UtilitiesProductivity

What are the best file sharing services?

11

Options
Considered

26

User
Recs.

Dec 7, 2018

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

10 Options Considered

Best file sharing services	Price	Platforms	Versioning
-- Google Drive	-	Windows; OSX; Linux; Android; iOS	Yes
-- Mega	-	Windows; Android; iOS; Mac OS X; Chrome OS; Linux	No
-- Dropbox	-	Windows, Linux, OSX, Android, iOS, Windows Phone	Yes
-- SpiderOak	-	Windows; Linux; OSX; Android; iOS	-
-- WeTransfer	-	-	-

Google Drive

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Top Pro

Integrates with other Google services

For example, you can use search to search through both Drive and Gmail. See More

Top Con

No official client for Linux

Google as of yet has a client for Linux, leaving many who use the service forced to use third party apps or the webpage. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; OSX; Linux; Android; iOS

Free upload limit:15 GB

Top Pro

15GB free

This space is shared across Drive, Gmail & Picasa. See More

Top Con

Data privacy not guaranteed

Data privacy is widely known as one of Google's weaknesses. Data shared through Google is most likely matched up with the user's profile inside other Alphabet inc. subsidiaries, and, due to the business model, used commercially. See More

Top Pro

File sharing & collaborative editing

Google account holders and non-holders can be set to access and/or collaborate on files/folders in real-time. Additionally, you can find files you've shared not only by filename but by person you've shared the files with. See More

Top Pro

Revision control

By clicking Ctrl + Alt + G in Windows or Command + Alt + Shift + G is OS X you can access previous version of the file. See More

Top Pro

Built-in office suite

Includes tools for writing, presentations and spreadsheets. See More

Top Pro

Mobile integration

You can work from any device, especially mobile. See More

Top Pro

Extended functionality via apps

Third party Drive applications running in Chrome or Android can add functionality such as image/video editing, project management, flowchart creation, etc. See More

Top Pro

Save files to drive directly from Gmail

Drive lets you save any file from your email. See More

Top Pro

Cheap for extra storage

$1.99 per 100GB, for up to 16TB. See More

Dropbox

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Top Con

Not secure

They don't apply end-to-end encryption, files are visible to admins, governments, etc.. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform desktop and mobile

Dropbox is available on iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows, OS X and Linux. By having a client for so many OS's pretty much anyone is covered no matter what kind of device or OS they are using. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, OSX, Android, iOS, Windows Phone

Offline access:Yes

Top Con

Too little free space

There is just too little of free space available comparing to the competition. See More

Top Pro

Desktop client has no file size limit

As long as you have enough storage available, you can upload files of any size using Dropbox desktop client. See More

Top Pro

Instant disaster recovery

Your files always synced online means instant disaster recovery. When your hard drive becomes unbootable, pick up another laptop and just carry on with your life from where you last saved. See More

Top Pro

Allows sharing a single file via link

Whether using desktop client or web interface, simply right click on the file you want to share and select Dropbox > Share link, then send the link to the people you want to share the file with. The recipient does not require a Dropbox account. See More

Top Pro

Adjustable bandwidth use

To not slow down the network or save traffic you can limit the upload and download speeds of Dropbox. See More

Top Pro

Folders can be downloaded compressed to save bandwidth

To save bandwidth and download speed you can choose to compress a folder into a zip archive for download. See More

Top Pro

Lots of addons and integrations

There are official and third-party Dropbox add-ons that extend the functionality of the service and add ease of use of existing features. Additionally, Dropbox can be integrated with existing applications to bring its functionality to other apps. See More

Top Pro

Up to 18GB of free storage space

Dropbox personal accounts start out free, with 2GB of space, but users can get extra space by recommending the site to friends, or taking part in events like "Dropquest", where users can win extra space by solving puzzles. See More

Top Pro

30-day version control

Dropbox keeps deleted and earlier versions of files for a month. See More

Top Pro

Allows sharing a folder

Using a desktop client: right click on the folder you want to share and select Dropbox > Share This Folder, then enter the e-mail addressees of people you want to share the folder with. See More

Top Pro

Easy to use

You can use Dropbox via website, by installing a desktop client that creates a folder that you simply drag and drop files into, or with their mobile app. Everything synchronizes across all devices used and cloud storage. And Dropbox offers easy methods of sharing whatever is within it. See More

Top Pro

Smart updates to big files

If a small portion of the file is changed it sends/receives only the differences (not the whole file), which is fast and bandwidth-efficient. See More

SpiderOak

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Top Pro

Different backups possible from different devices

You can have multiple devices set up under the same account, and decide what they share between them and what is relevant just for the device itself. See More

Top Con

Desktop client interface not very user friendly

For sure, there are a lot of options and indications, but there are other interfaces that manage to do it in a less confusing way. See More

dotan's Experience

Great support (hardly ever needed), and 'zero knowledge' policy that guarantees privacy. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; Linux; OSX; Android; iOS

Top Pro

Combines cloud syncing, storage service and backup client

Thus you have a single service for all of the things. See More

Top Pro

Incrementals

SpiderOak updates only that part of the file that has changed, saving bandwidth and time. See More

Top Pro

Unintrusive

Top Pro

Zero knowledge

Data is locally encrypted before uploading to Spideroak. They cannot recover your data even if they wanted to since it is stored in encrypted state on their servers. See More

Top Pro

Available for many platforms

The Spideroak client is available for Linux, MacOS, Windows, Android and iOS. See More

WeTransfer

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Specs

Free upload limit:2 GB

Free storage size:0 B

Max storage size:100 GB

Max upload limit:20 GB

Hightail

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Box

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Top Pro

Extendable via plugins

There are plug-ins for applications that allow interactions with Box. See More

Top Con

Missing collaborative apps

Not being able to easily back up office works through an integrated office suite can be a set back when comparing to backup apps like Drive. While you can set certain apps to save their files to the Box folder, it is not as easy as using something like Google Docs, which not only saves while you are working but as soon as you are done, with no extra steps. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; OSX; Android; iOS; Windows Phone; BlackBerry

Top Pro

Sharing and privacy features built for business and IT users

Has advanced sharing options, task assignment, notifications, making it easy to stay up to date on assigned tasks. See More

Top Con

Log in on every use

Anytime the app is opened, the user's log-in needs to be typed in, which can become annoying. While it is a nice privacy feature, an option to turn it off would be nice. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform desktop and mobile

Box is available for Windows, OS X, iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows phones which means access to one's files no matter the device or platform used. See More

Top Con

No Linux client

They are not willing to listen to Linux community. They've also deleted a bunch of messages from Linux users on their forum. See More

Top Pro

Salesforce and NetSuite support

Top Con

Upload limit

There is a 250 MB upload limit for files when using the free version. See More

Uploadfiles.io

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Filestack

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Streamfile

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iTransfer iT

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