Apple iCloud vs. Dropbox

Apple iCloud

598 Reviews and Ratings

Dropbox

4,201 Reviews and Ratings

Overview
Product	Rating	Most Used By	Product Summary	Starting Price
Apple iCloud	Score8.6 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	Score8.2 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

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

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

No setup fee

No setup fee

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Community Pulse
Key User Insights
	Apple iCloud	Dropbox
Considered Both Products	Apple Verified User Chose Apple iCloud Dropbox is more universal but has a higher price point that Apple iCloud and google while mid price point offers more options in software that allows for file editing and sharing directly in the document. Apple iCloud does not have that on offer. Apple iCloud is the lowest … Incentivized Helpful? Thomas Myers Associate in Marketing at C21 Myers Lakeland (Real Estate, 51-200 employees) 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 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? Verified User 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? Emily Hammell Marketing and Social Media Coordinator in Marketing at Becovic Management Group (Real Estate, 11-50 employees) 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 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? Michael Timms Network Administrator II in Information Technology at iQor (Telecommunications, 10,001+ employees) 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 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? Mike McCloskey Owner in Information Technology at Computer Source (Real Estate, 11-50 employees) 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 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? Anand Chhatpar CTO in Engineering at Growth Champ, a service by Fame Express LLC (Internet, 1-10 employees) 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 Chose Apple iCloud Apple iCloud allows to track devices when lost and uses end-to-end encryption for data such as iMessages of Health data. It also includes features of shared albums to optimize storage and can access these items through any Apple device in a quick and efficient way. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User 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? Matt Kennicott Vice President of Communications at The Waite Company (Public Relations and Communications, 11-50 employees) 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 in Corporate at Quad (Printing, 10,001+ employees) 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 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 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? Gavin Scott-Miller IT Consultant in Information Technology at Self-Employed (Information Technology and Services, 1-10 employees) 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? Gary Gray Founder in Information Technology at Tech Haven (Entertainment, 1-10 employees) 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 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 in Research & Development at Western Kentucky University (Higher Education, 1001-5000 employees) 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 in Professional Services at Lullabot (Internet, 51-200 employees) 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 at Mere Agency (Internet, 1-10 employees) 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 Chose Apple iCloud Apple iCloud is convenient, as most team members already have Apple ID's and devices. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User 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 Vaibhav Bakhshi Vice President of Design in Research & Development at Yellowfirst Experiences Private Limited (Information Technology & Services, 11-50 employees) Chose Dropbox - Dropbox beats Sync in every aspect, apart from pricing. - Google Drive has better search functionality, but otherwise lags behind Dropbox. - Apple iCloud is decent, but works only for Apple devices. Dropbox offers better sync features, controls, speed than all of these. I … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Dropbox Reliability, precise and seamless synchronisation are the top features that make Dropbox my preferred choice. Incentivized Helpful? Ishanie Sanchez-Rodriguez Approved Clinical Supervisor at Ishanie Sanchez (Mental Health Care, 1-10 employees) Chose Dropbox Dropbox has been around for quite some time and I feel like it's a pretty trustworthy and long lasting platform. I'm thankful that I still have files saved over the past 10 years that are easily accessible to me. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Dropbox It is good, but sometimes I just feel good about using the apple product since I have the iphone and imac. But whenever I use Dropbox I am reminded that I could do everything I am doing there within Dropbox and that I typically feel more comfortable that my files are safe. Incentivized Helpful? Christina Ingram Product tester at Curion (Market Research, 1-10 employees) Chose Dropbox I like the Dropbox because it’s convenient and Photo Booth should be added. My Photo Booth is free right now and I wish Dropbox was free because this is a little too expensive. I feel like the price is a little too outstanding I wish they would lower it because this don’t make … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Dropbox You can create an account easily and begin storing files but an account is not required in order to access them the way it is on some of these other programs. Also, any type of file can be easily stored and downloaded to a device with Dropbox, but some of these attempt to … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Dropbox A bit less integrated than iCloud or OneDrive, but the company has focused on this aspect since day one. I have always used it and trust it. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Dropbox Better than iCloud. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Dropbox iCloud is ok but I would never share that stuff since it seems not as secure to give to strangers. I share my portfolio with people but I don’t think I’d share it as iCloud, I more associate iCloud with personal files rather than public files. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Dropbox Dropbox seems much more secure and organized than Google Drive or OneDrive. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Dropbox Documents editing online with integration with MS products is a plus compared to other products. Easy synchronization of files and documents from local computer/mobile device to Dropbox. Security with multi factor authentication is an added advantage. Easy to authenticate with … Incentivized Helpful? Steven Francis Burke Tour Manager at Freelancer (Entertainment, 1-10 employees) Chose Dropbox iCloud makes it very difficult to share files with outside parties. Dropbox is much better in that regard. Also easier to upload. iCloud is clunky with their cloud storage. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Dropbox I love the aesthetics of Dropbox and how it just seems so much more secure than Google Drive. Dropbox also allows me to create teams so that I can give special logins and permissions to employees on my workflows so that I don’t have to give them my own login, which is extremely … Incentivized Helpful? Grzegorz Wronkowski Owner at HDRMAPS (Photography, 1-10 employees) Chose Dropbox Is much cheaper and does everything that I need. Works without hassle. Incentivized Helpful? clifton warren Principal in Marketing at Clifton Warren Consulting (Management Consulting, 1-10 employees) Chose Dropbox I selected Dropbox because it’s not platform specific and can be used across all devices and is accessible on any platform. The pricing is competitive and product innovation is fast and continual. Because Dropbox has been around for so long it’s widely used and understood by … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Dropbox While Google excels in collaboration (Workspace rather than Drive), Dropbox offers better sync performance, cross-platform compatibility, native mobile apps, and efficient OS file system integration. I keep all my files on Dropbox, while other platforms vary by the company I … Incentivized Helpful? Owen Rubin Consultant in Professional Services at Edison Labs LLC (Entertainment, 1-10 employees) Chose Dropbox Dropbox has better sharing features for sure, but Carbonite does not limit how much space I can use for off premise storage. Carbonite also does make getting old versions as easy. Incentivized Helpful? Gabor Nagy Dr. Dep. Director at Nobilia Kft. (Information Services, 1-10 employees) Chose Dropbox I have been using the above platforms for some ten years now. They all do their job; however, Dropbox has become my favorite for general purposes and everyday use. I use different platforms like iPhone, Android phone, Win11 PC, and MacBook, and in the case of DB, I do not need … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Dropbox I do think Dropbox has a few things like simplicity going for it, but still it comes at a premium price, which is not worth it in the end. Incentivized Helpful? Krisjan Bodenstein System Integrator in Engineering at E-Bod Technologies (Railroad Manufacture, 1-10 employees) Chose Dropbox Dropbox knocks it out of the park. It is way better than any of the other products I have used in the past. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Dropbox I appreciate the fact that Dropbox is a singular product, and not part of a bundle. This allows greater focus on building a product that is simple and easy to use that is focused on the customer. Incentivized Helpful? David R Munson Photographer at David R Munson Photography (Photography, 1-10 employees) Chose Dropbox Far more reliable syncing with Dropbox, far fewer errors, more transparency on what's going on in terms of file sync (with iCloud, it's anyone's guess), and the search function just plan works far better with Dropbox than anything else I've used. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Dropbox It is generally the best Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Dropbox Google is close the syncing doesn't compare. iCloud is nice but not as easy to share files Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Dropbox It's integration with windows Incentivized Helpful?
	Would buy again
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Delivers good value for the price
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Happy with the feature set
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Lived up to sales and marketing promises
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Implementation went as expected
No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic

Features

Apple iCloud

Dropbox

Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Apple iCloud and Dropbox
Feature	Apple iCloud 8.5 77 Ratings	Dropbox 7.8 887 Ratings
Versioning	8.753 Ratings	7.5714 Ratings
Video files	9.373 Ratings	7.8697 Ratings
Audio files	9.370 Ratings	8.0623 Ratings
Document collaboration	7.166 Ratings	7.7780 Ratings
Access control	7.764 Ratings	7.8828 Ratings
File search	8.669 Ratings	7.6855 Ratings
Device sync	8.676 Ratings	8.1814 Ratings

Comparison of Cloud Storage Security & Administration features of Apple iCloud and Dropbox
Feature	Apple iCloud 7.5 73 Ratings	Dropbox 8.0 848 Ratings
User and role management	7.057 Ratings	7.9778 Ratings
File organization	8.369 Ratings	8.1837 Ratings
Device management	7.470 Ratings	7.9730 Ratings

Comparison of Cloud Storage Platform features of Apple iCloud and Dropbox
Feature	Apple iCloud 7.2 77 Ratings	Dropbox 8.0 836 Ratings
Performance	7.277 Ratings	7.4829 Ratings
Reliability	8.177 Ratings	8.3834 Ratings
Storage Reports	6.260 Ratings	8.2636 Ratings

User Ratings
	Apple iCloud	Dropbox
Likelihood to Recommend	9.2 (77 ratings)	8.0 (911 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew	10.0 (4 ratings)	6.7 (31 ratings)
Usability	8.5 (23 ratings)	7.5 (65 ratings)
Availability	- (0 ratings)	6.7 (3 ratings)
Performance	8.2 (12 ratings)	6.0 (8 ratings)
Support Rating	7.5 (20 ratings)	7.5 (34 ratings)
Online Training	- (0 ratings)	8.2 (2 ratings)
Implementation Rating	- (0 ratings)	7.5 (4 ratings)
Configurability	- (0 ratings)	6.4 (1 ratings)
Product Scalability	- (0 ratings)	6.6 (4 ratings)