Dropbox has been around since 2007 but only released in 2008. It is a product of two MIT grads Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi. Dropbox makes life easier for people whose lives revolve around using the Internet for online file storage.

Dropbox is not the only file-sharing service available today. The others that are vying for users’ attention are Google, Windows Live SkyDrive, Apple iCloud, and Amazon Cloud Drive, to name a few. The choice of which online storage locker you choose is yours. But before you pick one, it’s best to know how Dropbox measures up against its competitors.

Simplicity of use

Dropbox and iCloud are the simplest to use followed by SkyDrive, Cloud Drive and finally Google. SkyDrive tends to be a bit slow just like Cloud Drive. Google is by far the slowest. Apple is a master at syncing files while Dropbox’s approach is seamless.

Supported files

Both Dropbox and Cloud Drive let you “drop” any type of file into their online storage lockers. SkyDrive also allows you to “drop” any type of file into their cloud storage. For Google and Apple, you can actually upload any file for as long as the file is attached to an email that you send to yourself or save as a draft.

File storage

Dropbox gives you 2GB of free storage. Get a pro account to get up to 100GB. Google seems to offer the most storage space with up to 16TB. But this amount is divided among its partner products like Picasa, Gmail, and Docs. Cloud Drive offers 5GB expandable to 1TB. iCloud has 5GB of space all for emails, contacts, calendar, documents and device backup settings. Plus Apple gives you additional space for photos, videos, apps, music, and books. The lowest is SkyDrive with 25GB. However, Microsoft has other online storage locker options than you can access. The beauty of Dropbox is that all your files are in one locker.

Price

This is where Dropbox lands way below the list. You get 2GB free from Dropbox. But each additional GB will cost US$2. Google is free at the moment and an additional GB of storage is only US$0.25. 2GB of storage on SkyDrive is free. Cloud Drive charges US$1 for every GB over the free 5GB limit. iCloud is free but charges US$25 a year for iTunes Match service.

Supported devices

Google and Dropbox support any device. Dropbox in particular has a lot of clients. Cloud Drive can support Mac, PC, Android and any Flash device. The iCloud is available for Mac and PC while SkyDrive only supports PC, Mac and Windows Phone 7.

Dropbox has its advantages and disadvantages just like the rest of the online file storage options mentioned with it. Before you decide which one to use, know what your needs are, what devices you have and how much you are willing to pay for additional space. Having an online storage locker for your files will make your life easier if you have a mobile lifestyle.

Dropbox serves as insurance for your hard drive files and it has other great features that can be taken advantage of. Do a people search and talk to your friends how Dropbox makes life easier. Share them the advantages of having one and how it offers free and paid packages to its users.