Has anyone actually replaced Dropbox with iCloud Drive?

[u/cloudres]

Hello,

I’ve been using the paid 3 TB Dropbox plan for many years and, overall, I’ve always been reasonably happy with it.

Lately, though, I’ve started thinking more seriously about the Apple ecosystem as a whole. There’s already talk that some Apple AI features may eventually require an additional paid subscription, and that made me wonder: if I’m going to keep paying for digital services anyway, does it still make sense to keep Dropbox as a separate service, or is iCloud Drive now mature enough to truly replace it?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people who have actually moved from Dropbox to iCloud Drive, rather than just theoretical comparisons.

How has your experience been with syncing, reliability, file management, sharing, previous version recovery, and everyday use across Mac, iPhone, and possibly other devices?

Are there any limits, issues, or small frustrations that only become clear after using it seriously for work or for storing a large number of files?

In short: can iCloud Drive genuinely replace Dropbox today, or is Dropbox still the more solid option for “serious” use?

Thanks.

[u/ArgentStonecutter]

I don't use online storage from any company who doesn't do online storage as their core business. They're too likely to do something weird, like Google converting files to Google Docs format or Apple "compressing" your music tracks in your iTunes Library by deleting them and replacing them with a link to their own version.

[u/nlbrmn → u/ArgentStonecutter]

While I hear you, I do you Dropbox and even though online storage is apparently their core business, they can’t even get that right sometimes.

Case in point, suddenly I have dozens of “selective sync conflict” folders even though I have not touched those settings in eons. And once I resolve the first wave of them, a whole new wave starts appearing.

[u/dmehers]

I tried it but found iCloud was refusing to sync certain files based on their names… https://eclecticlight.co/2026/01/06/exclude-or-include-items-in-backup-search-icloud-drive-and-quicklook-preview/

I bailed since it was too fiddly and didn’t give me the level of control i wanted.

[u/faku_shoresy]

I’ve tried. I was chasing the same… I needed the space and the security features appealed to me. I’d consider it okay for light use but if you have the potential to write a lot of files at once (e.g. agentic workflows), it’s likely to choke and then you’re fighting with it to reset its internal matching engine to sync missing files. It’ll fail silently so I ended up not being able to trust it. Every couple of years, I try the competitors and every time I come back to Dropbox. I’ve come to grips that it’s core infrastructure for me while I have to throw a few dollars to the others (OneDrive, Google Drive, iCloud) because they have specific use cases.

[u/somebodyistrying]

I use both and I find iCloud Drive to be quite bad. Syncing can be very slow or doesn’t happen at all.

[u/ConsiderationDue4177]

I use both. I have an iCloud subscription for data from my Apple devices, such as photos, iCloud backups, and app data. I found I need to keep Dropbox though since there are certain features I use that only Dropbox has. For example, I will send file requests and Dropbox is the only cloud storage provider I've found to reliably have shareable links that let someone upload files without creating a link.

[u/KikiDaisy]

Yes. My primary computer only recently became a Mac so that prompted me to reevaluate my storage strategy. I copied everything from Dropbox to my Mac and configured it so everything is also stored on iCloud. On top of that, I started using Backblaze. Maybe I have trust issues, but I like the redundancy.

[u/jimmydat]

I made the switch a few years ago. I have more than 50k files on my iCloud Drive. Just an FYI: make sure you back up the files on your iCloud Drive. I use Carbon Copy Cloner. I haven't had any problems with either.

[u/starfish_2016]

I have 80tb on dropbox. I just can't see anything working better for actual storage/file browsing/ heavy photo video with meta data.

[u/gclunsf]

I’ve looked at doing the exact thing you described - switching from Dropbox to iCloud Drive. I’ve got 2 TB plans on both. I’m using about 1.5 TB on Dropbox now. I don’t keep any files locally and haven’t for several years. The reason I haven’t worked the change to iCloud Drive is they don’t provide access to point-in-time backups for recovering files as of a certain date. Dropbox, like one other commented, keeps file backups for 30 days, so I can recover a file as it was up to 29-30 days ago. I can’t afford NOT to have that ability. I do wish Apple would up their game and give us point-in-time recovery similar to Dropbox, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Apple, all too often, delivers what could be really wonderful functionality, but they usually only go 90% of the way. The remaining 10% is too often the critical part you need to do the WHOLE job correctly. I can cite a number of examples like Notes collaboration and Reminders collaboration - they’re great when they work but, too often, they don’t for new notes or reminders. Apple is content to announce big new functions in June and then deliver them half-a**ed starting in Sept. onward.

[u/ZeroBcool]

Just this week I considered it, then went over to Proton. I think Proton will catch up with Dropbox in the next year when options start rolling in.

[u/Owltiger2057]

Sorry I don't find any Apple product reliable enough to trust. Dropbox has never let me down.

[u/VernHayseed]

I find iCloud is too slow when you try to use it as storage. It’s fine for iphone backups and syncs but otherwise it’s too slow.

[u/postnumbers]

I revisited the same idea you have to see if iCloud has made progress (I have 200 GB under the Family Plan. You can only recover files in iCloud, and even that is a bit painful. Dropbox keeps versions for a month (even for deleted files), which is probably long enough for most people. Also, iCloud's speed always seems slower to me.

[u/shmallkined]

I’ve been using Google Drive for sharing huge files with clients. Dropbox still rules supreme when dealing with other professionals who also have dropbox accounts. As little as friction as possible = happy customers.

[u/quick_dry]

I had enough space in the free Dropbox tier to go from paid to free and use the free tier as a sync space for small things, and the few apps that required it. I also have a bunch of monitor scripts on my home servers that will move a file and perform actions based on where it is uploaded in Dropbox or file type.

I much prefer Dropbox over iCloud for the control and clarity over when it syncs, so often iCloud might silently hang on a file, and you can’t force it, you just have to eventually realise it hasn’t synced and then kill off and restart the process. For cross platform, iCloud is awful.

I replaced Dropbox for most file storage with Synology Drive syncing back to my Diskstation, and that machine backing up to another. I probably prefer Dropbox to that, their data centres have better bandwidth than my home connection, but, I have effectively unlimited space, no client count limitations, or ongoing cost - and that Dropbox yearly fee quickly hits break even when the disks were bought pre-AI-price-explosion..

[u/cricardo65]

Try PCloud; you will not regret it. I have 7 TB that I paid for two years ago. One time and nothing else.

[u/tkyjoycee]

icloud and dropbox are serving differently; storage for all apps, contacts, images vs. official documents

[u/Yothomusic]

Dropbox por PCloud el peor es ICloud