Online file sharing is a must in today’s business world. It is the process of securely sharing files such as documents, pictures and videos via the internet, or storing them in a shared drive for others to access. The software that you use often follows from the operating system you’re already using in your business, such as Microsoft or Google, but there are a wide range of other apps with to choose from.
Here are some of the best options on the market.
- WeTransfer
WeTransfer is well known cloud-based file transfer software that enables users to transfer files in a simple way. The online software offers a free version, that supports file transfers of up to 2GB a month. The premium WeTransfer Plus package at costing £10.50 a month and includes up to 500GB of file storage, with the ability to transfer full HD videos and photos along with customisable downloads that enables users to share large files at once.
- Google Drive
If you’re already using Gmail, Google Drive will naturally present itself as your file sharing software of choice. A free package affords you 15GB of storage and you can then upgrade to 100GB for £1.59 per month and to 1TB for £7.99 per month. You can share files of up to 5TB each. The collaboration app enable the seamless, real-time editing of the same document by multiple different parties.
- Dropbox
Dropbox is a hugely popular cloud storage and file share service. Its business package comes with unlimited storage, and a wealth of administrator and collaboration tools on top of its consumer product. The software can integrate with a number of third party apps, including DocuSign, Salesforce, Office 365 and Slack. Their standard business package is £10 per month, and rises to £15 for an advanced option. The standard package includes 2TB of secure storage and Office 365 integration, whilst if you upgrade to the advanced package you get unlimited space and advanced user management tools.
- Microsoft OneDrive
Microsoft OneDrive is often the intuitive choice for Microsoft 365 users. It’s not as polished as some of its competitors in some regards but it does still allow real-time collaboration and editing of Word Documents, despite the fact that it doesn’t offer the range of collaboration tools than the likes of Google. A package combining OneDrive and Office 365 business premium for £112 per user, per year, and offers 1TB of personal cloud storage.
- Box
Box offers file-sharing and storage software purely aimed at the business market. The business package begins at £12 per month and includes unlimited storage and uploading files of up to 5GB and can be used by any number of employees.
Documents can be shared with non-users, however they will have read-only privileges, and not the ability to edit. The software offers integration with Microsoft 365, meaning it can be layered on top of this software. For security, it offers SSL and at-rest encryption and two-factor authentication and offers an ever-growing set of features, including easy access to files from your desktop whether you’re online or offline, and previews of almost any file type.
- Zoho
Zoho docs is an online file management tool that lets you store files securely and share and sync across all your devices. Any business that uses Zoho mail probably use Zoho docs, which offers plenty of features including 5GB File upload limit, unlimited file versions, password protection and the ability to send files to non-docs users. Zoho Docs may have the edge over competitors such as Google Docs when it comes to task flow management. You can buy Zoho Docs alone for £3 per user, per month which gives you up to 100GB of storage per user.
- ShareFile
ShareFile is built for businesses and offers the ability to share files with co-workers or clients, real-time, collaborative document editing and workflow management tools. It integrates with a number of useful third parties, such as e-signature software, Microsoft Outlook and Gmail. The Security is good, offering bank-level 256-AES encryption and over 25 customisable security settings. A Team package is £48 per month for up to 5 employees which allows for 1TB of storage. Alternatively, there is the Business package costing £80 per month for five employees that offers unlimited storage.
- Egnyte
Egnyte Business is another competitive option when it comes to file-sharing and storage software for business – it’s difference being that the software uses a centralised storage model, rather than the distributed model most of its competitors adopt. This means that superiors have a greater degree of control over permissions for various documents. The Office package, for £6 per month, is aimed at businesses made up of between 5 to 25 people, and includes 5TB of online storage, and supports files of up to 10GB in size. The Business package is for larger offices of between 25 to 100 employees, and offers 10TB of online storage, and offers advanced security over the more basic Office package.
- Tresorit
Tresorit is aimed at security conscious businesses, having challenged hackers from across the globe to attempt to hack into its systems to win $50,000. According to the company, no one managed – a testament to the software’s impressive safeguards. Some of the features offered include zero-knowledge authentication, 1,000 GB encrypted storage per user, secure access on up to 10 devices per user, syncing of existing folder structure and deleted file restore. The company also promises end-to-end encryption and file-sharing, important for companies sharing confidential information between employees. It lets you select any file in your hard drive for syncing. Their small business package costs £12 per user per month, which offers Secure file sync & sharing for teams of between two and nine users.
- Syncplicity
Syncplicity is a flexible and scalable file share and synchronisation service that allows users to share, both internally and externally, without any size limits. It is useful for mobile and field workers and can be used to provide unified access to data with or without an internet connection.
It is free for up to 10GB and the service also enables users to share large files using Secure Shared links, which include optional passwords and expiration dates for access.