Ask HN: Is iCloud a viable alternative to Dropbox? Any other alternatives?

I’d like to stop paying for Dropbox too as I already have iCloud and onedrive, but so far I’ve had random problems with all of them (slow sync, not working download when sharing, like this), while Dropbox works consistently. It seems I’ll cancel my Office subscription sooner than Dropbox if this trend continues.

Haven't tried Dropbox, but stay the hell away from iCloud Drive. It's about the same reliability as curlftpfs[1] but with the bonus feature that it's opaque and you have no idea what it's doing, whether it's failing, and why it's failing.

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224

I switched from Google Drive to iCloud in 2021. I haven’t looked back, but also, my use is neither heavy nor demanding. I just keep my documents in iCloud and otherwise use git for my heavy lifting professionally.

iCloud is opaque. It tells you if some file is syncing, or if it’s only in the cloud, but that’s really about it. There’s almost no level of control. If you want a revision history, that’s what Time Machine is for. Collaborate editing, API that apps to integrate into with, previewing without downloading, etc? Those are all not really options with iCloud.

But so far, it hasn’t lost any of my data and it is probably the most approachable option with an end-to-end encryption option (which I enable). Searching works well and even finds text in images and documents.

If you just need the basics and you’re all-in on Apple products, iCloud is great.

I’ve used iCloud since it started. It has got much better in the last couple of years. I gave up on Dropbox for the same reasons as you. iCloud is good for personal and family storage - but I haven’t tried it in a company setting. It would be my first choice, based on cost, but I’d approach it with caution.

In reference to another comment, it has become a lot less opaque, there’s a lot more feedback in the finder now.

FWIW, in a work setting I tried Google Drive and Box as alternatives and they both sucked, with terrible latency to the web site. Maybe because I’m located in Australia.

Not exactly the same feature set, but I’ve replaced Dropbox with Syncthing (open source) and it has been very reliable for my intended use (sync files across my devices).

I also run it on my home server for a central sync point. Don’t use it much on mobile, but works well enough if I do need a file. Not a good solution for sharing with others though.

Neither are exactly a 1:1 replacement, but check out backblaze and syncthing. A combination (syncthing for device sync, backblaze for offsite backup) might suit you.

I was impressed with syncthing when I used it ~2 years ago and I assume it's matured since then.

It depends if your use case is more to sync with yourself or if sharing with other people is important to you. I feel like Dropbox that does way better, the UX of iCloud Drive is still horrible (Seeing the progress of sync, sharing with people UI,...).

I use iCloud sync for things I want to eventually access on my phone, but I see it as "eventually consistent" as sometimes things just don't show up for a while.

I can highly recommend Syncthing if you don't need to access on mobile but only between computers.

Once a year I do some tests to see if the wife and I, with only our grocery list shared between us, can switch. And once a year I find out the answer is “no - and it isn’t any better than last year”.

iCloud is extremely slow. Updates in files can take 10 minutes or more to propagate, especially if two or more people have been editing them. If you’re the only one editing a file, on multiple devices, it’s still slow but much less so.

It also tries to be clever about what it syncs and when, with no options (that I’m aware of) to force it to simply fetch local copies of everything. This makes it unusable for files that you want to access in a terminal as the terminal is, for some reason, not part of the clever sync on demand system.

However, if you want to get fancy with sharing stuff with applications on iOS, such as, for example, an Obsidian file directory or some other set of markdown files to view and edit on the go, you’re pretty much forced to do it in iCloud as the Dropbox file provider on iOS is extremely unreliable and prone to locking up, even if you’re the only one editing the files. For this use case you’re pretty much condemned to iCloud.

Having worked with the file provider API, it’s not ideal. It will automatically prune downloaded files and you have no control over it. One Drive had to do a hack of storing the files you want to always keep in a different location and then have the file provider extension copy from that location rather than the cloud.

I switched from iCloud to Nextcloud, but Nextcloud will also be moving to a file provider extension, not for sure how it will work with their current sync client.

Ultimately I left macOS and don’t have any problems on Linux with Nextcloud.

I would put a couple HDDs into a synology, and install Tailscale. The experience has been better than cloud storage.

Synchting will also beat them. Could be on an always-on MiniPC or PI with external drive.

I was having similar concerns as you until a friend recommended Maestral. [0]

It works really, really well and at this point is much better than the Dropbox app.

[0]: https://www.maestral.app/

iCloud is rock solid at this point. I can't even remember the last time I had an issue. I've used it for more than a decade and I sync all my devices, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, Macs etc.

The killer feature for me is probably the iCloud shared album that allows me to share family photos with my whole family without having to resort to e.g. Facebook or Google.

Switched everything to Office/Onedrive since i need that license anyways and 1TB Storage is included. And ~100€ for 2TB of which i just use a fraction is too damn expensive for Dropbox. Also, there is no less expensive or smaller storage offering at Dropbox so the decison was easy to consolidate cost and move after 14 good years with Dropbox

I use onedrive as it comes with office 365 family subscription (5 user license for all office apps plus 1tb onedrive storage for each user). If you use office paying another provider for storage makes no sense.

> Considering all that I want is for a directory tree to be mirrored between the cloud and my devices, are there any alternatives you’d recommend?

Apologies in advance but...

...you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem.

I used to be a big proponent of Google Drive, but they have fumbled over the last years. The client is now crashing randomly and during shutdown blocks Windows erratically. Worst, they lost the ability to sync pictures to Google Drive (from mobile/Google Photos).

I’ve used iCloud for 10 years. No problems.

Just remember it’s not a backup it’s a convenience.

I used pcloud and would discourage that. They have low bandwidth, I did everything they asked me for and yet everything is incredibly slow. I do get a lot of space.

Nextcloud (open source) works well in terms of performance, but their phone app crashes with directories full of files

    - It says everything is uploaded, but it's not necessary true and it never says what is not correctly uploaded. Sometimes you wake up and some files have never been uploaded (this is a well known problem)
    - Every time settings are reset, it loses every information about "Sync" folders. I gave up on synchronizing multiple of them. The problem is that it's impossible to determine how it will synchronizing an existing folder that went out of sync folders, I'm always afraid it will restore old files, so I do a full download, but a full download take hours because their slow download speed (and I paid for 2TB lifetime!)

I've been using Synchthing for >1 year. Works really well and it is P2P so you don't need a server.

Syncthing works quite well on Android. On iOS you must bridge it with Mobius, but it kinda works.

For basic stuff (I'm the only one changing files, I'm not expecting to change a file on my laptop and have it on my desktop seconds later, I'm only mirroring files between Apple devices), iCloud has worked fine for me for a very long time.

For those reading this looking for alternatives: nextcloud-aio docker image on a NAS or small server works well for syncing files across machines. It's overkill, so I turn off most of the features, but I find the clients reliable across OSes (mobile and otherwise).

I do not put Nextcloud on the internet -- my use case does not require changes away from home to be live synced to others before returning. By the time I've walked in the door and put stuff away, changes + photos are synced.

I self-host seafile, using it to share various folders between iOS, Windows, Linux, and macOS, and can recommend it.

I set up a server with Seafile 6 yrs ago and its been running pretty solid and stable. Its free, and needs minimal maintenance. I run it using docker-compose and the only thing i need yo do is update the seafile-server every few months.

They also have a nice iOS client which integrates well with the iOS Files app.

I’ve had great experiences with iCloud Drive. Moved from Dropbox and Google Apps a few years ago. iCloud+ 2TB shared with family is quite cost-effective for our use. Mail with custom domain too. I tend to buy devices with base storage because Optimise Storage in Drive and Photos works seamlessly. To collaborate with others using Dropbox, I much prefer to use Panic’s Transmit than keep sync running (I no longer have the Dropbox app installed).

Have we come to rely on "cloud services" so much that we've forgotten how to do this ourselves?

When Dropbox came out, many people LOL'd (especially here on this site where most people could build Dropbox in a weekend) because it isn't that complicated. It was just pretty and targeting the less-technical.

But now here we are, on the same site where people used to be able to build this in a weekend, asking how to find an alternative because (presumably) nobody can build this in a weekend.