CrashPlan vs. Dropbox

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
CrashPlan
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
CrashPlan® provides secure, scalable, and straightforward endpoint data backup, to help organizations recover from any worst-case scenario, whether it is a disaster, simple human error, a stolen laptop, ransomware, or an as-of-yet-undiscovered calamity.N/A
Dropbox
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Dropbox is a cloud storage solution, equipped with features that help users to save time, improve productivity, and collaborate with others. Users can edit PDFs, share videos, sign documents, and collaborate with stakeholders without leaving Dropbox.
$9.99
per month
Pricing
CrashPlanDropbox
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Plus
$9.99
per month
Essentials
$18
per month
Business
$20
per month per user
Business Plus
$26
per month per user
Basic
Free
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
CrashPlanDropbox
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsDiscount available for annual billing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
CrashPlanDropbox
Features
CrashPlanDropbox
Data Center Backup
Comparison of Data Center Backup features of Product A and Product B
CrashPlan
8.3
Ratings
0% below category average
Dropbox
-
Ratings
Universal recovery9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Instant recovery9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Recovery verification9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Business application protection7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple backup destinations8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Incremental backup identification7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Backup to the cloud8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Flexible deployment8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Management dashboard9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform support8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Retention options9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Enterprise Backup
Comparison of Enterprise Backup features of Product A and Product B
CrashPlan
8.0
Ratings
2% below category average
Dropbox
-
Ratings
Continuous data protection10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Replication8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Ransomware Recovery6.00 Ratings00 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
CrashPlan
-
Ratings
Dropbox
7.8
Ratings
7% below category average
Versioning00 Ratings7.50 Ratings
Video files00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Audio files00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Document collaboration00 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Access control00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
File search00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Device sync00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Cloud Storage Security & Administration
Comparison of Cloud Storage Security & Administration features of Product A and Product B
CrashPlan
-
Ratings
Dropbox
7.9
Ratings
9% below category average
User and role management00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
File organization00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Device management00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Cloud Storage Platform
Comparison of Cloud Storage Platform features of Product A and Product B
CrashPlan
-
Ratings
Dropbox
8.0
Ratings
6% below category average
Performance00 Ratings7.50 Ratings
Reliability00 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Storage Reports00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Best Alternatives
CrashPlanDropbox
Small Businesses
Cove Data Protection
Cove Data Protection
Score 9.9 out of 10
SugarSync
SugarSync
Score 5.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Druva Security Cloud
Druva Security Cloud
Score 9.7 out of 10
Druva Security Cloud
Druva Security Cloud
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Druva Security Cloud
Druva Security Cloud
Score 9.7 out of 10
Druva Security Cloud
Druva Security Cloud
Score 9.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
CrashPlanDropbox
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.9
(0 ratings)
6.7
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
7.5
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
6.7
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
6.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
5.0
(0 ratings)
7.4
(0 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.7
(0 ratings)
7.5
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
6.4
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
6.6
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
CrashPlanDropbox
Likelihood to Recommend
This is a great Cloud backup solution. The cost is low, the bandwidth is managed well within the application, and the footprint for the client on a machine is very small and provides a notification menu icon with info about what is happening now or very recently. This does not backup to anything locally, so if that is a requirement, it will not meet that need. It used to be able to backup from one machine to another remote machine at one time, but now it is only cloud-based.
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Dropbox is great for everyone. Data on a hard drive is no longer secure. Learned the hard way when a hard drive fried. It's great for families, students, artists, entrepreneurs, consultants, small businesses, startups, graphic designers, and photographers. Did I leave anyone out?
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Pros
  • Code42 is the most affordable backup system offering unlimited storage that I could find. I came from SOS Online Backup, which I ultimately decided to drop after my monthly rate for their unlimited plan increased by 20x.
  • With Code42's unlimited storage option, I don't have to worry about the fact that my backups are significant in space. As a photographer with thousands of images at stake, I need to run large backups often.
  • Code42 runs continuously and silently in the background of my desktop computer. It is truly "set and go", so I don't have to think about it when I'm away. It runs until the designated drive has been fully backed up to my cloud storage. It will then automatically email me once the backup is complete (or, it will email me if it encounters any errors).
  • Customer service is above par. Anytime I need help, a chat agent is available (chat is my communication preference), they are always friendly, and go above and beyond to resolve my needs.
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  • Ensures documents are up to date, even with multiple users accessing the same documents.
  • I love that if a team member accidentally deletes a file, I can find it and restore it.
  • I like that I can edit from the web or have the app downloaded.
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Cons
  • The CrashPlan program installed on your computer is Java-based vs. a native application. While this makes development for CrashPlan easier, there are a lot of drawbacks to Java programs including more resources usage, less stability, and overall more clunky interface.
  • While this was also in the Pros category - CrashPlan is an extremely powerful and flexible program, which adds a great deal of complexity. Setting up CrashPlan isn't always a simple procedure, and depending on the complexity of your backup set, can take a while to tinker around with the settings to get everything to work properly.
  • The CrashPlan desktop program consists of a Java program front end, as well as a backend service - there are times when the backend service will crash, and the front end Java program will refuse to load. Typically, restarting the service or restarting the computer will resolve the issue, but sometimes more in-depth troubleshooting is required.
  • Perhaps one of the biggest downsides to CrashPlan is its price - at $10/month/computer CrashPlan is more than double the price of some existing backup services such as Backblaze (priced at $50/year/computer). To add salt to the wound, about a year and a half ago, CrashPlan discontinued their consumer options - which were very reasonably priced at $60/year for a single computer or a family plan priced at $150/year for up to 10 computers. When these options were discontinued, the cost of backing up with CrashPlan was effectively doubled for the same feature set.
  • Along with the previous example, CrashPlan had the option to back up to a remote machine on a different network with a free Crashplan account. This option was eliminated when the consumer line of services were discontinued.
  • While the backup service provided by CrashPlan are still first in class, the above two controversial changes have broken some trust between CrashPlan and its clients.
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  • I’d like to be able to hover over an image/document and have it expand/enlarge without actually opening it
  • I’d love to see a carousel that lets me thumb through more quickly
  • I’m almost always in thumbnail view. I’d like to see them re-organize automatically when something is moved or deleted instead of leaving an empty space.
  • AI options for photo editing.
  • Easier pdf markups
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Likelihood to Renew
No other product works as well.
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Even though it has its shortcomings, Dropbox is an exceptionally useful product for simple file sharing. It’s intelligent design and user-friendly interface have continued to facilitate project completion. However, as we expand, we will probably look to other solutions for storage and sharing as we undertake larger and more intensely collaborative projects
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Usability
Overall, it is simple to use, lightweight, and effective.
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It works extremely well, and we have never had any issues with connecting or sharing files. It's very easy to use, and any team member can share, add, and delete files to a virtual drive. This is extremely helpful, and it's an amazing tool to use, ensuring everyone can connect and work together effectively.
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Performance
No answers on this topic
Dropbox is really useful, you can access any file from anywhere and you can upload and even edit files online, but, sometimes it can be slow. Downloading, uploading, and syncing is a bit slow, it can take several minutes. Furthermore, the search engine for large amounts of data can be slow too and it is not powerful.
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Support Rating
Friendly and knowledgeable support team available to assist with this product. Code 42 (formerly CrashPlan) offers unlimited storage options for reasonable costs, so you really can't go wrong with this product. They have been a reliable resource for our company, and I would recommend to others looking for an easy setup with unlimited storage.
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They immediately responded like in an example that I gave where one of our staff members accidentally deleted the whole Special Hope Network Dropbox, we immediately contacted Dropbox they walked us through the steps of how to retrieve the information and luckily enough we were able to retrieve the entire Dropbox and we have had back and forth with Dropbox on what to do when an employee leaves how to remove them how to add another employee.
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Online Training
No answers on this topic
I did not personally take any training for Dropbox so I am self taught but I know when our Vice President selected Dropbox, he personally did do some training modules on it and I'm assuming it was very easy and simple to understand since he now acts like he is a pro at it!
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Implementation Rating
Very easy to follow the install guide.
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I needed to stay current in improving my daily operations. Dropbox
was suggested to me by a former colleague two-years ago and I've been using it just fine ever since.
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Alternatives Considered
CrashPlan (in my specific case the CrashPlan Pro or CrashPlan for Small Business (there seems to be somewhat of an ongoing identity crisis with the products) is significantly lower overhead, in terms of cost and complexity, when compared to the other two products I have evaluated/used. The downsides are that it is also significantly less functional than the other products. CrashPlan is, as I have said a good value simple point solution.
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I prefer the layout and visual aspect of Dropbox as it mirrors my files on my computer. I feel that I am more organized, and it's easier to find my files in Dropbox than it was with Google Drive.
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Scalability
No answers on this topic
bc i think box.com is better and more affordable
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Return on Investment
  • Tremendous cost savings as the amount of data you backup doesn't impact cost. One flat rate!
  • Implementation time was minimal and requires little to no maintenance. Since installation, I've not had to correct or fix any issues. It just works.
  • We opted to supplement Code42 with another solution that allowed us to backup data to a local repository due to the amount for data that changes in our firm.
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  • I access my Dropbox account from anywhere—any computer, my smartphone —is very accessible while still secure.
  • I would like it to be more editable with existing projects. This could be just me.
  • I would like it to integrate better with other systems, such as email and Office.
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ScreenShots

CrashPlan Screenshots

Screenshot of Dashboard – Endpoints Backup, Shows: Active users, assets, completed restores, total data backed up, and users without active assets.Screenshot of Dashboard – OneDrive for Business
This screen tracks backup performance for OneDrive for Business.
Metrics: Active users, active assets, users with completed backups, assets not protected (0%), and total backup size (321.45 MB).
Reports include Data Protection Scorecard, Asset Assignment, and Capacity Savings.Screenshot of Dashboard – Microsoft Exchange
This screen presents Microsoft Exchange backup overview.Screenshot of Dashboard – SharePoint Online
This view shows backup activity for SharePoint Online.

Dropbox Screenshots

Screenshot of the action bar, that sits across the browser page can be used to record the screen, edit PDFs, upload files, create folders, get signatures, or send and track documents.Screenshot of Dropbox Replay, that lets collaborators leave frame-accurate feedback and markups directly on project files.Screenshot of Dropbox Capture, which can be used to take screen recordings, screenshots, and GIFs with one click and share them with a link.Screenshot of the interface where Dropbox lets users upload, edit, send, and sign PDFs in one place.