Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) vs. Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage vs. Dropbox

Amazon S3 is a great service to safely backup your data where redundancy is guaranteed and the cost is fair. We use Amazon S3 for data that we backup and hope we never need to access but in the case of a catastrophic or even small slip of the finger with the delete command we know our data and our client's data is safely backed up by Amazon S3. Transferring data into Amazon S3 is free but transferring data out has an associated, albeit low, cost per GB. This needs to be kept in mind if you plan on transferring out a lot of data frequently. There may be other cost effective options although Amazon S3 prices are really low per GB. Transferring 150TB would cost approximately $50 per month.

Incentivized

Providing the option of purchasing a much longer archive if desired or limiting the length of time in maintaining what's been saved is brilliant. It makes all the sense in the world. At the very least, unless the retention period is clearly mandated somehow, it causes a decision maker (especially a small business owner) to think strategically about what the storage needs truly are.

Incentivized

Dropbox is well suited for sending File Requests to clients to upload documents, and for me to send File Transfers to clients with documents for them to download. I can create separate files for each client, and also create files within files, which is very convenient and useful for my business purposes. In Dropbox I can also see all of the File Requests that I have sent and it shows me how many times they've accessed it and how many files they uploaded. I can also see all of the File Transfers that I have made and whether how many times the client has accessed it and how many documents were downloaded. It also sends me notifications if the clients haven't downloaded their files yet so I can remind them. Dropbox Sign has been very easy to use, and I have already stated what could be changed with it

Incentivized

• Fantastic developer API, including AWS command line and library utilities.
• Strong integration with the AWS ecosystem, especially with regards to access permissions.
• It's astoundingly stable- you can trust it'll stay online and available for anywhere in the world.
• Its static website hosting feature is a hidden gem-- it provides perhaps the cheapest, most stable, most high-performing static web hosting available in PaaS.

Incentivized

• Tight integration with OEM backup application
• Among the lowest price per TB cloud backup provider
• AWS S3 service integration
• Optional services for initial seeding of large backup data sets
• Optional services for physical backup retrieval to speed up recovery

Incentivized

• I can share projects I need feedback on.
• I can make projects available to editors so that they can do their work.
• Dropbox is a place where I can store files that I can access from anywhere, even if I don't have my laptop with me at the time.
• I have an old friend who is an acting professor in Tokyo. He loves the dialogue that I write in my novels. He converts chapters into scenework for his acting students. They get very excited when there's new material!

• Web console can be very confusing and challenging to use, especially for new users
• Bucket policies are very flexible, but the composability of the security rules can be very confusing to get right, often leading to security rules in use on buckets other than what you believe they are

Incentivized

• Deleting the data is not simpler and requires manual intervention
• Integration with third party tools needs much improvement as there are very less tools that can be integrated.
• Fewer data centres presently that restrict options to meet specific geographic redundancy or data sovereignty requirements.

Incentivized

• Admid Control Can feels little basic it can be improve by easy access quick tabs for important button.
• Smart sync behaviour can be little confusing it can be improve by displaying more futuristic way
• Pricing and storage facility can be improve for really more demanding for a tool can be imporve.

Incentivized

Due to princing, availability and scalability.

Incentivized

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.

It is tricky to get it all set up correctly with policies and getting the IAM settings right. There is also a lot of lifecycle config you can do in terms of moving data to cold/glacier storage. It is also not to be confused with being a OneDrive or SharePoint replacement, they each have their own place in our environment, and S3 is used more by the IT team and accessed by our PHP applications. It is not necessarily used by an average everyday user for storing their pictures or documents, etc.

Incentivized

Since Backblaze added S3 compatibility a few years ago, it's become the most perfect online backup solution.

I also like their transparency in describing their platform and the reports of hard drive reliability are very interesting.

The free egress is priceless, too.

Incentivized

It works extremely well, and we have never had any issues with connecting or sharing files. It's very easy to use, and any team member can share, add, and delete files to a virtual drive. This is extremely helpful, and it's an amazing tool to use, ensuring everyone can connect and work together effectively.

I really recommend the product for the Dropbox availability is a great having very very less downtimes, they errors are less I have been faced yet, due to connectivity sometimes we are getting errors. Only sometimes the limitations of some features show some errors.

Incentivized

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.

AWS has always been quick to resolve any support ticket raised. S3 is no exception. We have only ever used it once to get a clarification regarding the costs involved when data is transferred between S3 and other AWS services or the public internet. We got a response from AWS support team within a day.

Incentivized

They immediately responded like in an example that I gave where one of our staff members accidentally deleted the whole Special Hope Network Dropbox, we immediately contacted Dropbox they walked us through the steps of how to retrieve the information and luckily enough we were able to retrieve the entire Dropbox and we have had back and forth with Dropbox on what to do when an employee leaves how to remove them how to add another employee.

The person for corporate product dealing and knowledge of the product explore and better and secure use are properly handover to us. Also provide full software and tool training from the basic to the pro level with each and every possible explanation. Provide many sessions regarding every doubt. Also Guide better suitable options for our business to migrate and integrate for the expansion in all places employee smoothly.

Incentivized

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!

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.

Overall, we found that Amazon S3 provided a lot of backend features Google Cloud Storage (GCS) simply couldn't compare to. GCS was way more expensive and really did not live up to it. In terms of setup, Google Cloud Storage may have Amazon S3 beat, however, as it is more of a pseudo advanced version of Google Drive, that was not a hard feat for it to achieve. Overall, evaluating GCS, in comparison to S3, was an utter disappointment.

Incentivized

Backblaze is definitely the cheapest and most cost effective out of the 6 other services I've used in the past. For personal use, they are by and away the best service available. For business use, I believe they are a very strong contender to be the #3 guys behind AWS and Linode.

Incentivized

I prefer the layout and visual aspect of Dropbox as it mirrors my files on my computer. I feel that I am more organized, and it's easier to find my files in Dropbox than it was with Google Drive.

I would recommend to this product directly to the sales team of Dropbox for the best deal provide to my referred person and provide the best service to them.

Incentivized

It's easy to integrate with the systems of Windows and Linux, easy to have web versions accessible, which provide the web login credentials. Also, it can be installed for individuals for the best autosync features.

Incentivized

Their services are highly rated for moving massive, complex data sets from legacy on-premise servers to the cloud with minimal downtime.

Incentivized

• It practically eliminated some real heavy storage servers from our premises and reduced maintenance cost.
• The excellent durability and reliability make sure the return of money you invested in.
• If the objects which are not active or stale, one needs to remove them. Those objects keep adding cost to each billing cycle. If you are handling a really big infrastructure, sometimes this creates quite a huge bill for preserving un-necessary objects/documents.

Incentivized

• Difficult to quantify the peace of mind Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage services provides.
• Based on the reported experiences of other Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage clients, recovery has been smooth. We have not yet had the need to use that function.
• Because Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage's service has been seamless, I feel much more confident in their ability to deliver what they promise when we have the need to expand or enhance what we are purchasing from them.

Incentivized

• When it works (usually if a client already has Dropbox, so they don't get the solicitation to sign up), it works flawlessly.
• I've had multiple clients not see the "continue with download only" at the bottom and email me to resend the media another way because they don't have a Dropbox account.