Choosing the right cloud storage platform is critical for writers—your manuscripts and ideas are your livelihood. These three industry leaders each excel in different areas, and the best choice depends on your specific writing workflow, devices, and collaboration needs.
Storage Capacity and Pricing
Google Drive offers the most generous free tier at 15GB, making it ideal for writers just starting out or testing the platform before committing financially. Paid plans start at $1.99/month for 100GB storage and scale up to 5TB at reasonable rates.
Dropbox provides the least generous free option at just 2GB, but compensates with straightforward paid plans starting at $11.99/month for 2TB. For cost-per-gigabyte value, Google Drive edges out the competition when upgrading to paid plans.
OneDrive sits between the two at 5GB free with paid plans starting at $6.99/month through standalone subscription or $7-12/month as part of Microsoft 365 bundle. If you already use Microsoft 365, OneDrive storage is included, making it the most cost-effective for Microsoft ecosystem users.
| Service | Free Storage | Paid Starting Price | Storage at $12/month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Drive | 15GB | $1.99/month | 5TB |
| Dropbox | 2GB | $11.99/month | 2TB |
| OneDrive | 5GB | $6.99/month | 1TB (or free with Microsoft 365) |
Critical Consideration: Scrivener Compatibility
For authors using Scrivener—one of the industry-standard writing applications—compatibility is paramount. This deserves special attention because choosing the wrong platform can result in manuscript corruption.
Google Drive: Strongly Discouraged for Scrivener
Scrivener’s developers explicitly and strongly discourage using Google Drive for syncing live Scrivener projects. Google Drive has a documented history of corrupting Scrivener files through its “helpful” file conversion attempts:
- Google Drive may automatically convert Scrivener’s internal RTF files to its own proprietary .gdoc format, which renders the project unreadable by Scrivener. Recovery is tedious and may result in permanent data loss.
- Google Drive adds XML extensions to files, breaking Scrivener’s file structure since Scrivener uses XML files extensively with custom extensions.
- Project corruption has occurred after months of apparently stable syncing, then suddenly fails without warning.
The Scrivener community consensus is clear: using Google Drive creates unacceptable corruption risks.
Dropbox: Officially Recommended
Dropbox is the recommended cloud service for Scrivener across all platforms. The relationship is specifically tested and supported by the Scrivener development team. Users can sync Scrivener projects across Windows, Mac, and iOS devices reliably when properly configured.
Best practices for Dropbox + Scrivener include:
- Set the folder containing Scrivener projects to “Make Available Offline”
- Ensure Dropbox is fully synced before opening Scrivener
- Avoid opening the same project simultaneously on multiple devices
- Configure automatic backups with zip files and date-stamped filenames
OneDrive: Viable with Precautions
OneDrive works with Scrivener, but it’s not officially recommended like Dropbox. It requires similar precautions to Dropbox and lacks the specific testing that Dropbox receives from the Scrivener team. However, many authors successfully use OneDrive for Scrivener projects, particularly those in the Microsoft ecosystem.
For Google Docs Users: If you must use Google Drive, store finished manuscripts or chapters there, but never store active Scrivener projects. Use Google Docs as a separate tool for drafting and collaboration, not for syncing the main Scrivener .scriv files.
Real-Time Collaboration Features
Google Drive excels in collaborative editing with multiple users working simultaneously on Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. This is invaluable for co-written projects, editor feedback, or author-publisher collaboration.
Dropbox offers real-time commenting and file locking for collaboration, plus Dropbox Paper—a dedicated writing platform with minimalist design, distraction-free interface, and collaborative annotation features. Dropbox Paper is particularly appealing to writers seeking a dedicated writing space within their cloud ecosystem.
OneDrive provides tight integration with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint with real-time co-editing capabilities. If your workflow centers on Word documents or Microsoft 365, OneDrive’s collaboration tools rival Google Drive’s seamlessly.
File Syncing Speed and Reliability
Dropbox consistently outperforms competitors in syncing reliability and speed. Desktop syncing is fast and dependable; files are reliably available offline after initial sync.
Google Drive offers competitive speeds for uploading and downloading, particularly for spreadsheets and multimedia files. However, its offline functionality is less robust than Dropbox’s.
OneDrive has the slowest sync speeds of the three, as measured in independent testing, with approximately half the upload speed of Dropbox. This matters less for occasional manuscript backups but becomes noticeable with frequent large file transfers.
Version History and File Recovery
All three services maintain version histories, but retention periods vary significantly:
Google Drive automatically saves every edit for 30 days, allowing you to revert to previous states of your manuscript easily. This is helpful for writers who make significant revisions but want to reference earlier versions.
Dropbox maintains file history for 30-180 days depending on your plan (Basic: 30 days; Plus: 180 days). Notably, Dropbox protects against accidental deletions for 30 days—even if you delete a file, it remains recoverable.
OneDrive stores version history with retention based on your account type (personal: last 25 versions; work/school: administrator-determined). This is more restrictive than competitors for manuscript versioning.
Critical Feature for Writers: All three allow you to compare different versions side-by-side and restore specific versions—essential when you need to recover text from an earlier draft.
Security and Privacy
Google Drive uses two encryption keys for files stored on its servers, providing redundancy. However, like the others, it does not offer true end-to-end encryption where only you hold encryption keys.
Dropbox offers superior security compared to OneDrive, with options for end-to-end encryption and zero-knowledge protocols available in higher-tier plans. Password-protection for shared files is an advantage over Google Drive.
OneDrive lags in privacy protections. It includes a “Personal Vault” feature requiring biometric or PIN authentication for sensitive files, but lacks comprehensive zero-knowledge encryption options for personal users.
Reality Check on Privacy: All three reserve the right to scan files for security purposes, though OneDrive’s privacy policy is considered less intrusive. If absolute privacy is paramount, privacy-focused alternatives like Sync.com or Tresorit offer superior end-to-end encryption, though at premium pricing.
Ideal Use Cases for Writers
Choose Google Drive if:
- You prioritize free storage and don’t use Scrivener
- You collaborate extensively with editors or co-authors on Google Docs
- You’re comfortable with less robust offline access
- You want the lowest cost to upgrade storage beyond the free tier
Choose Dropbox if:
- You use Scrivener (strongly recommended)
- You want maximum reliability and syncing consistency
- You appreciate Dropbox Paper’s minimalist writing interface
- You prioritize 180-day version history retention
- You work across multiple operating systems and devices
Choose OneDrive if:
- You’re invested in Microsoft 365 ecosystem (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
- You’re on Windows and want seamless desktop integration
- You want the lowest per-month cost alongside Microsoft productivity tools
- You’re comfortable with OneDrive’s collaboration features for Microsoft files
The Bottom Line for Authors
For Scrivener users, the choice is clear: Dropbox is the only recommended option among these three. The Scrivener development team explicitly discourages Google Drive, and while OneDrive technically works, Dropbox’s official support and community validation make it the safest choice.
For non-Scrivener writers, Google Drive offers the best overall value for its generous free tier and collaboration features, though Dropbox remains superior for cross-platform reliability and comprehensive file protection.
Regardless of your choice, implement a backup strategy beyond your primary cloud service. Many professional authors combine cloud storage with external hard drives or secondary cloud services for complete manuscript protection. Your writing is irreplaceable—storing it in only one place, even with a major provider, introduces unnecessary risk.