CrashPlan vs. Dropbox

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
CrashPlan
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
CrashPlan® provides secure, scalable, and straightforward endpoint data backup, to help organizations recover from any worst-case scenario, whether it is a disaster, simple human error, a stolen laptop, ransomware, or an as-of-yet-undiscovered calamity.N/A
Dropbox
Score 8.2 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
CrashPlanDropbox
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
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
CrashPlanDropbox
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsDiscount available for annual billing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
CrashPlanDropbox
Considered Both Products
CrashPlan
Chose CrashPlan
CrashPlan (in my specific case the CrashPlan Pro or CrashPlan for Small Business (there seems to be somewhat of an ongoing identity crisis with the products) is significantly lower overhead, in terms of cost and complexity, when compared to the other two products I have …
Chose CrashPlan
Mostly the price is what drew me to CrashPlan -others I have used are expensive per GB storage and difficult to manage. Carbonite was costing $1000.00 a year for 1 server with 2 TB of data. CrashPlan helps keep down the cost and the client spends much less time paying me to …
Chose CrashPlan
Both of the entries I put need a dedicated VM or physical server to be utilized. VEEAM can be installed as a VM or on a physical server, but Unitrends has a dedicated server needed as a purchased product in order to get the backups running. CrashPlan is a simple install on any …
Chose CrashPlan
Unitrends is our primary backup solution here at my place of employment, and I have no complaints. It does on-prem backups to a storage pool and with that, we chose not to also use Unitrends could storage as the cost was pretty high. Crashplan has a low cost and we were …
Chose CrashPlan
Both AppAssure and Acronis Disaster Recovery Service was used in the IT business management firm in which I worked. AppAssure required off sight storage. It was challenging in that the size of offsite storage was an additional cost and rolling up could take hours. Restoring …
Chose CrashPlan
I have used SOS online backup. SOS might have had some advantages and was fairly easy to use, especially when searching for files. This is not to say that Code42 is difficult. But I did not feel that using SOS was justified given the exorbitant pricing scheme used by SOS.
Chose CrashPlan
We've been using Nakivo and Code42 together. It works great as we are able to have the peace of mind of having data backed up offsite (Code42) and locally (Nakivo) I found this combo worked better than the costly and complicated setup of both Unitrends and Zerto. My biggest …
Chose CrashPlan
Have used Veritas, Symantec, Mozy, and Carbonite. Veritas and Symantec Backup Exec from my tape days, and Mozy and Carbonite when I wanted to move to a modern backup service. Code42's interface, cost, simplicity of use, versioning, security, and low-impact sold me. No contest …
Chose CrashPlan
I formerly used SOS Online Backup. It was a very similar system, originally offering unlimited backups at a price similar to Code42. After more than a year of backups, SOS informed me that they'd be reducing my storage from unlimited to 2tb, and, increasing my monthly rate by …
Chose CrashPlan
The main advantage that CrashPlan has on competing services is it's ability to back up network drives and keep your backup archives indefinitely. While Backblaze costs significantly less ($50/year/computer vs. $10/year/computer - or $120/year/computer), it does not have the …
Chose CrashPlan
OneDrive is not a good backup solution for endpoints. It is for storing a few files and sharing those files but not for business backup. Druva is a very good product that we never had any problems with and I'm not exactly sure why we switched from it. Code42 has some extra …
Chose CrashPlan
For our business model, Carbonite was not as economical. CrashPlan offered unlimited backup and unlimited deleted file retention for similar cost. Additionally, we had better results with support during evaluation with CrashPlan.
Chose CrashPlan
All 3 were viable solutions, CrashPlan better fit our companies needs.
Chose CrashPlan
For personal, end user backup CrashPlan really is the best option in my opinion. Easy to use, easy to manage, relatively easy to recover.
Chose CrashPlan
I have used several tape drives over the years with Symantec Backup Exec. Tapes have so many negatives associated with them, I would never recommend them as a backup system. I have also tried a couple of other disk based backup systems. Compared to all other backup solutions …
Chose CrashPlan
CrashPlan just makes backups simple. It's LDAP integration isn't locked in to only AD (i.e., Commvault) and the product is much more solid and reliable than the end user portion of Tivoli's CDP offering that was replaced in our environment by CrashPlan. I can't stress enough …
Chose CrashPlan
We compared CrashPlan with other choices and they were either too expensive or didn't have the backup capacity we required at the time. For lack of a better solution, we were very close to signing with Mozy, and this was years ago when CrashPlan was still a new player in the …
Chose CrashPlan
I like Crashplan's centralized nature and flexibility with support for all platforms. Their support has been the best of all other competitors' solutions.
Chose CrashPlan
I have not used the product, but it appears to be in the same league as the Crashplan product. I tend to think Crashplan is better only because of naivete of the other product and the fact that the entire experience with Crashplan has been fantastic from setup to updating to …
Chose CrashPlan
We use Windows Server to backup our in-house associates as they are connecting to the domain and it is easy to keep track of. Our remote associates do not connect to the domain as often so we had to find a solution to enable us to get a secure, accurate backup of their data. …
Chose CrashPlan
Atempo worked well but CrashPlan offered several more services that we found more useful e.g. reporting, legal hold, centralized admin console.
Chose CrashPlan
CrashPlan demonstrated a more advanced development than other products we were evaluating. A number of them didn't compress and dedupe, which affected performance on the machine as well as the network. The controls and reporting of crashplan were way more intuitive and …
Chose CrashPlan
We looked at file sync solutions that require an end user to move data independently, and two major things stuck out:

1. The human error factor was high. You cannot trust people to move files, even if they are important or they've agreed to move them on a certain schedule, and …
Chose CrashPlan
Centralized administration, AD integration, super ease to use, super easy to add users, 3-year contract discounts.
Dropbox
Chose Dropbox
Google drive's privacy is like way worse.
Chose Dropbox
Dropbox is more user friendly for file storage when you want to open and make notes on pdf etc.
Chose Dropbox
I think Dropbox is better and also better priced. They are quite different to what Dropbox is used for but I do use we transfer once in a while when people don't have access or an account with Dropbox
Chose Dropbox
I like to use OneDrive for photos/log-term storage. It gives me more storage space but seems to take longer to sync than Dropbox. That's why I use Dropbox for file sharing, current work, and photos that I'm using at this moment. I had Dropbox first because I had the free …
Chose Dropbox
Reliability, precise and seamless synchronisation are the top features that make Dropbox my preferred choice.
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.
Chose Dropbox
I use Google Drive for personal projects (although frankly, I have a personal account on Dropbox too). I don't think I'd ever use Google Drive for a professional project.
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.
Chose Dropbox
Dropbox is somehow easier to use, it is lighter and faster. Also the UX is more understandable and clear to me. I used Google Drive because it was a standard with one of my clients... But I really didn't like it. I truly hope, I will not be forced to use it again.
Chose Dropbox
Dropbox provides a much larger amount of storage, a wide range of file acceptance, and a more direct integration into our devices. Although Google Drive is useful, it has too many limitations for our business to use in the quantity and quality we want. Google Drive also mostly …
Chose Dropbox
Dropbox is strong in terms of navigability and storage. However, Google Drives proves stronger for collaborating on live documents
Chose Dropbox
sharepoint does not connect with file explorer like Dropbox does. it is more difficult to work on files in sharepoint as well as you edit them in the browser, rather than through another application. for example: on sharepoint, an excel spreadsheet can only be edited through …
Chose Dropbox
Compares well. The two work very similarly on my MacOS latop, but I feel Dropbox has the edge on mobile devices. Google Drive web interface seems more intuitive and it's easier to share files and links to files. Both are comparable with price and storage options. Would be good …
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 …
Chose Dropbox
I started on Dropbox before any of these. I hate OneDrive as it constantly crashes. Google Drive enables collaboration simultaneously, as does Teams, but the limited formatting options in Google's version of Word drives me nuts. With Teams - because I didn't create the files …
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 …
Chose Dropbox
The above products have good features but have some functionality missing in each of them. In comparison, Dropbox has all of them included in it which is very helpful.
Chose Dropbox
It is [...] easy to navigate. You don't have a learning curve with Drive. I selected Dropbox because I did not select Dropbox. It is my organization's native cloud storage so I had to deal with it. I am not mad, also not disappointed, but also not happy.
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.
Features
CrashPlanDropbox
Data Center Backup
Comparison of Data Center Backup features of Product A and Product B
CrashPlan
8.3
Ratings
0% below category average
Dropbox
-
Ratings
Universal recovery9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Instant recovery9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Recovery verification9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Business application protection7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple backup destinations8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Incremental backup identification7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Backup to the cloud8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Flexible deployment8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Management dashboard9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform support8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Retention options9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Enterprise Backup
Comparison of Enterprise Backup features of Product A and Product B
CrashPlan
8.0
Ratings
2% below category average
Dropbox
-
Ratings
Continuous data protection10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Replication8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Ransomware Recovery6.00 Ratings00 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
CrashPlan
-
Ratings
Dropbox
7.8
Ratings
7% below category average
Versioning00 Ratings7.50 Ratings
Video files00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Audio files00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Document collaboration00 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Access control00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
File search00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Device sync00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Cloud Storage Security & Administration
Comparison of Cloud Storage Security & Administration features of Product A and Product B
CrashPlan
-
Ratings
Dropbox
7.9
Ratings
9% below category average
User and role management00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
File organization00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Device management00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Cloud Storage Platform
Comparison of Cloud Storage Platform features of Product A and Product B
CrashPlan
-
Ratings
Dropbox
8.0
Ratings
6% below category average
Performance00 Ratings7.50 Ratings
Reliability00 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Storage Reports00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Best Alternatives
CrashPlanDropbox
Small Businesses
Cove Data Protection
Cove Data Protection
Score 9.9 out of 10
SugarSync
SugarSync
Score 5.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Druva Security Cloud
Druva Security Cloud
Score 9.7 out of 10
Druva Security Cloud
Druva Security Cloud
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Druva Security Cloud
Druva Security Cloud
Score 9.7 out of 10
Druva Security Cloud
Druva Security Cloud
Score 9.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
CrashPlanDropbox
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.9
(0 ratings)
6.7
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
7.5
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
6.7
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
6.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
5.0
(0 ratings)
7.4
(0 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.7
(0 ratings)
7.5
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
6.4
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
6.6
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
CrashPlanDropbox
Likelihood to Recommend
This is a great Cloud backup solution. The cost is low, the bandwidth is managed well within the application, and the footprint for the client on a machine is very small and provides a notification menu icon with info about what is happening now or very recently. This does not backup to anything locally, so if that is a requirement, it will not meet that need. It used to be able to backup from one machine to another remote machine at one time, but now it is only cloud-based.
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Dropbox is great for everyone. Data on a hard drive is no longer secure. Learned the hard way when a hard drive fried. It's great for families, students, artists, entrepreneurs, consultants, small businesses, startups, graphic designers, and photographers. Did I leave anyone out?
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Pros
  • Code42 is the most affordable backup system offering unlimited storage that I could find. I came from SOS Online Backup, which I ultimately decided to drop after my monthly rate for their unlimited plan increased by 20x.
  • With Code42's unlimited storage option, I don't have to worry about the fact that my backups are significant in space. As a photographer with thousands of images at stake, I need to run large backups often.
  • Code42 runs continuously and silently in the background of my desktop computer. It is truly "set and go", so I don't have to think about it when I'm away. It runs until the designated drive has been fully backed up to my cloud storage. It will then automatically email me once the backup is complete (or, it will email me if it encounters any errors).
  • Customer service is above par. Anytime I need help, a chat agent is available (chat is my communication preference), they are always friendly, and go above and beyond to resolve my needs.
Read full review
  • 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
Cons
  • The CrashPlan program installed on your computer is Java-based vs. a native application. While this makes development for CrashPlan easier, there are a lot of drawbacks to Java programs including more resources usage, less stability, and overall more clunky interface.
  • While this was also in the Pros category - CrashPlan is an extremely powerful and flexible program, which adds a great deal of complexity. Setting up CrashPlan isn't always a simple procedure, and depending on the complexity of your backup set, can take a while to tinker around with the settings to get everything to work properly.
  • The CrashPlan desktop program consists of a Java program front end, as well as a backend service - there are times when the backend service will crash, and the front end Java program will refuse to load. Typically, restarting the service or restarting the computer will resolve the issue, but sometimes more in-depth troubleshooting is required.
  • Perhaps one of the biggest downsides to CrashPlan is its price - at $10/month/computer CrashPlan is more than double the price of some existing backup services such as Backblaze (priced at $50/year/computer). To add salt to the wound, about a year and a half ago, CrashPlan discontinued their consumer options - which were very reasonably priced at $60/year for a single computer or a family plan priced at $150/year for up to 10 computers. When these options were discontinued, the cost of backing up with CrashPlan was effectively doubled for the same feature set.
  • Along with the previous example, CrashPlan had the option to back up to a remote machine on a different network with a free Crashplan account. This option was eliminated when the consumer line of services were discontinued.
  • While the backup service provided by CrashPlan are still first in class, the above two controversial changes have broken some trust between CrashPlan and its clients.
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  • 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
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Likelihood to Renew
No other product works as well.
Read full review
Even though it has its shortcomings, Dropbox is an exceptionally useful product for simple file sharing. It’s intelligent design and user-friendly interface have continued to facilitate project completion. However, as we expand, we will probably look to other solutions for storage and sharing as we undertake larger and more intensely collaborative projects
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Usability
Overall, it is simple to use, lightweight, and effective.
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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.
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Performance
No answers on this topic
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.
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Support Rating
Friendly and knowledgeable support team available to assist with this product. Code 42 (formerly CrashPlan) offers unlimited storage options for reasonable costs, so you really can't go wrong with this product. They have been a reliable resource for our company, and I would recommend to others looking for an easy setup with unlimited storage.
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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.
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Online Training
No answers on this topic
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!
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Implementation Rating
Very easy to follow the install guide.
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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.
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Alternatives Considered
CrashPlan (in my specific case the CrashPlan Pro or CrashPlan for Small Business (there seems to be somewhat of an ongoing identity crisis with the products) is significantly lower overhead, in terms of cost and complexity, when compared to the other two products I have evaluated/used. The downsides are that it is also significantly less functional than the other products. CrashPlan is, as I have said a good value simple point solution.
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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.
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Scalability
No answers on this topic
bc i think box.com is better and more affordable
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Return on Investment
  • Tremendous cost savings as the amount of data you backup doesn't impact cost. One flat rate!
  • Implementation time was minimal and requires little to no maintenance. Since installation, I've not had to correct or fix any issues. It just works.
  • We opted to supplement Code42 with another solution that allowed us to backup data to a local repository due to the amount for data that changes in our firm.
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  • 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.
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ScreenShots

CrashPlan Screenshots

Screenshot of Dashboard – Endpoints Backup, Shows: Active users, assets, completed restores, total data backed up, and users without active assets.Screenshot of Dashboard – OneDrive for Business
This screen tracks backup performance for OneDrive for Business.
Metrics: Active users, active assets, users with completed backups, assets not protected (0%), and total backup size (321.45 MB).
Reports include Data Protection Scorecard, Asset Assignment, and Capacity Savings.Screenshot of Dashboard – Microsoft Exchange
This screen presents Microsoft Exchange backup overview.Screenshot of Dashboard – SharePoint Online
This view shows backup activity for SharePoint Online.

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.