What is Cloud Storage?
In the new age of the Internet were data is readily available and needed at an instance Online Storage has been a key component. No longer do you have to carry around a USB dongle with you where ever you go. Now you can access your data from any computer, any mobile device. As long as you are connected to the Internet you have access to your data. So which storage options available today are good? This hub is going to compare Dropbox.com and its offerings with that of Box.Net. Both of these are the cream of the crop when it comes to online storage and back up.
Price: Box.net vs. Dropbox
Prices:
Box.net offers a free storage space of 5 Gigabytes with a maximum file size of 25 Megabytes that can be transferred to your Box.net storage. Meanwhile, Dropbox only offers 2 Gigabytes of storage for free. If you are looking for a free account with maximum storage then 5 Gigabytes of storage should be plenty for storing documents. Although wait till you read about the features both of these sites have to offer.
Dropbox offers 50 GB of space for $9.99 / Month. Not bad considering for the same price of $9.99 Box.net offers only 25 GB of space. If you are willing to pay up to $9.99 / month for online storage then I would highly recommend you go with Dropbox.
However, if you need more storage than 50 GB, then both of these online storage providers have an answer for you. Dropbox offers 100 GB of space for $19.99 / Month. This is clearly aimed at heavy users who constantly need documents on the go and can update documents without having to be attached to their work computer. Box.net also has a business solution. In their business offering Box.net gives 500 GB of space for $15 / Month. The catch is that the price is based on per user. So if you have a business and you want all your employees to use Box.net then it can run your bill a little but you do not have to worry about hard drives crashing or computers malfunctioning in case of a data emergency. Your data will always be available.
So for a pure price perspective in my opinion Box.net wins because their price points are clearly lower than Dropbox and offer more storage overall with their highest price point when compared to Dropbox.
Features: Box.net vs. Dropbox
Box.net works in similar fashion as other online backup systems from the past. You upload documents to a website and they store it for you. No USB drives or CDs to worry about. Both Box and Dropbox offer similar features there are a few differences. Box works based on a web based interface. You go to Box.net and log in and upload files or manage folders. You don't have to install any special application, just a browser and an Internet connection. benefit of this is that you can access your files in seconds and begin downloading, uploading, collaborating with others you choose to share the files with. Enterprise & Business users get an added benefit of Box Sync. With Box Sync you can directly sync folders, files from your desktop without having to go to the Box.net website.
Dropbox also has a folder syncing feature which it offers for FREE! All you have to do is download the Dropbox application your computer and you can sync files between computers and these files will be stored all in the cloud. To me this is an important feature I wish Box.net gave away for free. I don't plan on using more than 2GB of data ever and with the ability to just drop my files into a folder and they are magically synced to the cloud takes the task of me having to upload the files to a website away. Dropbox also offers file sharing with others and similar to Box.net, Dropbox also has Mobile applications for iOS and Android devices. In my opinion Dropbox wins this battle because I prefer just saving my files into a folder on my computer than having to first save the file and then perform a backup by going to a website.
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