5 Interesting Dropbox Alternatives For You To Try

With many people complaining about Dropbox’s security hiccups, what other services can people use to ensure cheap and secure cloud-based file hosting and sharing?

Within a few years into the cloud storage race, Dropbox skyrocketed to the top of this increasingly competitive race. But despite this fast growth, users of the service continue to experience significant problems with regard to security due to multiple account breaches and other similar snafus. For late adopters of cloud sharing and storage services, this becomes a big issue. Online security is of paramount importance, and no matter how many millions of people already use a popular service, repeated failure can drive potential users away. After all, security is at the heart of virtually anything that goes up in the “cloud.”

If you’re worried about file security, you might want to try these five (5) secure alternatives to Dropbox.

InSync

Dropbox depends on Amazon’s Simple Storage Service for encryption and safekeeping, that’s a known fact. This new player in the cloud-based file storage arena called InSync, on the other hand, uses your Google Drive (formerly Google Docs) account as your storage locker. The way it works is quite simple; it offers a desktop application that allows you to access files in your Google account in the same manner you would access files in a local folder. To entice users to switch to their service, they’re using catchphrases along the lines of “It’s OK to cheat on Dropbox” and “8x cheaper than Dropbox.” Quite brave for a Dropbox alternative, eh?

Box

If Skype has RingCentral as its paid, enterprise-class counterpart, then perhaps Dropbox has found its own in Box. If you’re in need of a secure space in the cloud to bring together all your content in the same manner as MTV, Dell, T-Mobile, and PBS does, then Box is the concrete answer. In terms of more advanced features, Box wins over Dropbox hands down, mostly because you’ll be paying a premium to be able to use the more advanced functionalities. You’ll benefit more with this service if you need a solid solution with lots of access controls, than, say, if you want a more simplified file sharing method.

SugarSync

SugarSync is another well-known alternative to Dropbox. The service became popular because it comes pre-loaded on widely distributed products like Lenovo computers and SoftBank smartphones. It allows you to “micro manage” your data assets, like syncing different folders scattered around your computer and commanding each one to sync on specific devices. Additionally, it is one of the few services which allows you to add password protection to folders when sharing them publicly. SugarSync initially offers 5GB for free in every sign-up and will require you to pay for additional gigabyte usage (like any other cloud storage service).

ShareFile

ShareFile is another sophisticated cloud-based service that gears towards the enterprise. What makes it “sophisticated” is that it makes it easier to sync files in more advanced workflows, say, syncing one file for multiple users, setting up syncs with only one master source (one-way sync), or syncing to obtain different updates from multiple machines (two-way sync). Additionally, files about to be synced need not be placed on special or separate folders, because ShareFile will follow the file structure on your computer. It would have been great though if they had offered “starter” accounts for free.

SparkleShare

Hardcore programmers and Linux fans must have been dropping their Dropbox accounts for SparkleShare, an open-source, cross-platform project that allows you to start a Dropbox-like service of your own. It’s a stable alternative to Dropbox that you can run on your own server, so you can control the amount of data you can store in it. A lot of work still needs to be done with this offering, but a lot of skilled contributors are onto it to make it more stable like its proprietary brothers.

Sharing, synchronizing, and collaborating on files has never been as important as they are now. As a result, many services have sprouted to challenge today’s leading player, Dropbox, most especially in the flaky area of security.