Dropbox vs. IBM Aspera on Cloud

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Dropbox
Score 8.6 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
IBM Aspera on Cloud
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
IBM Aspera on Cloud is an on-demand SaaS offering for global content transfer and exchange. It enables organizations to move large files and data sets securely and reliably across on-premises and multi-cloud environments at high speed. With Aspera on Cloud, organizations can store and access files and folders across multiple cloud-based and on-premises storage systems. Sharing among users is as simple as browsing or drag-and-drop — no matter where the files are stored — making…
$1.01
per month per GB transferred
Pricing
DropboxIBM Aspera on Cloud
Editions & Modules
Plus
$9.99
per month
Essentials
$18
per month
Business
$20
per month per user
Business Plus
$26
per month per user
Basic
Free
Pay as You Go
USD 1.01
per month per GB transferred
Essentials Edition
Starting at $250.20
per year
Standard Plus Edition
Starting at $7488
per year
Premium Edition
Contact Sales
per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
DropboxIBM Aspera on Cloud
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
DropboxIBM Aspera on Cloud
Considered Both Products
Dropbox
Chose Dropbox
Dropbox offers a simpler, fast and reliable file synchronization.
Chose Dropbox
Dropbox makes it easier to share files with clients outside my organization.
Chose Dropbox
Google Drive is slower and less reliably syncs. But it is excellent as a collaboration tool and permissions are incredibly easy to resolve. If we need to work in the cloud on written, sheet, or presentation documents, my preference is on Google Drive and their ecosystem.

WeTrans…
Chose Dropbox
Dropbox and OneDrive share many similar features. OneDrive excels in integration with other Microsoft products, but this can make the platform feel clunkier and more unwieldly. Dropbox excels in providing a suite of simple, easy to use tools that get the job done. The platform …
Chose Dropbox
This platform is easy to use and is a reliable source for data storage .
Chose Dropbox
Dropbox is much better for file reliability, large asset management, and creative team workflows. It's definitely more reliable for file syncing (especially large files)
Chose Dropbox
All of these product offer reliable cloud storage and file sharing capabilities but Dropbox is easy to use,fast file synchronization and smooth user experience.Team members were able to adopt it quickly with minimal training. Compared to other products it provide more …
Chose Dropbox
Dropbox does everything the others do that we need, and is fast, trouble-free, and offers document signing.
Chose Dropbox
Dropbox has similar characteristics as Microsoft SharePoint. Both have the ability to share files and access them from multiple devices. Both offer upgrades to higher levels of storage capacity. I tend to use Dropbox more for personal files or ones that I want to share outside …
Chose Dropbox
We looked at several solutions for file sharing and found Dropbox to have the most options and functions that we require.
Chose Dropbox
I can work on InDesign need to download them
Chose Dropbox
Regarding the core syncing experience on macOS, Dropbox has been rock-solid and the best among the ones I listed here. Also, it provides a native Linux client, which makes it more cross-platform. I do still use iCloud and Google Drive for other purposes. But for the main file …
Chose Dropbox
The other platform has too many limitations on the storage end, and since I was already a client of Dropbox, it was easier to stay with the same platform.
Chose Dropbox
easier and what we need is all in one place
Chose Dropbox
Hate to be a broken record but it all goes back to ease of use and doing business. OneDrive and iCloud have extra steps to give access and it becomes cumbersome
Chose Dropbox
Years ago I used Flickrr to share my photos. Dropbox was easier to use 13 years ago and I've been very satisfied ever since.
Chose Dropbox
Dropbox has the best value to feature ratio- and is so much more responsive and reliable than Google Drive- it is almost unusable for storing large media files especially folders of files!
Chose Dropbox
I find that Dropbox works best for me, because I'm able to simply visit a website, drop off my files, and create a shareable link. Everything in Dropbox is more organised and quicker than the other products I've used - at least, in my experience.
Chose Dropbox
Dropbox ergonomy is better & makes it easy to navigate in the app
Chose Dropbox
We still use both, but we use Dropbox more for media files (photos, videos, photoshop files etc.) due to it's enhanced searching, organization and visual layout.
Chose Dropbox
I prefer Dropbox due to the amount of features available as well as the esthetic of the platform. It just feels more premium & capable than some of it's competitors. It also is able to organize a lot easier. I have found the mobile usability to be far superior than some other …
Chose Dropbox
Dropbox is more well-rounded as far as capabilities. The other is geared more towards documents.
IBM Aspera on Cloud
Chose IBM Aspera on Cloud
FTP tools are reliable but slow for large files, where as Aspera delivers and supports high speed transfers. For file sharing tools One drive is suitable but for bulk transfers its undoubtedly no other than Aspera can support through that delivery.
Chose IBM Aspera on Cloud
IBM Turbonomic, IBM AIX and IBM Storage FlashSystem
Chose IBM Aspera on Cloud
It realy work well with its AI enhanced efficiency and power to store and send large volume of data securely.
Chose IBM Aspera on Cloud
High‑speed, secure file transfer and collaboration platform with many other features. Best for the media and broadcast industry, to which we belong.
Chose IBM Aspera on Cloud
We previously used FTP for small file transfers but it was unreliable for large file transfers and often we had to start over and spend double or triple time then expected but with IBM Aspera on Cloud al transfers are in minutes and automatically resumes in case of bad …
Chose IBM Aspera on Cloud
I used TokenOne at my last Job. It is a good product. I would describe Aspera as a more enterprise-ready solution. It gives you the ability to scale.
Chose IBM Aspera on Cloud
Terrible for large files.
No audit trail.
Chose IBM Aspera on Cloud
Teams can be really slow and the downloads sometimes come out corrupted or the program will just quit or it doesn't seem to like all files to download. While IBM Aspera is more universal and versatile with the files it downloads. Teams might look flashy but its not the best …
Chose IBM Aspera on Cloud
IBM Aspera always surpassed the competition in terms of features and admin/user friendliness. The cost per Gibabyte is the best, with a very simple cost structure. One element : Total amount of data transferred. Coming from a company that has been one of the first 5 customers …
Chose IBM Aspera on Cloud
IBM Aspera on Cloud is a de facto industry solution and occasionally a requirement to work with some of our partners.
Chose IBM Aspera on Cloud
We've also used cloud storage services like Dropbox, Google Drive, and Amazon S3. While they're great for file sharing, they weren't optimized for high-speed transfer of large files.
Chose IBM Aspera on Cloud
IBM Aspera on Cloud offered better security, encryption and compliance
Chose IBM Aspera on Cloud
It is not as comparable since they are different products
Chose IBM Aspera on Cloud
These cloud storage products deliver sufficient space to store data and access and have an array of ways to transfer this data and keep it secure. IBM Aspera on Cloud focuses on the transfer and makes it a lot faster mainly due to its patented tech and altered UDP protocol. …
Chose IBM Aspera on Cloud
It was the proficient cost for delivering large files
Chose IBM Aspera on Cloud
Aspera comes with IBM cloud so there isn’t really a choice. Since it’s built-in, it integrates well and there was no need to buy another solution. Therefore, I did not consider other options. It worked fine, gave access files, push data securely, and did it faster than standard …
Chose IBM Aspera on Cloud
Aspera was used by most of our members (but not all), IBM consultancy was able to help for setting up the infrastructure in a couple of hours. This was quick and effective. We were able also to use quickly the ASPERA API with external tools to make exchanges between Aspera sites.
Chose IBM Aspera on Cloud
They are all good services as well for smaller files, but for large files using a service like Aspera is imperative since otherwise, you have to start an upload/download all over if it stalls or fails.
Chose IBM Aspera on Cloud
Aspera works with external entities that don't have Google accounts. Its a less of a headache to integrate or force people to use Google products.
Features
DropboxIBM Aspera on Cloud
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
Dropbox
8.1
Ratings
3% below category average
IBM Aspera on Cloud
-
Ratings
Versioning8.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Video files7.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Audio files8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Document collaboration8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Access control8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
File search7.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Device sync8.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Cloud Storage Security & Administration
Comparison of Cloud Storage Security & Administration features of Product A and Product B
Dropbox
8.3
Ratings
4% below category average
IBM Aspera on Cloud
-
Ratings
User and role management7.70 Ratings00 Ratings
File organization8.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Device management8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Cloud Storage Platform
Comparison of Cloud Storage Platform features of Product A and Product B
Dropbox
8.3
Ratings
4% below category average
IBM Aspera on Cloud
-
Ratings
Performance8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Reliability8.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Storage Reports8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
DropboxIBM Aspera on Cloud
Small Businesses
SugarSync
SugarSync
Score 3.8 out of 10
DataMotion
DataMotion
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Druva Security Cloud
Druva Security Cloud
Score 9.4 out of 10
DataMotion
DataMotion
Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Druva Security Cloud
Druva Security Cloud
Score 9.4 out of 10
Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT
Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT
Score 7.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
DropboxIBM Aspera on Cloud
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(0 ratings)
9.3
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.2
(0 ratings)
8.6
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.8
(0 ratings)
7.9
(0 ratings)
Availability
8.9
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.6
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.1
(0 ratings)
1.0
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.0
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.9
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.2
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.2
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
DropboxIBM Aspera on Cloud
Likelihood to Recommend
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
Read full review
IBM Aspera on Cloud is a great tool for the ones who are looking for a tool which can transfer large datasets, backups, raw files etc., quickly. I think that it is well suited where data transfer at high speed is required and reliability is important. However, it can be less useful for smaller files or data transfer as it can be done with basic tools.
Read full review
Pros
  • Ensures documents are up to date, even with multiple users accessing the same documents.
  • I love that if a team member accidentally deletes a file, I can find it and restore it.
  • I like that I can edit from the web or have the app downloaded.
Read full review
  • Ease of use: the Graphical User Interface doesn't require technical know-how to operate
  • Delivery Receipts: this allows us the confidence to know our files have reached our customers
  • Activity Monitor: lets you know how much data you have used, which is important for budgeting reasons.
Read full review
Cons
  • I’d like to be able to hover over an image/document and have it expand/enlarge without actually opening it
  • I’d love to see a carousel that lets me thumb through more quickly
  • I’m almost always in thumbnail view. I’d like to see them re-organize automatically when something is moved or deleted instead of leaving an empty space.
  • AI options for photo editing.
  • Easier pdf markups
Read full review
  • Track upload/download usage OVERALL to know how much space is left
  • Track cloud storage overall to know how much space is left
  • More easily send single links to users for download, rather than full access (I know it is possible, but it is not intuitive)
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
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.
Read full review
1) It works. 2) Is is secure 3) It is fast It provides firms the ability to communicate with vendors other clients and new clients in a way that will help you grow your business. In our business, flies are getting larger larger and can hold companies back in their overall business goals.
Read full review
Usability
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.
Read full review
The usability can be challenging for new or non-technical users.The interface may feel complex for simple file-sharing tasks and requiring installation of the Aspera connect client for high-speed transfers add extra steps. Initial setup and permission management also take some time to understand.With a more intuitive UI and simplified onboarding, the overall usability would improve significantly.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
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.
Read full review
We never had an issue with the product. The product works and is always available.
Read full review
Performance
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.
Read full review
Performance is great!
Read full review
Support Rating
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.
Read full review
The support from IBM is fast and reliable. Very knowledgeable engineers provide you with the support on Aspera. We had a very good experience when opened tickets and we were able to get our issues resolved quickly. Most solutions are provided within a day so you can expect a quick turnaround time. Overall, the support has been very good.
Read full review
In-Person Training
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.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Online Training
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!
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
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.
Read full review
The service provided by the authorized vendor was excellent. It was a good collaboration between the vendor IT team and internal IT team. They provided us with a timeline and we verified and approved that timeline. Daily stand ups and weekly meetups were conducted to update the internal team on progress. They were able to deliver all deliverables on time also, they conducted both alpha testing and beta version testing in time. Overall, they were able to complete the implementation in the given timeline.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
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.
Read full review
We previously used FTP for small file transfers but it was unreliable for large file transfers and often we had to start over and spend double or triple time then expected but with IBM Aspera on Cloud al transfers are in minutes and automatically resumes in case of bad connection saving us the time to start over .
Read full review
Scalability
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.
Read full review
It is an outstanding product. It is proven and works well. IBM has thought of everything as the product works well and it can scale. I highly recomend this product.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • I access my Dropbox account from anywhere—any computer, my smartphone —is very accessible while still secure.
  • I would like it to be more editable with existing projects. This could be just me.
  • I would like it to integrate better with other systems, such as email and Office.
Read full review
  • The delays in transfers have cost money with other departments so we had to pay overtime for freelancers on the delay.
  • Fast downloads sometimes making our job so much easier
  • Sometimes there are no corruptions and they are swift and less stressful.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Dropbox Screenshots

Screenshot of the action bar, that sits across the browser page can be used to record the screen, edit PDFs, upload files, create folders, get signatures, or send and track documents.Screenshot of Dropbox Replay, that lets collaborators leave frame-accurate feedback and markups directly on project files.Screenshot of Dropbox Capture, which can be used to take screen recordings, screenshots, and GIFs with one click and share them with a link.Screenshot of the interface where Dropbox lets users upload, edit, send, and sign PDFs in one place.

IBM Aspera on Cloud Screenshots

Screenshot of automated workflowsScreenshot of simple transferScreenshot of transfer management