FileCloud vs Dropbox – Better Alternatives to Dropbox 2020 was a lot of things, but the unprecedented chaos of the year inarguably taught us some things: that the age of information is upon us, and that the digitization of data is inevitable. As companies scrambled to adjust to the sudden norm of remote work and […]
2020 was a lot of things, but the unprecedented chaos of the year inarguably taught us some things: that the age of information is upon us, and that the digitization of data is inevitable.
As companies scrambled to adjust to the sudden norm of remote work and all the employee needs that arose with it, it became apparent that having a strong foundation of digital infrastructure was vital. Companies with powerful Enterprise File Sharing and Sync (EFSS) solutions already in place were able to jump start their new ventures into remote work, without worrying about security, user training, data leaks and other administrative issues.
Now, a year later, even the most rigid of companies have eased into their file-management solutions; some have even discovered the convenience of remote work and may be adopting it permanently in the future.
However, choosing the wrong EFSS solution in long-term use cases can lead to huge losses in fines and reputation down the road. After all, investing in a solution that offers either too little or too much functionality can cost you valuable time, money and resources.
We aim to help administrators and business-owners make the right decision about the best EFSS solution for you, as well as avoid some common pitfall traps when it comes to choosing one. That’s why we’re here to offer a comparison of the top EFSS solutions on the market between our very own solution, FileCloud.
Today, we’re going to be going over a detailed comparison of Dropbox vs. FileCloud. Dropbox is one of the biggest EFSS solutions on the market, widely popularized by its use as an individual file-storage solution.
With its clean UI and easy-to-use features, Dropbox has become somewhat of a household name when it comes to file management. It also offers password-protected links, integration for Office software, and strong administrative tools. However, how does Dropbox hold up when it comes to enterprise-level file-sharing needs?
Due to the system’s popularity, it’s always been a popular target for hackers. Even now, it doesn’t offer local encryption. Their customer service certainly leaves more to be desired, as seen from their lack of 24/7 customer support.
And above all that, despite having fewer features than many enterprise-level solutions out there, Dropbox is far from the most affordable on the market, especially with their 5-user minimum. Plus, with their measly 2GB- free storage and paywalls for unlimited storage, it certainly feels like the solution is out to milk their users dry.
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Naturally, we’ve aimed to optimize our solution to be one of the strongest and most feature-rich solutions on the market. We firmly believe that FileCloud is one of the most powerful enterprise file-sharing and sync solutions on the market.
FileCloud offers on-premise, public and a unique hybrid cloud deployment model. This deployment flexibility separates FileCloud from its competitors, and ensures that your team can enjoy the benefits of both on-premise and cloud storage systems — read more on our hybrid infrastructure here.
FileCloud offers hyper-security, top-notch enterprise-level features, and unlimited FREE external client accounts — all great for your wallet and your ROI. Feature-wise, we consider seamless, remote access to your data as the bare minimum that a good file-solution should offer. Collaborative and content management tools, a comprehensive admin panel, plus infinite customization options are all features that ensure not just your team, but also your clients and sysadmins get in on the enhanced EFSS experience.
Last but certainly not least, FileCloud is compliant with most data security governance policies, meaning that you’ll never see your organization’s good name tainted in headlines labelled with “Security Breach” or “Data Leaks”. Plus. it’ll save you tons on the fines and fees that’ll rack up if you go with a less-secure option.
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This is perhaps the field in which Dropbox somewhat lags behind in comparison to several other modern EFSS solutions. Uploaded files are not encrypted with Dropbox, posing a major security risk to enterprise data. In the past few years, Dropbox accounts have also been known to get hacked, which is a major cause for concern for both your business’ revenue and reputation.
FileCloud, on the other hand, provides end-to-end encryption, ensuring that your files never fall into the wrong hands. In addition to our newest DRM capabilities, we’re also committed to keeping your files safe with remote-data-wiping, strong encryption models, data loss prevention (DLP), two factor authentication (2FA) and automatic alerts on unusual activities.
As mentioned above, FileCloud offers a unique hybrid hosting option. Why choose between the security of on-premise file-hosting, and the flexibility of public cloud storage, when you can have both? Enjoy low-latency, local-file access in the office, and seamless remote access with the cloud from the comfort of your own home or on the go.
Dropbox does not offer on-premise or self-hosted options. In addition, it also doesn’t offer multi-tenancy support, nor can it run on docker or Windows. Of course, these are all a given in FileCloud’s vast array of hosting options.
Dropbox has extremely strong sync and storage features, as expected of a large file-sharing and sync service as popular as it is. It comes with storage sync, supports local storage of data, and provides endpoint backup. Its storage limitations stop at 3TB for non-upgraded premium plans, and it has a large file limit of 20GB — both pretty hefty sizes for personal use, but any medium-sized organization will quickly find these limits extremely restrictive.
FileCloud offers all of the features above, with a few notable differences: our plans restrict neither the total storage capacity nor the file size transfer limit, meaning you’ll be able to store and send as many massive files as you could possibly need. We also offer branch office synchronization for the needs of particularly large organizations.
Today, it’s unreasonable to limit work to a work computer — or even to a laptop. It has just about become a necessity to be able to work on-the-go and respond to emergencies or new situations with speed and flexibility. It’s for this reason that we’ve put special care into crafting our mobile applications. Access and share large files with your team or manage team permissions anywhere, anytime, and from any device with our iOS, MacOS, Android and Windows apps.
Unfortunately, Google Drive, while it has a mobile application that supports iOS and Android, is rather clunky to use on-the-go. Its apps also do not offer iOS or Android media backup, which is a pretty important feature to have in case of misplaced or compromised devices.
Deleted files on Dropbox Business expire after 120 days, period, unless the file has already been marked for permanent deletion. Dropbox doesn’t offer any sort of flexibility when it comes to retention policies, simply retaining your files for a set period of time before deleting them.
FileCloud, on the other hand, lets administrators automate all processes related to protecting sensitive files. For instance, administrators can create a retention policy that disables a user’s ability to delete or edit any of the files and folders named in the policy. To resolve the issue of conflicting policies. FileCloud gives your system administrators the ability to control how files are retained and deleted. Policies such as legal hold, archival and retention for an unlimited amount of time makes FileCloud a much secure Dropbox alternative.
Unfortunately, Dropbox offers no options for custom branding.
FileCloud offers a comprehensive set of options that let you whitelabel your solution for your team, vendors, partners and clients. After all, we believe your file sharing system should promote your brand, not ours. You can customize FileCloud with your company logo, login page image, email templates, ToS and user interface elements. Plus, you can also run FileCloud under your own business domain.
Dropbox provides a good number of auditing features for system administrators to keep track of. Dropbox keeps track of active members (team members who have performed any action in the past 28 days such as access or edit a file), storage space, links created, active shared folders and active devices.
FileCloud offers a much more detailed audit log, however, with all of the above and the following additions: new account creations, logged-in users, common searches and the quantity of uploaded/downloaded files. Because just about every operation is optionally logged, we also offer the following log-management tools to avoid overly large audit database entries: removal of log entries with the administrative dashboard, configurable limits for which operations are logged and exportable .CSV archive log files.
FileCloud, on the other hand, integrates with many external apps, but also promotes efficiency by simplifying time-consuming tasks via workflow automation. FileCloud’s workflow automation helps design and manage processes with simple logical statements. Users can use conditional combinations to automate many file related tasks from developing business processes to enforcing policies.
Dropbox’s administrative dashboard offers some useful, but limited, capabilities. Administrators are able to view a team member's folder structure, share, view and delete or restore files.
FileCloud’s centralized administrator control dashboard provides a single-page view with all the above functionalities. In addition to this, FileCloud also gives your administrators full view of user count (broken down by user type), storage quota, disk usage, license information and system information. Your administrators will also have completely control over user permissions and privileges.
There is no such thing as a one-size fit all solution for EFSS solutions. Each enterprise may value different features and focuses over others.
At FileCloud, however, we aim to meet all sorts of enterprises, organizations and companies where they stand, in terms of their file sharing, sync and management needs. We firmly believe that with our vast range of plans, features and experience, FileCloud has something for everyone.
We hope that this article has helped you in finding the perfect EFSS solution for your organization!
