Cloud file storage and sharing · Comparison
Dropbox vs Google Drive vs Microsoft OneDrive vs pCloud
4 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.
Side by side
| Metric | Dropbox | Google Drive | Microsoft OneDrive | pCloud |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Easy to adoptTeam storage built for sharing with clients: link passwords, expiry dates, download blocking and 180-day recovery on the entry team plan. | Worth the priceTeam storage bundled with business email, meetings and documents in one seat, with SSO, Drive activity logs and a HIPAA BAA on every Business plan. | Worth the priceA terabyte per user with full link controls, file requests, audit logging and a HIPAA BAA for $5.40 per user, with business email and web Office apps. | Worth the priceLow-cost team storage with client-side encryption included and a choice of EU or US data region at sign-up. |
| Overall score | 7.6 | 7.4 | 9.2Best | 5.8 |
| Free option | Free plan | Free plan | Free plan | Free plan |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $15/user/mo | $7/user/mo | $5.40/user/mo | $7.99/user/mo |
| Pricing model | Per seat | Per seat | Per seat | Per seat |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per license per month; storage pooled for the team | Per user per month; storage pooled across the organization | Per user per month; 1 TB of OneDrive per user | Per user per month, 3 users minimum; storage pooled |
| Free option | Dropbox Basic, 2 GB; free trial of Standard and Advanced (30 days per the plans page) | Google account, 15 GB; 14-day Workspace trial | Microsoft account, 5 GB; one-month business trial with a card | Free plan, 2 GB (up to 10 GB); 30-day Business trial |
| Reference scenario (10 users, 2 TB, annual) | $150/mo on Standard ($15 × 10), computed | $140/mo on Business Standard ($14 × 10), computed | $54/mo on Business Basic without Teams ($5.40 × 10), computed | $79.90/mo on Business ($7.99 × 10), computed |
| Month-to-month price | $18 per user on Standard ($18 / $30 for Standard and Advanced) | $16.80 per user on Business Standard flexible ($8.40 / $16.80 / $26.40) | $6.48 per user without Teams, $8.40 with Teams | $9.99 per user on Business ($14.98 on Business Pro for new accounts) |
| Storage on the scenario plan | 3 TB plus 1 TB per additional active license, pooled (12 TB for 10) | 2 TB per user, pooled (20 TB for 10) | 1 TB per user; SharePoint pool of 1 TB plus 10 GB per license | 1 TB per user, pooled with custom quotas (10 TB for 10) |
| Restore deleted files | 180 days on Standard, 1 year on Advanced | 30 days in the trash; admins can restore 25 days more | 93 days for work accounts; restore the whole OneDrive to any point in 30 days | 180 days per the Business page; the help center lists 30 or 365 days |
| Password and expiring links | Standard and up | No link passwords; access expiry for eligible work accounts | Every business plan | Premium users per the help center; Business not stated |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 2 report and ISO 27001 certificate cover Standard and up | SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 (Workspace in scope) | SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 (Office 365 in scope) | ISO 27001; no SOC 2 stated |
| HIPAA BAA | Standard and up; US admins sign it in the Admin Console | Accepted by admins in the Admin console | By default through Microsoft's data protection addendum | Not stated |
| EU data storage | By support request: 10+ licenses, annual billing, billing address outside the current region | Data region policy from Business Standard | Follows the sign-up country or region | EU (Luxembourg) or US (Dallas), chosen at sign-up |
| SSO | Advanced and up ($24) | Third-party identity provider on every Business plan | Microsoft Entra ID (free version included) | Not stated |
| Admin activity log | Audit logs with file event tracking on Advanced; Standard admins see 180 days of activity | Drive log events on every Business plan | Purview Audit (Standard) on Business Basic | Activity logs per user and team |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Dropbox Standard is a complete sharing plan for teams: link controls, file requests, 180-day recovery and a HIPAA BAA at $15 per user. SSO and audit logs need Advanced, and Enterprise and extra storage are priced outside the plans page. | From its public pages, Google Drive in Workspace ties with OneDrive for the top compliance and admin scores here, for $14 per user with email and documents included. Its sharing tools are simpler: no link passwords or file requests, and a 30-day trash. | From its public pages, OneDrive in Microsoft 365 Business Basic scores highest here: $5.40 per user with full link controls, 93-day recovery, audit logging and a BAA. Storage is per person, and shared team sites draw on a smaller organization pool. | From its public pages, pCloud Business is low-cost encrypted storage with an EU or US region and a shared pool. Its admin and compliance list is shorter than the others here, and a few help center details differ from the Business page. |
Evidence: Dropbox: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Google Drive: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Microsoft OneDrive: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; pCloud: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
When to pick each
In the words of each review, with the date its facts were checked.
From our Dropbox review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Dropbox when
- You share with clients and need password links, file requests and 180-day recovery.
- Pick Google Drive when
- You also want business email, meetings and documents, with SSO and an activity log on a $14 seat.
From our Dropbox review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Dropbox when
- You want one pooled team space and 180-day recovery rather than 1 TB per person.
- Pick Microsoft OneDrive when
- You want the lowest cost: $54 a month for 10 users on Business Basic without Teams, with SSO, audit and a BAA.
From our Google Drive review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Google Drive when
- You want business email, meetings and documents with SSO and an activity log on a $14 seat.
- Pick Dropbox when
- You share with clients and need password links, file requests and 180-day recovery.
From our Google Drive review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Google Drive when
- You work in Docs, Sheets and Slides and want storage pooled across the team.
- Pick Microsoft OneDrive when
- You work in Office files and want the lowest seat price, $5.40 on Business Basic without Teams.
From our Microsoft OneDrive review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Microsoft OneDrive when
- You work in Office files and want the lowest seat price with link passwords and file requests.
- Pick Google Drive when
- You want storage pooled across the team and work in Docs, Sheets and Slides.
From our Microsoft OneDrive review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Microsoft OneDrive when
- You want SSO, audit logging and a BAA for $54 a month for 10 users.
- Pick Dropbox when
- You want one pooled team space of 12 TB and 180-day recovery on Standard.
From our Microsoft OneDrive review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Microsoft OneDrive when
- You need SSO, audit logging and a HIPAA BAA.
- Pick pCloud when
- You want client-side encryption included and a storage pool you can split with custom quotas.
From our pCloud review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick pCloud when
- You want client-side encryption included and storage pooled with custom quotas.
- Pick Microsoft OneDrive when
- You need SSO, audit logging and a HIPAA BAA at $5.40 per user.
From our pCloud review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick pCloud when
- You want encrypted storage at about half the per-user price ($7.99 against $15).
- Pick Dropbox when
- You need link passwords, a HIPAA BAA and a SOC 2 report on the entry team plan.
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- DropboxStandard$15/user/moBilled yearly; $18 billed monthly; no minimum team size
- 3 TB for the first license plus 1 TB per additional active license, shared
- Password-protected and expiring links, download blocking, viewer history
- 180 days to restore deleted files and versions
- Admin console, team sharing controls, HIPAA BAA
- Google DriveBusiness Starter$7/user/mo1-year commitment; $8.40 flexible; up to 300 users
- 30 GB pooled storage per user
- Gmail with your domain, Meet for 100 participants
- SSO, Drive log events, remote account wipe
- Microsoft OneDriveLowest priceMicrosoft 365 Business Basic (no Teams)$5.40/user/moPaid yearly; $6.48 on a monthly subscription; up to 300 users
- 1 TB of OneDrive per user, SharePoint team sites
- Business email, web and mobile Office apps
- Password, expiry and block-download link settings, file requests
- pCloudBusiness$7.99/user/moBilled annually; $9.99 monthly; 3 users minimum
- 1 TB per user, pooled, with custom quotas
- pCloud Encryption (client-side) included
- Teams, access levels and activity logs
- 180 days of file versioning, branded links
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Dropbox 2026-10-16, Google Drive 2026-10-16, Microsoft OneDrive 2026-10-16, pCloud 2026-10-16.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- Microsoft OneDriveSelf-serve sign-up; the highest score of the 4 self-serve products here (9.2/10).
- Lowest starter price
- Microsoft OneDrive$5.40/user/mo for the Microsoft 365 Business Basic, no Teams (paid yearly) plan.
- Highest overall score
- Microsoft OneDrive9.2/10 (Excellent). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.
Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score