What do the best Dropbox al­tern­at­ives?

Dropbox remains one of the most popular cloud storage services, largely due to its user-friendly interface. However, its in­fra­struc­ture is primarily based in the United States, which may raise concerns for users who pri­or­it­ise stricter data privacy standards. At the same time, many al­tern­at­ives offer more free storage and different ap­proaches to hosting and pro­tect­ing data. So which options are worth exploring?

A direct com­par­is­on of Dropbox and its al­tern­at­ives

Last updated: March 2026

The best Dropbox al­tern­at­ives at a glance

Dropbox is one of the oldest file hosting services, but many companies have now es­tab­lished them­selves in the cloud storage market. Below, we introduce some of the best Dropbox al­tern­at­ives in detail.

Microsoft OneDrive

With Microsoft’s cloud storage OneDrive, you get 5 GB of free storage, which can be expanded to up to 1 TB with a paid package. You can edit documents directly in your browser using web versions of Word, Excel, and Power­Point, and the platform also supports col­lab­or­at­ive work through a range of built-in features.

If you choose the Single, Family, or Microsoft 365 Business packages, you can also use the well-known Microsoft Office ap­plic­a­tions like Word, Excel, Power­Point, and more. One key advantage is that the Microsoft 365 desktop apps, such as Word, Excel, and Power­Point, can be used offline and then sync auto­mat­ic­ally via OneDrive.

Google Drive

With Google Drive, you get another widely used al­tern­at­ive to Dropbox. You receive 15 GB of storage for free when you set up a Google account. However, this storage quota also includes all files you store with other Google services (Gmail, Google Photos). If you need more space, you have to upgrade to the paid Google One service, which offers 100 GB, 200 GB, or 2 TB. Al­tern­at­ively, Google’s AI packages, which include access to its AI features, offer up to 30 TB of storage. Whether you use the free or paid version of Google Drive, your data is always encrypted, including during trans­mis­sion.

One of the biggest ad­vant­ages of Google Drive is the in­teg­rated office suite. It lets you work directly in your browser on text documents (Google Docs), spread­sheets (Google Sheets), and present­a­tions (Google Slides). The documents are also very well suited for team editing – for example, changes are saved auto­mat­ic­ally and a complete version history of each document is created (you can go back up to 30 days or 100 versions). Users can com­mu­nic­ate quickly through built-in com­ment­ing and chat features.

HiDrive cloud storage

IONOS has launched an in­ter­est­ing al­tern­at­ive to Dropbox with HiDrive Cloud Storage. This cloud service is aimed at private users and busi­nesses and offers maximum flex­ib­il­ity and freedom when accessing and storing your files on all devices. To this end, HiDrive provides cross-platform web ap­plic­a­tions that enable intuitive and efficient data syn­chron­isa­tion, desktop clients for Windows and macOS, as well as mobile apps for iOS and Android.

Files are encrypted and stored in ISO-certified data centres in Germany in com­pli­ance with GDPR, the European Union’s strict data pro­tec­tion reg­u­la­tion that sets high standards for how personal data is stored and processed. SSL/TLS-encrypted trans­mis­sion, fully automatic backups, and optional two-factor au­then­tic­a­tion provide ad­di­tion­al pro­tec­tion. Depending on the selected package, device backup and HiDrive Office are included or can be added at any time. In addition, the HiDrive packages offer a lot of storage space for com­par­at­ively little money.

iCloud Drive

iCloud Drive is part of Apple’s iCloud service and includes 5 GB of free storage, which can be expanded at any time. Paid packages offer 50 GB, 200 GB, 2 TB, 6 TB, or 12 TB for a monthly fee. While Apple’s cloud storage also works on Windows and through a web interface, it is primarily designed for Apple users, es­pe­cially those already using iCloud on a Mac or iPhone. In addition to storage, Apple provides browser-based office apps through its iWork suite.

Box

The Cali­for­nia-based company Box has been around since 2005, making it even two years older than Dropbox. The two providers are similar in many ways, as Box also uses strong AES en­cryp­tion with a 256-bit key length and stands out for its features. The platform is even slightly easier to use than Dropbox. However, Box is now primarily geared toward busi­nesses and teams.

Private users receive 10 GB of free storage, but in­di­vidu­al uploads are limited to 250 MB, which makes it difficult to handle larger files. The paid package increases the upload limit to 5 GB and includes a total of 100 GB of storage, which is re­l­at­ively modest compared to other Dropbox al­tern­at­ives. For business users, Box offers dedicated packages with unlimited storage and upload limits of up to 500 GB. With ‘Box Zones’, it is also possible to store data in specific regions.

Se­cureSafe

The Dropbox al­tern­at­ive Se­cureSafe combines cloud storage with password man­age­ment and is aimed at anyone who wants to protect their passwords and personal documents as ef­fect­ively as possible. All data is stored on servers in Switzer­land and is securely encrypted. Triple-redundant backups, along with user au­then­tic­a­tion via the Secure Remote Password (SRP) protocol, provide ad­di­tion­al pro­tec­tion for files and passwords.

Se­cure­Cloud

Se­cure­Cloud also puts a strong focus on security, with end-to-end en­cryp­tion ensuring that data is encrypted directly on the user’s device. This Dropbox al­tern­at­ive also stands out for its server location, as files are stored ex­clus­ively on servers in Germany. Features such as in­teg­rated chat and group man­age­ment make col­lab­or­a­tion across teams easier, while the activity overview lets you track all changes made to your file libraries.

You can access your Se­cure­Cloud storage either through the web app or via client ap­plic­a­tions for macOS, Linux, Windows, iOS, and Android. After a 14-day trial, a paid sub­scrip­tion is required to continue using the service. The service is mainly designed for teams, with the Business package starting at two users and including 50 GB per user. Or­gan­isa­tions with 10 or more employees receive 100 GB per user under the ‘Advanced’ or ‘En­ter­prise’ packages.