Apple iCloud vs. OneDrive

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Apple iCloud
Score 8.5 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
OneDrive
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
OneDrive from Microsoft is a cloud storage and file syncing service.
$5
Per Month (Annual Commitment)
Pricing
Apple iCloudOneDrive
Editions & Modules
50GB
$0.99
per month
200GB
$2.99
per month
2TB
$9.99
per month
OneDrive for Business Plan 1
$5.00
Per Month (Annual Commitment)
Microsoft 365 Business Basic
$5.00
Per Month (Annual Commitment)
OneDrive for Business Plan 2
$10.00
Per Month (Annual Commitment)
Microsoft 365 Business Standard
$12.50
Per Month (Annual Commitment)
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Apple iCloudOneDrive
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsOneDrive can be purchased as a standalone tool, or as part of a Microsoft 365's business suite.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Apple iCloudOneDrive
Features
Apple iCloudOneDrive
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
Apple iCloud
8.4
Ratings
0% below category average
OneDrive
7.7
Ratings
9% below category average
Versioning8.70 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Video files9.30 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Audio files9.30 Ratings6.30 Ratings
Document collaboration7.10 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Access control7.70 Ratings8.10 Ratings
File search8.50 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Device sync8.50 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Cloud Storage Security & Administration
Comparison of Cloud Storage Security & Administration features of Product A and Product B
Apple iCloud
7.5
Ratings
15% below category average
OneDrive
7.2
Ratings
19% below category average
User and role management6.90 Ratings7.20 Ratings
File organization8.20 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Device management7.30 Ratings6.30 Ratings
Cloud Storage Platform
Comparison of Cloud Storage Platform features of Product A and Product B
Apple iCloud
7.1
Ratings
18% below category average
OneDrive
7.1
Ratings
18% below category average
Performance7.20 Ratings6.30 Ratings
Reliability8.10 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Storage Reports6.10 Ratings7.10 Ratings
User Ratings
Apple iCloudOneDrive
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.2
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.5
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Apple iCloudOneDrive
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
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  • For collaborative work both in education and professional areas.
  • For personal work in multiple devices, and "on the go" work.
  • It's great for work that takes a lot of memory space, because it is saved in the cloud, not the device itself.
  • It's a great tool for anyone working with a lot of creative files that can't be stored in small devices like USBs.
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Pros
  • 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.
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  • OneDrive does a great job of keeping file version history. I have had to use this feature many times and it is very simple to use. This one feature has saved my butt many times.
  • OneDrive synchronizes across devices very quickly. There have been many instances when I have added files online and, within seconds, saw the file show up on my local computer. This happens the other direction also. I am very impressed and satisfied with the speed of syncing in all directions.
  • The OneDrive app on my phone has been particularly helpful since it automatically syncs my photos (usually within seconds) and allows me access to all my files.
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Cons
  • 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
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  • Sending Links - Though you can easily share links to files from the web experience, it isn't the same on the native experience. It would be nice if you could right click on a file to share its location with someone vs. opening the office application to share with others.
  • File Character Restrictions - This isn't just with OneDrive, but sometimes files will not upload due to an unsupported character in the file name.
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Likelihood to Renew
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.
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I like Box better. If you sign into Microsoft using a personal account, be EXTREMELY careful. All of your downloads could suddenly be available to your entire company, and that is incredibly embarrassing. Did that happen to me? Not going to say, but just always check which MS account you sign into.
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Usability
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.
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I have given it this rating because it accomplishes the basic task that we use it for, storing and protecting our sensitive data. That being said, I hesitate to give it a completely positive rating, because I feel that the software performs at a bare minimum level, skimping out on some of the bells and whistles that would be nice.
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Performance
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.
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It has a good performance, the pages load normally, access to the files, management, reports, everything is working well. With regard to integration with other systems, we have not done so yet.
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Support Rating
I never used Apple iCloud support, but have never needed to do so. It has become more of a personal issue with computers in my organization, where the business solution has been with Dropbox. I do have to admit when my Mac went down, having things on Apple iCloud did help to get things restored. However, since I had more than one photo file for my Business and Personal data, I was not able to recover my Business Photos. Apple iCloud should have been able to do this.
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It's a Microsoft product so there is a wealth of information online both from Microsoft directly and from millions of users but as a corporate user we also have access to direct Microsoft support through a variety of avenues (phone, email, etc.). This makes finding answers to issues more accessible, however, it does also mean that any new feature requests will get buried.
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Alternatives Considered
As I have mentioned, the seamless integration across Apple's ecosystem is what keeps us using this product. However, the robust value of the Microsoft 365 Business Premium suite and functionality of their AI companion - Copilot - makes it superior at an organization level. The same could be said for Google AI (Gemini) as well as their cloud services like Drive.
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OneDrive feels native is you are a Microsoft 365 user. The integration aspect of being a Microsoft customer and using all platform tools together helps with driving adoption, ease of learning, and overall efficiency. While Google Drive is widely used as well, there is a ramp up to learning those controls over OneDrive is you are not used to those platforms.
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Return on Investment
  • The ability to access saved content across devices no matter where I am located reduces missed opportunities to share and collaborate.
  • The version history has allowed my team to re-visit previous renditions when errors occur - saving valuable time determining the root cause.
  • The cloud reduces the number of physical documents one must remember when traveling for work.
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  • OneDrive allows us to save much time on creating and archiving backup copies of our data. Microsoft gives a guarantee on the possibility of recovery of files or folders even from 30 days ago. It provides a great comfort of work.
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ScreenShots