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Dropbox vs ownCloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Dropbox
Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Storage (5th)
ownCloud
Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms
21st
Average Rating
10.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Content Collaboration Platforms category, the mindshare of Dropbox is 8.0%, down from 12.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ownCloud is 0.5%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Content Collaboration Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

Edgar  Paez - PeerSpot reviewer
Work from anywhere and backup easily while being practical
I recommend Dropbox, yet not for all of the features it has. I am a basic user. In a personal mode, we have about 100 employees, and maybe 20 of them use Dropbox as a personal backup system. ShareFile is more secure than Dropbox. Five years ago, ShareFile was qualified as having better security control, access privilege management, and version control recovery, among many features that we were using for private documentation. Overall, I would rate Dropbox an eight out of ten.
SC
Self-hosted file sync tool used to deploy custom web UIs.
I think it’s probably the best self-hosted file sync tool on the market. It’s a full web application platform, an indispensable tool for a business of any size that needs to deploy any kind of custom web UI. If you build an ownCloud app, you’ve got authentication, storage, security, caching, and database layers already fully baked for you. You just need to build your UI and custom logic. Your app doesn’t even need to interact with files, sync, or interact with other ownCloud features. Any web UI can be included without ownCloud. It can even be a portal to web interfaces of other applications within a business using the external app to display external sites within ownCloud. This is the case as long as that site allows itself to be displayed within a frame.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It is the best solution in terms of space, file sharing, and live editing. I can share and edit files with multiple users."
"The performance is good."
"The solution is easy to use."
"The features that I find most valuable are the ability to sync across devices, easily access/share files and organize them among myself and my team."
"The solution is very clear and easy to use."
"The product's initial setup phase was easy."
"The product's initial setup phase was straightforward."
"It ensures all our staff are using the current version of our documents."
"I think it’s probably the best self-hosted file sync tool on the market."
 

Cons

"Dropbox could make the installation and the log of what has changed in a file easier. Showing logs could be more accessible."
"Dropbox can improve by enhancing the capacity of storage in the free version."
"They can do the scanning of viruses, and they can also do malware detection when they do the synchronization."
"I find it a little hard to organize my Dropbox folders on my mobile device."
"The problem with the storage is that you are only able to synchronize the information within the amount of storage that you have. It doesn't matter if you are accessing from a team member who has more storage, the limitations are with your storage."
"The solution could provide more capacity for free."
"The free storage amount should be increased."
"It is difficult to set up. I'd rate the solution maybe a six or seven out of ten."
"Even with fast disks, it still takes a fair bit of time to write most schema changes to multi-GB tables."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Dropbox is one of the cheapest tools in the market."
"We must pay when we upsize to a larger space."
"I am on a monthly subscription for the solution and I am somewhat satisfied with the pricing. However, the price could a bit better."
"The solution is purchased on a subscription basis, and there are purchasing options. If you purchase annually there is a discount."
"The solution is paid for annually."
"Dropbox offers a freemium model which is very convenient and affordable. Beyond that, the pricing is favorable."
"Given the price and limitations, there are more competitive options available."
"Its price is quite cheap. It is quite competitive. You just need to pay for the license. There are no additional costs."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
65%
Computer Software Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
3%
University
3%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Dropbox?
For me, the biggest thing is version history. I can easily go back and view older versions.
What needs improvement with Dropbox?
I would like to have a document flow. Sharing documents with other people in the same division or department and being able to work without downloading the file would be ideal. Working online would...
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Comparisons

No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Vita Coco, BCBGMAXAZRIA Group, Centric Project, Kayak, FourSquare, Asana, Huge Adversting , USA Gymnastics, Appen, Valliant, Radio Lab
CERN, Joy Global, Sciebo, Bauhaus, datto
Find out what your peers are saying about Dropbox, Google, Microsoft and others in Content Collaboration Platforms. Updated: March 2025.
845,564 professionals have used our research since 2012.