Ubuntu One vs Dropbox

I will compare Ubuntu One and Dropbox, both basically offer cloud storage. It is free for small amounts of data stored, and for a price you get more space.

Both offer the option to sync different devices connected to the same account, but there are differences which may you help decide which one is better for your. I am talking about the paid services, as for the free service, you can easily just use both of them.

Supported devices

They both support the major devices here is the list:

Dropbox:

• Windows
• Linux
• Mac
• iOS (iPhone and iPad)
• Android (Phones and tablets)
• Blackberry

Ubuntu One:

• Windows
• Linux
• Mac
• iOS (iPhone and iPad)
• Android (Phones and tablets)

Ubuntu One is missing Blackberries, but that does not seems to be a problem for anybody. Anyway, if you are a Blackberry user, and you want to upload your photos to the cloud, then, Dropbox may be your only option.

One thing that is weird here, is that you can install Dropbox easily on Ubuntu servers (headless servers) than Ubuntu One, the latter requires extra steps to achieve the same thing.

Free space

Just starting Ubuntu One has more than double the space Dropbox offers you for free. Ubuntu One offers you 5 Gigabytes just for signing up while Dropbox offers you 2 Gigabytes.

Both services offers you extra free space for your referrals, you can have as much as 16 Gigabytes with Dropbox and as much as 20 Gigabytes with Ubuntu One. Dropbox also offers you extra space if you enable automatic photo upload from certain devices, such as Android phones, Mac Computers, and others.

Until now it is almost a tie, as both services offers almost same free space using referrals, both permit you to auto-upload your pictures from mobile devices, and both works on almost all popular devices.

Paid Space

Dropbox packages are:

• 100 Gigabytes for $us 99 per year
• 200 Gigabytes for $us 199 per year
• 500 Gigabytes for $us 499 per year

Ubuntu packages are:

• 20 Gigabytes for $us 29.99 per year
• 40 Gigabytes for $us 60 per year
• 60 Gigabytes for $us 90 per year

Actually, what Ubuntu offers is just one paid package, 20 Gigabytes for $us 40 per year, you can stack as much 20 Gigs packages as you need.

If we compare apples and apples, we can get 105 Gigabytes package at Ubuntu One for $us 149 per year, while with Dropbox that will cost us only $us 99. But what happens if you only need 20 Gigabytes. With Dropbox you have to get the $us 99 package, while with Ubuntu One you can get a $us 30 package.

For small accounts/needs (up to 50 Gigabytes) Ubuntu one is a better option, but for bigger amounts of storage, you would be better with Dropbox.

Conclusion

As with every competitive service offered, there is no better one, just the one that better fits your needs.

If you are going to subscribe to Ubuntu One, please use this link You will get extra 500 Megabytes, and the same goes for me.

If you are going to sign up for Dropbox, use this other link I will get 500 MBytes of free space.