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Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs Dropbox comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 17, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon EFS (Elastic File Sy...
Ranking in Cloud Storage
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
File and Object Storage (8th)
Dropbox
Ranking in Cloud Storage
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
Content Collaboration Platforms (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Cloud Storage category, the mindshare of Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) is 7.6%, down from 9.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dropbox is 4.9%, down from 6.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Storage
 

Featured Reviews

MuhammadAzhar Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
Auto-scaling capabilities enhance file management while reducing downtime
The most valuable feature of Amazon EFS is its auto-scaling capability. It's really easy to configure EFS by just creating it and running a command to directly configure it with my servers. It supports unlimited use, and charges are applied based on the file usage at the end of the month. The solution offers reduced downtime and increased durability through its auto-scaling features.
Edgar  Paez - PeerSpot reviewer
Work from anywhere and backup easily while being practical
I recommend Dropbox, yet not for all of the features it has. I am a basic user. In a personal mode, we have about 100 employees, and maybe 20 of them use Dropbox as a personal backup system. ShareFile is more secure than Dropbox. Five years ago, ShareFile was qualified as having better security control, access privilege management, and version control recovery, among many features that we were using for private documentation. Overall, I would rate Dropbox an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Amazon EFS is extremely stable, as it is managed by AWS."
"Its elasticity and flexible pricing are the most valuable. For Amazon EFS, you are charged based on the storage. It is also very fast and stable with a very simple and intuitive interface."
"The product's initial setup phase is easy, as per the configurations."
"We can run code and deploy it whenever we want."
"Elastic File Systems allow me to share data, provision, and manage capacity and performance in AWS."
"The most beneficial feature of the product for data storage stems from the fact that it serves as a shared file storage."
"Elastic File Systems allow me to share data, provision, and manage capacity and performance in AWS."
"We are not that big of a cloud user. We just use it for the storage of our bytes. The most valuable aspect is the storage."
"The product's initial setup phase was easy."
"The product's most valuable feature is storage."
"Simple to share files with others."
"The security features of the product for data protection are good. I rate the security part a ten out of ten."
"The initial setup was very easy."
"It is very practical and so easy to upload and download files and carry on without my computer."
"I like how user-friendly the solution is."
"The most valuable features of Dropbox are it can be used as a repository of all the photographs and videos that you have on the cloud. You do not need to worry about the hard disk crashing."
 

Cons

"I don't have notes on improvements."
"It should be simplified. There are people who don't have cloud experience. It should be storage that we are able to just connect to."
"Its deployment process could be faster while installing the Python package directly into the environment."
"Around 80 percent of the features of Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) are available on Linux and not in Windows, making it a major drawback of the product."
"The platform's connectivity could be improved to be more comparable to S3 buckets, which offer better API availability."
"EFS could be improved by including a one-click setup."
"When we faced some issues, the support team took a lot of time to resolve them."
"The user activity needs to be more connected."
"The pricing could be better and so could the amount of storage space. I feel like for the price, they don't offer very much storage space, especially when compared to competitors like Google."
"The interface could have bigger buttons."
"While generally user-friendly, there is room for improvement in the user interface, especially with the introduction of new integrations and features."
"They can provide more storage. Data is something that everybody is after. Any organization that has the requirement of data for any type of analysis will definitely need increased storage."
"I find it a little hard to organize my Dropbox folders on my mobile device."
"Improve the ease of use. Sometimes, occasional users struggle to login again and access documents."
"They can maybe provide a bit more free space. By default, they give you 2 Gigabytes. The storage space could be a bit more."
"Dropbox needs to increase its storage."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate the pricing 7 out of 10."
"The product's price depends on the services and the size and capacity at which it is used in a business environment."
"Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) offers a pay-as-you-go model, so whenever you use its services, you need to pay."
"The solution's price is mid-ranged."
"The product charges are based on the amount of data stored."
"The main challenge with EFS is its cost, which is slightly higher compared to EBS or S3. For one GB or ten GB of data, S3 is much cheaper. EFS could cost around $30 to $50 per month for similar usage."
"It has flexible pricing. You are charged based on your storage."
"One area that has been a big issue for me is when I tried to close my accounts, it is difficult. We had small personal accounts, and we then wanted to consolidate everything to the business account, but then to cancel and close those smaller accounts, it's a big issue. I still haven't done it and it's quite a long process."
"The solution is paid for annually."
"We must pay when we upsize to a larger space."
"I need to pay towards the licensing costs attached to the solution. The solution is expensive."
"We are using the free version of Dropbox which has approximately two gigabytes of data capacity."
"The pricing for non-corporations is expensive. They have raised their prices and have low storage capacity."
"While the pricing is comparable, especially for users of Microsoft Office 365, the value proposition might not be as competitive for those seeking primarily storage options."
"The solution does not come with a licensing cost."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
15%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
67%
Computer Software Company
4%
Financial Services Firm
3%
University
3%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which file storage system is better - Amazon EFS (elastic file storage) or Azure File Storage?
Amazon EFS is easy to set up: you can use the AWS management console, API, or command-line. Amazon EFS can grow to petabytes and deliver consistent low latencies and high levels of throughput. This...
What do you like most about Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)?
The product's initial setup phase is easy, as per the configurations.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)?
Amazon EFS is more costly compared to other storage options available from AWS.
What do you like most about Dropbox?
For me, the biggest thing is version history. I can easily go back and view older versions.
What needs improvement with Dropbox?
I would like to have a document flow. Sharing documents with other people in the same division or department and being able to work without downloading the file would be ideal. Working online would...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Arcesium, Atlassian, Seeking Alpha, Zend
Vita Coco, BCBGMAXAZRIA Group, Centric Project, Kayak, FourSquare, Asana, Huge Adversting , USA Gymnastics, Appen, Valliant, Radio Lab
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) vs. Dropbox and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.