Copy.com is one of the popular cloud storage brands which provides 15 GB of online space for free to every new user with referral bonus offer. But what makes Copy.com different?
There are pretty good number of points that draw a line between Copy.com and rest of the online storage providers. All of these might not be comfortable with you, though. Some features may appear to be user friendly while some may be the opposite. I’ve conducted a study to collect such properties in a comparative manner. I gathered data from Copy, Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive. Here I present my findings in a comparison table. Later we will have some discussion on this.
[table]Points,Copy,Dropbox,OneDrive,Google Drive
Free Storage,15 GB,2 GB,15 GB,15 GB
Referral Bonus,Yes\, 5 GB per successful referral for both the new user and the referrer,Yes\, 500 MB (for basic account holder)/1GB (for paid account holder) per successful referral for both the new user and the referrer,Yes\, 0.5 GB for every successful referral for both the new user and the referrer, Available in Google Apps ($10) but not available exclusively in Google Drive
Maximum Referral Bonus,25 GB storage,16 GB storage (Basic accounts)/ 32 GB storage (Paid accounts),5 GB storage,Not Applicable
Minimum Paid Plans,250 GB @ $9.99/month,1000 GB @ $9.99/month,100 GB @ $1.99/month, 100 GB @ $1.99/month
Splits the Bill of Storage?,Yes\, e.g.\, if a 20 GB folder is shared among 4 users\, every user’s available cloud storage will be deducted proportionately (2.5 GB),No,No,No
Desktop Apps,Windows\, Mac and Linux,Windows\, Mac and Linux,Windows\, Mac and Xbox,Windows\, Mac and Chromebooks
Mobile Apps,Android\, iOS\, Raspberry Pi and Windows Phone,Android\, iPhone\, iPad\, Blackberry and Kindlefire,Android\, iOS\, and Windows Phone,Android and iOS
Online Document Editing,No,No,Yes,Yes
Server Side Encryption,Yes,Yes,No,No
Strong Password Enforcement,No,No,Yes,Yes
2-Step Verification,No,Yes,Yes,Yes[/table]
We see that, Copy provides more free storage than Dropbox, but same as other two competitors like OneDrive and Google Drive. Copy marks a huge difference in referral bonus storage with 5 GB for both users while Dropbox offers 500 MB and OneDrive gives 0.5 GB. In terms of maximum bonus achievability, Copy.com leads with 25 GB peak referral bonus. Although Dropbox has a bigger allowance for its paid users.
In case of least cost premium cloud storage plan, Copy can’t win because, Dropbox offers 1,000 GB of online storage @ only $9.99/month. At the same cost, Copy provides 250 GB space. Google Drive and OneDrive give 100 GB @ $1.99/month.
Copy.com has a unique feature that sets it apart from the other rival services. Its “Split the Bill” of storage feature distributes cloud space “fairly”. For an example, if you share a 20 GB folder with 3 more users, all 4 users’ (including you) available cloud storage will be deducted proportionately (2.5 GB). So you alone would not bear the 20 GB volume. The entire beneficiary circle will pay for the storage.
Copy offers apps for almost all major platforms except Blackberry and Kindlefire. Copy.com does not have a native document editor service. You can’t edit your documents directly from Copy.com. Dropbox has addons to do this. Google Drive and OneDrive have their own document editing services.
Copy keeps your files encrypted in its server. Dropbox also does the same. But OneDrive and Google Drive don’t offer this crucial feature. However, if you use local encryption tools like Boxcryptor or Cloudfogger, this issue can be fixed easily. Copy doesn’t enforce strong password. Dropbox also lacks this, but OneDrive and Google Drive do it.
Another important security feature, 2-Step login verification is offered by OneDrive, Dropbox and Google Drive. But Copy.com doesn’t provide this feature. It could strengthen security and privacy.
So, we see, Copy.com makes bold positive difference in referral bonus, cloud storage distribution management and server side encryption. It also sports “SignNow”, an electronic signature feature which comes natively with Copy.com. At the same time, Copy has no online document editing service and 2-Step verification service. So these lacking can create a negative impression in consumers’ mind.
What do you think about Copy.com? How else can it make a difference? Please share your thoughts via comment. Thanks.