With so many storage apps available in the market today, it might be confusing to decide which one is the best for storing your important data so that you never lose them. This is especially pertinent since many of us have mobile phones, tablets and computers and need to sync data between these various devices. So, major market players like Apple, Microsoft and Google have their tool to sync files while Dropbox has long been in use for this same purpose. If you’re looking for free or even cheap modes of online storage, then you have a bewildering assortment of competent options.Let us below look at a comparison between Drive, Dropbox and SkyDrive to decide the best solution for your needs.
Dropbox
Dropbox comes with a space of 2GB and premium space can be purchased at $99 a year for 100GB space. One major benefit is that there is no file size limit, allowing users to upload files of huge sizes. Dropboxcan be used in various platforms like Windows, Blackberry, iOS, Android, Linux and Mac. Dropbox offers seamless syncing and is known for its clean web interface and great ease of use. Although dropbox does not offer browser-based applications like SkyDrive, there is a flexible web interface which lists folders and files. This includes files of various types like PDFs, documents, music, photos and videos. Dropbox provides ease in sharing files and folders over the internet. However, editing is not possible.
Google Drive
Google Drive comes with a free space of 5GB and premium space can be bought at $59.88 a year for 100GB. Unlike Dropbox, files uploaded here have a size limit of 10GB. Drive can only be used on Windows, Mac, Android and iOS. Best for web apps, a key component of Google Drive is its online apps suite. Drive comes equipped with web tools to enhance the creation of documents, spreadsheets, presentations and so on. However, one benefit is that these files do not take up storage quota. Drive takes one step further and enables users to share files with anyone online and also allows editing on documents, spreadsheets, presentations and so on, even on cloud.
Microsoft SkyDrive
SkyDrive, created by Microsoft, comes with 7GB of free space. Premium space is cheapest for SkyDrive and costs $50 a year for 100GB. However, there is a file size limit of 2GB per file loaded. SkyDrive can work on Windows, iOS, Android, Windows phones and Mac. SkyDrive can be said to be primarily of importance to Microsoft users as it works very well with Windows 8 and Windows phones. Web-based versions of Excel, Word and Powerpoint are very useful in this tool. Just like Drive, SkyDrive also allows editing work on documents that are shared.
Verdict?
Dropbox is the oldest of the tools presented above and therefore more established. It is also the only tool to support most platforms. Google Drive on the other hand, supports more file types. This eases online sharing and editing. SkyDrive offers the most amount of free space of the tools presented above. This tool also allows remote access and works superbly with Windows platforms, being a product of Microsoft.The default saving location of Office 2013 is also the SkyDrive. In short, all 3 tools are competent and the platform you use and file types will best determine which tool you should go for.
