Dropbox, Box Alternatives: Too Many File Sync, Sharing Options?
Generally speaking: Customer choice is good for businesses and MSPs. But the number of Dropbox and Box alernatives for business seems to be skyrocketing. File syncing and sharing is certainly a hot market. But is there enough business to keep all of these solutions afloat? That’s a critically important question as managed services providers (MSPs) seek recurring revenue in this market while making recommendations to end customers.
First, the big picture: Box and Dropbox are pushing beyond their consumer heritage and certainly have business momentum. As of October 2012 Box had more than 14 million users and was in 92 percent of Fortune 500 companies, the vendor claimed. Dropbox, meanwhile, as of December 2012 claimed to have more than 100 million users — including 95 percent of the Fortune 500.
Those numbers are impressive but also a bit misleading. If Joe Smith is a 22-year-old receptionist in a Fortune 500 company running Box or Dropbox, he counts toward that high Fortune 500 penetration figure. Read between the lines: There are millions of users — in the Fortune 500, Global 2000, midmarket and small business sectors — still up for grabs.
That’s where VARs, MSPs and market alternatives enter the picture. Dropbox has been particularly aggressive engaging MSPs to increase its market penetration. One recent move involves a partnership with CharTec — the MSP educator and hardware as a service (HaaS) specialist, which will promote Dropbox to its partner base.
File Sync, Sharing Company & Product List
Still, market alternatives are emerging by the truckload. A few quick examples:
- Amazon Cloud Drive: Some MSPs consider Amazon the enemy. I disagree. But I’m not sure if/how MSPs can monetize and control Cloud Drive for their customers.
- Anchor: Launched by MSP veterans. The company tends to have a heavy presence at MSP conferences.
- BitTorrent Sync: I’m not a user but people keep mentioning it to me.
- Egnyte: Focused on enterprise file sharing — with a growing focus on MSPs as partners.
- eFolder: Better known for its BDR solution in the MSP industry, you may notice eFolder Cloud File Sync now heavily promoted by the company.
- Google Drive: I’m not sure this fits specifically into this market segment. But I’m a big user. As is Brett Martin, who told me this has to be on the shortlist.
- LogMeIn Cubby: A pretty new solution. Plus MSP industry veterans like Ted Roller and Shannon Kohn have joined the LogMeIn channel team.
- Microsoft Sky Drive: Popular but is a name change forthcoming?
- SecuriSync: From Intermedia, the hosted Exchange and cloud office company that works closely with MSPs and VARs.
- SugerSync: During a Google Plus conversation, Todd Wahl told me he was an avid SugarSync User.
- TeamDrive: They promote end-to-end encryption…
- Wuala: Never seen it, never used it. But people are talking…
- Whom did I miss? What’s hot? What’s not? I’m all ears…
As you navigate the solutions above keep in mind:
- Some of the solutions lack true partner programs or don’t have a clear way for MSPs to generate recurring revenue. Plus, who controls the end-customer pricing, billing and branding?
- Many of the solutions don’t yet integrate with traditional MSP software platforms.
- If the file sharing service disappears or go dark, how do customers recover their files?
- Who holds the keys to the file sharing accounts? You? Your customers?
I’m eager to learn more. Beyond Box and Dropbox I don’t have a good feel for installed base — particularly in the channel. Readers, I’m all ears: Educate me…
Axway’s DropZone is
Axway’s DropZone is positioned as an enterprise class file sharing solution targeted to MSPs. Learn more in this short video. http://bit.ly/18OUOCm
Mike: I assume you work for
Mike: I assume you work for Axway? Or just a partner. Let me know and thanks for putting DropZone on our radar.
Evernote!
Evernote!
Tim: Ah… How did I forget
Tim: Ah… How did I forget Evernote? But quick question: Does it also help to manage the sharing/storage of PDFs, office documents, spreadsheets, etc?
Hi Joe, you missed SyncBlaze
Hi Joe, you missed SyncBlaze – File Sharing and Sync solution for MSPs / VARs. To answer some of your questions – With SyncBlaze, we allow MSPs to bill their customers and they handle the customers by themselves. Also – data is encrypted at source and hence the user / company holds the encryption which allows the solution to remain compliant with federal regulations. SyncBlaze is built on top of renowned StoreGrid Backup platform which already integrates into leading PSA and RMM platforms. We have more than 250 MSPs using this newly launched service already…
Len: Thanks for the
Len: Thanks for the background on SyncBlaze. Plus, thanks for sharing some info about the partner program and tech architecture. We welcome all comments on MSPmentor… but detailed comments such as yours really help our readers in a big way. Let us know how the MSP base grows for this…
-jp
Great article! I’m a big fan
Great article! I’m a big fan of Dropbox and Google Drive. I’ve also used Box but didn’t like it quite as much.
Also, I love that you used “whom” correctly. 🙂
Hi Brandy: Most readers point
Hi Brandy: Most readers point out typos to me. Thanks for the recognition of something done correctly.
-jp
Try Copy which gives 15GB on
Try Copy which gives 15GB on joining up and 5GB bonus for each referral. It is available on ios, android and windows desktop. Upload speed is great and it is planning to allow WebDAV which would enable you to map it as a network drive.
Citrix ShareFile
SpiderOak
Citrix ShareFile
SpiderOak
Scott: Thank you for those
Scott: Thank you for those two. They are definitely added to our radar now.
-jp
WatchDox focuses on the high
WatchDox focuses on the high end of the market (100 of the Global 1000 are actual enterprise customers), including some of the biggest banks, insurance companies and manufacturers around the world. We typically compete with Accellion, EMC Syncplicity, and Citrix ShareFile, which I’d add to your list.
In the MSP world, we work with NTT as our MSP partner in Japan, NetworksFirst as our MSP in the UK, and quite a few other partners.
Ryan: Thanks for offering not
Ryan: Thanks for offering not only a product name but some positioning context.
-jp
Copy (copy.com) from
Copy (copy.com) from Barracuda has nearly 2M users in 6 months since launch and so far, user reviews have been very strong. Copy for Companies was announced this week at VMworld.
Eric: Thank you. Copy.com
Eric: Thank you. Copy.com also generated some buzz over on my Google+ conversation.
-jp
A continuing trend is to not
A continuing trend is to not only share files in the cloud, but to replace or augment the local network file shares. There are some solutions that do sync and share the local network storage to the cloud. However, some of those vendors might not really be ready for the enterprise (always be careful about your selection). There are some inexpensive options, but then you read about file corruption, poor customer support, etc. There are some enterprise solutions out there, like Simplicity by EMC, that appear to be more enterprise-ready, secure, etc. But you get what you pay for. Gradually, we’ll get better and better cloud options and the pricing will come down as well. Many companies will continue to use separate cloud systems for file sharing and backup until more reliable, less expensive, options are available that do more.
Holdfast: The Intermdia
Holdfast: The Intermdia outage today is a reminder, indeed, that many companies will keep backup and file sharing and other apps separate for now…
-jp
Yes, I also think that many
Yes, I also think that many businesses are starting to realize that (semi) free File Sharing/File Syncing services like dropbox, sugarsync etc. are simply not suitable for professional use.
And I’ve seen many examples on how company files gets mixed up with the employee’s private files, when using these sync services.
We use Swiss based, Filecamp, it’s somewhere in between the (semi) free services on your list and a traditional enterprise File Sharing / Digital Asset Management solution. With Filecamp we can manage all file sending and file receiving tasks, use it as our company Image Bank, and we (and our clients) can even comment and approve files within the solution.
Oh yes, I forgot … it’s 100% white label … so we’re getting all the credit from our clients 😉
Rune: Thanks for another tip.
Rune: Thanks for another tip. We’ll keep our eyes on Filecamp.
-jp
I’ve used Anchor and
I’ve used Anchor and SecureSync (the reseller’s version of SecuriSync by Intermedia) – Anchor requires an up-front purchase of either their storage, or licensing to use your own storage. It is very robust in the way you can configure. It allows you to brand each customer you have which is kind of neat. Intermedia’s offering is very quick to setup, very easy to use, price is low per month and it seems to be a very well developed platform. If you’re a hosted exchange customer of theirs already you automatically get SecuriSync (or SecureSync if you’re a reseller) as a part of your plan, I think it is 1GB for the standard hosted exchange account)
Anonymous: Thanks for the
Anonymous: Thanks for the info. I’ve seen the Anchor team at a lot of MSP events. Also, I hear SecuriSync is Intermedia’s fastest-growth service ever…
-jp
Anonymous: Thanks for the
Anonymous: Thanks for the info. I’ve seen the Anchor team at a lot of MSP events. Also, I hear SecuriSync is Intermedia’s fastest-growth service ever…
-jp
Anchor is going after the MSP
Anchor is going after the MSP market as well. They were at Automation Nation in 2012, and I suspect they will be there in 2013. Their offering has matured a bit and they now offer cloud and premises based options. They have an MSP partner program which is how I heard about them.
Would Office365/Sharepoint be an addition to the list?
Hey Todd: We continue to
Hey Todd: We continue to track Anchor closely. As for SharePoint… Yes, we should have included that in the list of potential options.
-jp
We use Oxygen
We use Oxygen (www.oxygencloud.com) which comes either as a service or a software package that can be installed to provide the service while retaining the full revenue within your company (and the full costs, of course!) Oxygen has some nice enterprise features but also has been slow to fix some bugs with syncing MS Office related file locking problems.
Hey Anonymous: I was not
Hey Anonymous: I was not aware of Oxygen but we’ll add it to our radar of companies/services to watch.
-jp
How about owncloud.com and
How about owncloud.com and owncloud.org? I think that’s pretty much the only freebie on this list that can play in the big league.
Vezard: Tell me more. What
Vezard: Tell me more. What makes owncloud a potential big league player?
Great read! It will be nice
Great read! It will be nice to have Dropbox alternatives all in one place once the comments stop rolling in :). As far as an alternative missing from your list … I highly recommend SmartFile.
Yes, I work there, but we really are as good (if not better) than Dropbox in side-by-side comparisons. We offer secure FTP file storage and transfer, and more, for a fraction of what Dropbox charges. We also offer unlimited users and branding customization. Read more about SmartFile features here: https://www.smartfile.com/features/
Hi Leah: Feel free to send us
Hi Leah: Feel free to send us news and updates about SmartFile as they happen.
-jp
Transferring large files is
Transferring large files is PIA! Binfer is the best private file sharing software out there. The link is http://www.binfer.com
Nice to have all those names
Nice to have all those names in one post! Thanks!
After looking at some new ones, we see that much of the file sharing solutions have the same problems. the reason why dropbox is so populair is the usability. Biggest problem with most of the solutions is that the usability is not the same experience and for the MSP it lacks important features. Maybe we’re searching for the needle in the haystack…
We’re looking for the following features;
– Multi tenancy on a shared storage platform. This means we want to install and maintain the servers in our own datacenter. No shared system in the US, even no shared system with a US owner even if it’s not in the US.
– Syncing apps that can be installed on a workstation, mobile devices and servers. So a webpage only is not a solution but a additional feature.
– Re-brandable and then I mean fully re-bandable. We deliver the sharing service service with our own sauce on top and don’t want users comparing only the sharing service without the sauce.
– Simple, the interface must be simple, clean and easy to use. Yep, also for non techies. With simple I mean also that unneeded features can be turned off and do not confuse the customer. Yes, I know this disrupts upselling and cross selling, but it is a file sharing service not a marketing tool.
Maybe there are more providers that can deliver what we need, but most of the names above are not solving our problem. The new ones I saw I will check!
SHAREFILE from Citrix does
SHAREFILE from Citrix does all those things AND was rated # 1 by gartner for filesharing… kinda like the oscars in the IT world. AND was top tech tool for 2013 for file sharing. its def the best product on the market. it was built from the ground up for business use.
Hey Joe…check out Norton
Hey Joe…check out Norton Zone. We just recently released it and it’s both easy AND safe cloud file sharing. Would love to hear your feedback…
Not really a sync & share
Not really a sync & share solution, Maginatics MagFS is an enterprise file system for the cloud that enables the file sharing use case among many others.
OxygenCloud and Gladinet are
OxygenCloud and Gladinet are both good options for more of an enterprise use. Check them out.
Thanks for the input,
Thanks for the input, Anonymous and Anonymous. Can you say if you are affiliated with any of the firms you mention? thanks,
Jessica
A bit late to the game, but
A bit late to the game, but another service is ElephantDrive (available to MSPs via their Vault Services label). They offer both backup and sync, but the interesting differentiator (as far as I’m concerned) is the fact that the software runs natively on NAS devices. It comes pre-installed on QNAP, Thecus, and NETGEAR network storage devices and I’m told there are three more firms that will be shipping it from the factory before the end of the year.
Hi, I work for Storgrid. We
Hi, I work for Storgrid. We provide a sync & share solution that is specifically built for corporate environments with the following main features:
– Flexible deployment. On-premise, private cloud or hybrid.
– Web, local and mobile clients (PC, Mac, IOS, Android, VDI).
– Easy integration with existing storage, data, authentication and security policies.
– Build your own private cloud offering (multi-tenancy) or create your own brand through white labelling option.
– MSP controls the end-customer pricing and billing.
– Elastic Scalability tot 100.000+ users and no database needed.
http://www.storgrid.com
I’m pretty sure you should
I’m pretty sure you should have mentioned Copy.com, if it isn’t hot yet it will probably heat up very soon as the guys from Barracuda Networks seem to have gone mad with their offerings.
They basically offer an alternative to Dropbox but on steroids, if you sign up you get 15GB of free space to start-up with and then 5GB of free space per referral. I wonder whether this will lead to a failure as I don’t see how it could bring profit once they accumulate millions of users with enough free space that they do not need to upgrade. I heard of people earning hundreds of GBs and even TBs of free storage.
Anyway if anybody is willing
Anyway if anybody is willing to give it a test-drive here’s the link that will rack you 20GB to stat of with
https://copy.com?r=Z1oUSB
FileLocker http://www.filelocker.com
FileLocker http://www.filelocker.com is another good one. They have a great MSP program as their parent company Infrascale has been selling cloud backup to MSPs for year via their SOS Online Backup solution.
I like to use
I like to use http://getyounity.com as its a private cloud that doesn’t put my files at risk of being corrupted in a data warehouse somewhere. Additionally, I dont have to plan on what files I want to access like I do with dropbox and box. It give me access to everything whenever I need it.
Copy is a new cloud service
Copy is a new cloud service that is amazing! Dropbox conventionally only offers 2gb of storage, to say the least is hardly nothing for your videos / mp3 files. Copy provides 15 gb free on registration, and you can get an additional 5GB by registering through this link!
Total of 20gb registering through this link:
https://copy.com?r=6OCDoF
How much does team drive
How much does team drive offer fro free? Is it a free service?
I like dropbox because of its
I like dropbox because of its integration into Mailbox (mobile app) and the ability to attach files right from the app. Dropbox is available for any smartphone, including BB.
Also, you can get up to 3 GB extra if you upload pics from a USB or camera. That brings the initial 2 GB quickly to a usable level plus with referrals such as this link (500 MB):
https://db.tt/e3aZHay3
A fast growing service very similar to dropbox is Copy, you can start out with 20 GB right off the bat using a referral link and quickly grow the storage in 5GB increments by referring it to others yourself once signed up and installed.
https://copy.com?r=r4yDoL
Then there is DriveHQ, which was not mentioned yet, it is more geared towards small businesses, but I like the interface and security that is claimed. Will investigate this a little more and report back later.
http://www.drivehq.com
Thanks for highlighting the
Thanks for highlighting the different file syncing and sharing applications available and it’s great to see so many people offering new alternatives too. I have been using Dropbox for my storage needs for a number of years now and haven’t given any thought to making a change, simply because I have been very happy with the service I get and have no cause to complain. However, now I have realised there are so many more options I will be researching into some of them mentioned and see if any are more suitable than what I already get with Dropbox.
Great list here. Another new
Great list here. Another new one to add is sync.com (not used it yet, I think they just launched)
I noticed that
I noticed that onlinestoragesolution.com has a new VPS option with Own Cloud installed. It’s unlimited and 35 bucks a year. I have been testing it and it’s really slick. If you are looking for something better than Drop Box you should check it out.
Wow great list!
I have a
Wow great list!
I have a small team of c. 10 part-time volunteers who have sharing our work using DropBox. What we hate is that it there is no “file locking” and so you cant see if someone is working on a file and so it is very easy to over-write each others work. (DropBox does create conflict files but our team is pretty non-technical a this is a huge pain). The only work around we can find is to temporarily rename a file to include your own name – but how insanely clunky is that!
We need up to about 5GB of space and it needs to be free (or very VERY cheap).
– Any suggestions?
Copy.com sounds promising however do they offer file locking.
Thanks
J
Update:
Here is a summary of
Update:
Here is a summary of my quest for free/dirt cheap collaboration space that allows users to see if someone else is editing a file before they do so themselves:
The following offer free disk space but I dont think any offer file locking for more than 5 users:
* Copy.com – 15GB for free – but only 5 users
* DropBox – 2GB – easy to install but no file locking
* Elephant Drive – 2GB for free
* Norton Zone – 5GB for free – (but read access only for shares)
* Sky Drive (Microsoft) – 7GB for free
* SpiderOak – 2GB for free
* Sync.com – 5GB for free (+0.5GB per referral)
* TeamDrive – 2GB for free (AES-256 encryption)
* Wuala – 5GB for free (not designed for collaboration though)
* Zoho Docs – 5GB for free (but only 3 collaborators)
J
In my opinion, collaboration
In my opinion, collaboration tools provide more benefits than risk. I was using several different collaboration tools during my job and I didn’t find really good collaboration tools for small or small-medium size business.
Now I can say that I found one promising project – Oogwave.
This is collaboration tools designed especially for this business. They offer some really interesting options like online file sharing, discussion, assigning task, chatting with team.
Thanks for the mention, Joe!
Thanks for the mention, Joe! Here’s the plug:
Anchor is channel-only, built from the ground-up for MSPs and VARs. Multi-tenant interface? Since day one. PSA integration? We do that well. File server enablement? You know it. 100% brandable? From front to back. The list keeps going (anchorworks.com/features)
The only thing we don’t do is sell to end-users.
For anyone interested in making 60%+ gross margins while replacing risky, consumer-grade services like Dropbox, visit anchorworks.com/contact
This stuff sells itself.
There’s a Dropbox alternative
There’s a Dropbox alternative that lets the users send and store files of any size or type. Its an MFT solution that has its own Secure Dropbox. They’re called Thru. Its recommended for businesses with lots of workers and partners that want a secure alternative to consumer file transfer.
http://thruinc.com/solutions/secure-dropbox/
Most of these solutions
Most of these solutions depend on a company hosting data in the cloud. Some that don’t are
Sparkleshare
ownCloud
Pydio
Gladinet
Another thing, BitCasa wasn’t mentioned and it has a feature I believe unique to the others. It offers an “infinite drive” in addition to syncing capability. So you can store stuff there that you won’t or don’t have room for it on your local drive.
For non geek there is another
For non geek there is another option, Wingubo.
Just found this comparison
Just found this comparison chart where many of the solutions above are compared: http://filecamp.com/box-net-alternatives/#table
We are an MSP and currently
We are an MSP and currently evaluating Anchor and Soonr. At this point I am not sure if we will offer one or both. Anchor seems a bit more aligned with the MSP model but Soonr has some capabilities that we are intrigued by. I will update when we have more specifics.
box.com has a great service
box.com has a great service for $10/month. (100 GB). Have been using for 3 months. No glitch, no customer support needed. It just works.
You can create as many folders as you want for your customers. Customers can upload/download as many files as they want within their space. with their login information. No additional fee like what DriveHQ charges. Unlimited user accounts.
DriveHQ, which has a strict policy not to refund any unused money if you sign up for yearly subscription (This guideline has been prescribed by GOD. No one can change it under any conditions even if their customer support team mislead you do to go from monthly to yearly subscription).
Box.com does not have any policy like that.
I had a long trail of email communications with DriveHQ. They play a broken record “We have a Strict No refund policy under any circumstances”. They won’t even refund unused amount, if you are not happy with their service, particularly even if their customer support team gives you wrong information and move you from monthly to yearly subscription.
I strongly recommend Box.com for their great service. Sign up for a free account and see for yourself what you get for $10/month.
Here is an alternate solution
Here is an alternate solution to Drive HQ – much better. Much cheaper.
box.com has a great service for $10/month. (100 GB). Have been using for 3 months. No glitch, no customer support needed. It just works.
You can create as many folders as you want for your customers. Customers can upload/download as many files as they want within their space. with their login information. No additional fee like what DriveHQ charges. Unlimited user accounts.
DriveHQ, which has a strict policy not to refund any unused money if you sign up for yearly subscription (This guideline has been prescribed by GOD. No one can change it under any conditions even if their customer support team mislead you do to go from monthly to yearly subscription).
Box.com does not have any policy like that.
I had a long trail of email communications with DriveHQ. They play a broken record “We have a Strict No refund policy under any circumstances”. They won’t even refund unused amount, if you are not happy with their service, particularly even if their customer support team gives you wrong information and move you from monthly to yearly subscription.
I strongly recommend Box.com for their great service. Sign up for a free account and see for yourself what you get for $10/month.
http://www.soonr.com – can’t believe
http://www.soonr.com – can’t believe this wasn’t on this.