive and found the best solutions effectively. Arianna Wilson Web Design Development Specialist Read full review
Online Training	Apple No answers on this topic	Dropbox I did not personally take any training for Dropbox so I am self taught but I know when our Vice President selected Dropbox, he personally did do some training modules on it and I'm assuming it was very easy and simple to understand since he now acts like he is a pro at it! Incentivized AG Andrea Garofalo Office Manager Read full review
Implementation Rating	Apple No answers on this topic	Dropbox I needed to stay current in improving my daily operations. Dropbox was suggested to me by a former colleague two-years ago and I've been using it just fine ever since. Annesa L Lacey Founder & CEO Read full review
Alternatives Considered	Apple Apple does offer an alternative to Office & the Google Docs family but trusting to use it with both internal and external parties is tough. Google is more universal and easier for 3rd parties to collaborate with. Apple works well for a closed internal group that is native to Apple's ecosystem. Google offers more storage space than Apple Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	Dropbox GOOGLE has no customer service, although it's the most convenient. Because I purchased from a 3rd party (my company account) it won't allow me to upgrade which is the only reason I was seeking out a third party. I do enjoy how easy it is to transfer large files. Incentivized Lisa Ullery Gallegos, CPDT-KA Owner Read full review
Return on Investment	Apple If I lose track of my credentials or my continuing education documentation, I could end up not being able to renew my certification. This would lead to a major loss in revenue. Time is money and having all of my required documents easily accessible in iCloud saves me time and allows me to work more efficiently. My Apple devices were certainly not cheap purchases. iCloud has allowed me to maximize my productivity through synchronizing my work no matter which device I'm working on. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	Dropbox Positive - ability to share and save 1000's of event photos from past events. Negative - unable to revert updated/edited images. Negative - doesn't notify me if file I upload has any issues or not. Positive - ability to create large-size Dropbox folders and share directly with multiple team members. Incentivized Jamie Barren Vice President of Marketing Read full review
ScreenShots		Dropbox Screenshots