Evernote Vs. Dropbox - Which One Should You Choose?

Evernote and Dropbox are two of the best cloud storage programs. If you are wondering which of these apps is better, this Techspirited article will help you decide the same.

Basic Difference
Evernote is like a small folder.
Dropbox is like a large filing cabinet.

Cloud storage means storing digital information to a remote data storage system instead of a local storage device. This remote database system is owned and maintained by a third party that may charge you a monthly fee. Now, this storage mechanism allows you to organize and access your data from anywhere across the globe, irrespective of the client (computer, mobile, tablet, etc.).

What is Evernote?

Evernote is a web service that was launched in the year 2008. It enables you to create, organize, share, store, and sync notes online. A note can be any file such as a simple word document, a photo clicked on a smartphone, a web article, an audio file, etc. A group of notes can be put together in an Evernote ‘notebook’ (which is equivalent to ‘folder’ in windows). These notebooks can be shared across multiple users, who can edit and upload them from any place through any device. The notes can also be tagged to allow easy searching of files. Although Evernote is a great tool to organize synchronized user files in an easily searchable format, it is not designed for large files since there are limitations to the amount of storage space allocated.

What is Dropbox?

Dropbox is an online file storage service that was released in the year 2007. It enables you to store files in your Dropbox folder, just as you do in a Windows folder. However, the only difference is that these files are automatically synchronized online and across your computers (PC, laptop, tablet, and smartphone). Basically, this service provides a back-up storage for your files, which can be accessed from anywhere, anytime. Although Dropbox can handle large files, it lacks the ability to organize them easily and efficiently like Evernote.

Comparison

Evernote	Dropbox
Similarities
Data synchronization: All the data is synchronized across various platforms and devices, making it available on your personal, work, and mobile computers at all times. This means that every time you open Evernote/Dropbox on any of your device, you will always get the latest updated information. Data Sharing: Information can be easily shared with other people or colleagues who are working in collaboration. For this, you can first create a link to any file or folder in your personal Evernote/Dropbox, and then send this link to other people (even those who do not have an account). You can also decide how much access is to be granted to your recipients. Password Protection: Both Evernote and Dropbox are password-protected, where user authentication takes place via SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). A two-step authentication procedure has been introduced, which requires both your password and a code that is texted to you. Data Encryption: Both Evernote and Dropbox have data encryption facility, where a user can encrypt a file before uploading. Now, this will prompt the user to enter the correct password every time he tries to view that file.
Features
Optical Character Recognition (OCR): This feature allows the translation of handwritten text or text in image files into searchable notes. Powerful Search Mechanism: This feature helps you find the exact information you have been looking for without opening the file. This search tool can easily scan the text within images because of the OCR feature, which helps you find the text in uploaded images of your receipts and other documents quickly and efficiently. Web Clipping: This is one of the most popular features of Evernote, which enables you to clip small chunks of web pages and save them to your Evernote notebook. To use this feature, you need to install the Web Clipper extension to your browser. Use: It can be used for storing instruction manuals, business cards, recipes from web clippings, etc.	Large File Storage: Since the online storage space ranges from 2 GB (unlimited) to 100 GB (monthly), it becomes an obvious choice for storing big bulky files such as videos, music, high-resolution image files, etc. Automatic Data Backup: These backups occur continuously in the background. For e.g., as soon as you modify and save a file, it is backed up to the cloud and to the devices with a Dropbox app. A feature called ‘Packrat’, which is a paid service, saves your Dropbox-synced files forever. For free account users, Dropbox saves a history of all deleted and earlier versions of files for 30 days. Selective File Synchronization: This feature allows syncing selective files. Thus, it is very helpful for users who have limited Dropbox storage and hard disk space. Use: It can be used for storing large files such as music libraries, photo libraries, movie libraries, etc.
Price
Monthly Upload Allowance: 40 MB – Free 1 GB – USD 5/month	Storage: 2 GB – Free 50 GB – USD 9.99/month 100 GB – USD 19.99/month 500 GB – USD 49.99/month
Device Supported
Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac, Palm Pre/Pixi, Web-based, Windows, Windows Phone	Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Linux, Mac, Web-based, Windows, Windows Phone

The aforementioned information is just a brief overview of the current topic under discussion. For more details, you may refer to Evernote and Dropbox. Out of these two options, you can choose any one app according to your needs. However, you also have an option of using both the apps together for better efficiency.

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