What's the best cloud file sharing for a small business in 2026?
For a business, the right pick depends on the bill at ten seats, who can see what, and what happens to files when someone quits.
Most "best cloud storage" lists rank terabytes and lifetime deals. A small business has different questions. What do I pay for 5, 10 or 25 people? Is there a seat minimum? Who can open the finance folder? How do I keep a departing employee's files? We compared six per-user services, plus three worth a look, on exactly those points.
The short answer: Google Drive (through Google Workspace) for most small teams. OneDrive with Microsoft 365 if you run on Excel and Word and want 1 TB per person. Dropbox if your job is sending large files to clients. pCloud if you want per-user quotas on a budget.
Looking for personal storage rather than a team setup? Our guide to cloud file sharing for individuals covers free tiers and lifetime plans.
Our ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link ever changes a score.
The best pick for your situation
Pooled storage from $7 a seat
Most storage per seat1 TB per user on Business Basic
Large client deliveriesTransfer up to 100 GB, no account needed
Quotas on a budgetPer-user cap and activity log
Confidential filesEnd-to-end encrypted, ISO 27001
Flat team priceSix users for CHF 10.00 a month
6 file sharing services for small business compared
Rank follows the most common case: a US company of 5 to 25 people, no dedicated IT, storing everyday work files and sharing some with clients. Scores come from our weighted criteria, so kDrive scores highest but ranks lower for a US team because of integrations and Swiss-franc billing.
| Best for | What it does best | Free plan | Team size | Visit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Google Drive | Best overall | Pooled storage and shared drives | 4.3/5 | $7/user/mo billed annually | — | 3 to 50 people | Visit → |
| 2 | OneDrive (Microsoft 365) | Best for Office teams | 1 TB per user, file-level permissions | 4.2/5 | $6/user/mo billed annually | — | Office-first teams | Visit → |
| 3 | Dropbox | Best for big files | Transfer: 100 GB per send | 4.0/5 | $15/user/mo billed annually | — | Agencies and studios | Visit → |
| 4 | pCloud | Best for quotas | Storage cap and log per user | 4.0/5 | $7.99/user/mo billed annually ($9.99 monthly), listed for 3 | — | 3 to 10 people | Visit → |
| 5 | Proton Drive | Best for privacy | End-to-end encrypted | 4.1/5 | $7.99/user/mo billed annually | ✓ | Sensitive data | Visit → |
| 6 | kDrive (Infomaniak) | Best flat price | 6 users for one price | 4.4/5 | Team CHF 10.00/mo billed annually | ✓ | Under 6 people | Visit → |
Entry prices read on official pricing pages in 2026, before sales tax. kDrive bills in Swiss francs.
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How we compared and ranked
Per-seat pricing hides two traps. A $6 plan can cost more than a flat-rate plan for a five-person team, and a three-seat minimum changes the math for a duo. So we priced every plan for 5, 10 and 25 users on annual billing.
We read official pricing pages, admin and permissions documentation, and then what admins say on Reddit and vendor forums: sync that breaks, seats you can't drop, files lost when someone leaves. Scores are the ones we already publish for each tool in our other rankings, so the same tool keeps the same score everywhere.
What isn't ranked, and why. Box, Tresorit and Nextcloud appear below without a score because we don't have a full review of them yet. Egnyte often shows up in US lists, but we couldn't confirm its current pricing on an official page, so it stays out. Consumer plans (iCloud+, Google One, Microsoft 365 Personal) live in our personal storage guide.
- Ease of useTeam onboarding, admin console, day-to-day sync.20%
- Value for moneyCost per seat, seat minimums, storage included, renewal price.25%
- Sharing and transfer limitsTeam folders, folder-level permissions, protected external links, sharing with people who have no account.25%
- Privacy and hostingWhere the company and servers sit, encryption, certifications.20%
- Available integrationsOffice suite, email, business apps and automation tools you already use.10%
Our ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link ever changes a score.
Get our next software comparisons for small teams
Google Drive
For a business, Google Drive comes inside Google Workspace, alongside Gmail, Calendar and Docs, all run from one admin console. The detail that matters for a small company: storage is pooled across the organization. On Business Starter, each seat adds 30 GB to a shared pot, so ten people get 300 GB between them, and your video editor can use more than your bookkeeper without anyone hitting a wall.
The other strength is shared drives. Files in a shared drive belong to the company, not to whoever uploaded them. That one setting is your best protection when someone leaves. Starter, Standard and Plus all cap at 300 users, and paying yearly cuts the bill by roughly 16%.
- Pooled storage: 30 GB, 2 TB or 5 TB per seat into one company pot
- Shared drives keep files with the company when people leave
- Built-in ownership transfer in the admin console
- ✓Nothing to install to get started
- ✓Permissions per shared drive and per file
- ✓No seat minimum
- ✗30 GB per seat on Starter fills up fast with video or design files
- ✗Choosing the data region is reserved for Enterprise plans
- ✗Files in someone's My Drive are orphaned if the account is deleted without a transfer
The default pick for a small business that wants everyone sharing on day one. Start on Starter and move up when 30 GB per head stops being enough.
OneDrive (Microsoft 365)
Microsoft splits file storage in two. OneDrive is each employee's own space, with 1 TB per user from Business Basic up. SharePoint holds the team libraries, and its permissions are the most granular here: open a folder to one department, a subfolder to one client, and revoke access file by file.
The catch is sync. Admins on MSP forums report that the OneDrive client starts failing past roughly 150,000 synced items, spawns duplicate folders named like "SiteName (1)", and struggles more on Macs. A recurring tip: sync only the folder you're working in and use the browser for the rest.
- 1 TB of OneDrive per user on every business plan
- SharePoint permissions down to the single file
- Office apps and Teams in the same bill
- ✓Most storage per dollar among per-seat plans
- ✓Native with Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams
- ✓EU customer data kept in the EU since 2025
- ✗Sync gets flaky on large libraries, especially on Mac
- ✗SharePoint needs real setup before you migrate
- ✗Business Basic has no desktop Office apps
Pick it if your team already works in Office. Spend half a day mapping your SharePoint libraries before moving a single file.
Dropbox
Dropbox still has the strongest reputation for sync, and its team plans add what the personal plan lacks: an admin console, team folders, 180 days of file recovery and Dropbox Transfer, which sends up to 100 GB to someone without an account. Standard now works with a single user, so a one-person shop can start there.
Advanced adds several admin roles, end-to-end encryption, key management, compliance tracking, single sign-on and a year of history, but it requires three seats minimum. On Dropbox's own community forum, customers describe being unable to drop seats before the annual renewal without going through support.
- Transfer: 100 GB per send on Standard, 250 GB on Enterprise
- 180-day recovery on Standard, one year on Advanced
- Standard available from a single user
- ✓The sync people trust most
- ✓Simple sharing model
- ✓Huge integration catalog (4.7)
- ✗Highest per-seat price in this list
- ✗Permissions are coarser than SharePoint, often all or nothing
- ✗Seats are hard to reduce before renewal
Worth the premium if moving big files to clients is your daily work. For ordinary office documents, Google or Microsoft cost less.
pCloud
pCloud is best known for lifetime plans aimed at individuals. Its Business plan is a different product: teams, access levels per folder, a storage quota for each user and an activity log for every account. Client-side encryption is included on the business tier.
Two things to read before you buy. The plan is listed for three users ($23.97 a month billed annually), so a duo may pay for a third seat. And the 25% discount on Business Pro is for new accounts only: at renewal, the per-user price goes from $11.98 to $15.98 billed annually ($14.98 to $19.98 monthly).
- Storage quota set per employee
- Activity log per user
- Client-side encryption included
- ✓Cheaper than Dropbox for similar admin controls
- ✓30-day trial
- ✓14-day refund window
- ✗Plans listed from three users
- ✗Business Pro discount only lasts year one
- ✗Fewer integrations (3.5)
A solid budget option for a small team that wants quotas and logs. Budget for the renewal price, not the promo.
Proton Drive
Proton, the Swiss company behind Proton Mail, sells Drive Professional: 1 TB per user, end-to-end encrypted, meaning files are encrypted on your device before upload and Proton never holds the key. The company lists ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II.
That protection costs some comfort. Real-time co-editing, integrations and admin tooling are lighter than at Google or Microsoft. Think of it as a team vault rather than a shared office.
- End-to-end encryption on every file
- ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II
- Swiss company and servers
- ✓Highest privacy score here (4.9)
- ✓1 TB per user
- ✓Free 5 GB personal account to test the interface
- ✗Limited integrations (3.3)
- ✗Collaboration features are thinner
- ✗Admin console less mature than the big suites
Use it for the folders that must never leak. Many teams keep it for sensitive files and leave everyday work in Google or Microsoft.
kDrive (Infomaniak)
kDrive comes from Infomaniak, a Swiss hosting company. Its Team plan is unusual: one flat price for up to six users, 3 TB to start (expandable to 18 TB), shared company folders and OnlyOffice for editing in the browser. Past six people you move to Pro, billed per user from three, starting at 6 TB.
It has the highest score on this page. It ranks last here because US teams will find fewer integrations and prices in Swiss francs.
- Flat price for up to six users on Team
- Hosted in Switzerland
- Activity history and usage reports in the console
- ✓Most storage for the money under six users
- ✓Email, chat and phone support
- ✓Up to 20% off on a three-year term
- ✗Desktop sync app less polished, pauses reported on Linux
- ✗Two separate permission layers (account manager and kDrive)
- ✗Billed in Swiss francs
Great value and the best privacy story outside the encrypted options. Outside Europe, check that integrations cover your stack before you commit.
Governance, encryption or your own server: three unranked options
These fit specific needs. We don't have full reviews of them yet, so no score: here's what they charge and who they suit.
Box, for growing companies that need strict rules
GovernanceBox advertises plans "from $5 per user per month"; we couldn't read the amount for each tier on its official page. The limits are clear, though. Business Starter covers 3 to 10 users with 100 GB and a 2 GB file limit. Business requires three users, offers unlimited storage and 5 GB per file. Enterprise goes to 50 GB per file and 100 versions.
Box shines when you need retention rules and approval flows (retention comes through a paid add-on). For a five-person shop it's often more than you need.
- Entry price
- From $5 per user per month
- Minimum
- 3 users
Tresorit, for encrypted sharing with admin policies
EncryptionTresorit is a Swiss end-to-end encrypted service built for teams. Business needs three users and starts at 6 TB (2 TB per user), with a 15 GB file limit, single sign-on, admin policies and two-factor authentication. Business Pro needs five users and adds dynamic watermarks, link tracking and automatic deletion.
We couldn't read its prices on the official page, so check them before you plan a budget. There's a 14-day trial, and it asks for a card.
- Minimum
- 3 users on Business
- Storage
- 2 TB per user
Nextcloud, for files on a server you control
Self-hostedNextcloud is open-source software. The Community edition is free if you run it on your own server, which means someone has to handle updates and backups. The Enterprise subscription, with vendor support, costs €71.29 per user per year on Standard.
It's the most independent route and the most demanding to maintain. Pick it only if you have someone technical in house or a provider who will host it for you.
- Community
- Free, self-hosted
- Enterprise
- €71.29 per user per year
Four questions to ask before you sign
Entry prices all look alike. The differences show up when you run the numbers for your headcount, when someone quits, and when a client asks where their files live.
What will it really cost for 5, 10 or 25 people?
Monthly cost on the entry business plan, billed annually, before sales tax. 5 users: kDrive Team CHF 10.00 for the whole team, Google Workspace Business Starter $35, Microsoft 365 Business Basic $30, pCloud Business $39.95, Proton Drive Professional $39.95, Dropbox Standard $75. 10 users: kDrive Pro CHF 66.60, Google $70, Microsoft $60, pCloud $79.90, Proton $79.90, Dropbox $150. 25 users: kDrive Pro CHF 166.50, Google $175, Microsoft $150, pCloud $199.75, Proton $199.75, Dropbox $375.
Then compare storage. At ten users, Google Starter gives 300 GB pooled, Microsoft 1 TB per person, kDrive Pro 6 TB for the team. If you store video or CAD files, the cheapest option changes fast.
What happens to files when an employee leaves?
Few guides cover this. In Google Workspace, a file in a shared drive belongs to the company; a file left in someone's My Drive belongs to them and is orphaned if you delete the account without transferring ownership in the admin console. Microsoft draws the same line between SharePoint libraries and each person's OneDrive.
The simple rule: anything the team needs lives in team space from day one. Personal space is for drafts.
Who sees what, and how do you share with clients?
SharePoint lets you open one subfolder to one person and pull access file by file, at the cost of real setup. Google Drive sits in the middle with permissions per shared drive and per file. Dropbox keeps it simpler, often all or nothing on a folder.
For clients without an account, check password-protected links, expiry dates and the maximum size. Dropbox Transfer sends up to 100 GB per delivery on Standard.
Do you need compliance paperwork?
If you handle health or legal data, ask each vendor for its compliance documents before you upload anything, and sign the data processing or business associate agreement it offers. Certifications listed by vendors on this page: ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II for Proton. Microsoft has kept Microsoft 365 data for EU customers inside the EU since 2025, which matters if you have European clients.
End-to-end encryption (Proton, Dropbox Advanced, Tresorit) means the provider can't read your files, but it also limits some collaboration features.
- Total monthly cost for your exact headcount, annual and monthly
- Seat minimum and whether you can drop seats mid-term
- Storage per user or pooled, and the price of extra space
- Team folders the company owns, not the employee
- External links: password, expiry, maximum size
- Compliance documents and a signed data processing agreement
Torn between Google and Microsoft? Get our head-to-head comparisons by email
Roll it out without losing a file
These are the settings admins wish they'd made on day one. They apply to any tool on this page.
Create team spaces before you invite anyone
FirstSketch the structure first: one shared drive or library per department, one per major client if needed. Then invite people straight into those spaces. Do it the other way round and everyone files things in personal space, and you'll spend weeks pulling them back.
- In Google
- Shared drives, not My Drive
Sync one working folder per laptop, not the whole library
MicrosoftOn Microsoft 365, syncing a huge SharePoint library is what breaks. Sync only the active project folder and open the rest in the browser. Don't mix synced folders and shortcuts to the same location: that's where the duplicates come from.
- Reported limit
- About 150,000 items
Trim seats right before renewal
BudgetOn annual billing, removing seats mid-term usually means a support ticket. Put the renewal date in your calendar a month ahead, count active accounts, and cut then. On Dropbox Advanced you can't go below three anyway, and pCloud lists its Business plans from three users.
- 3-seat minimum
- Dropbox Advanced, Box, Tresorit
Set a default expiry on external links
SecurityIn the admin console, make public links expire by default, say after 30 days, and require a password on sensitive folders. A link with no expiry stays open years after a project ends. For one-off big deliveries, a transfer tool like Dropbox Transfer beats opening a whole folder.
- Suggested default
- Expiry on every public link
Write your offboarding steps before you need them
ProcessThree lines are enough: suspend the account on the last day, transfer personal files to a manager from the admin console, delete the account only after that. Google has a built-in ownership transfer tool. Skip the transfer and a deletion takes the files with it.
- Order
- Suspend, transfer, delete
Keep a backup outside the sync tool
SafetySync copies mistakes too: a deleted or ransomware-encrypted file goes everywhere. Version history helps (180 days on Dropbox Standard, 120 days on kDrive Pro), but a real backup sits on another platform. Test a restore once a quarter.
- Dropbox Standard
- 180-day recovery
Keep going
These pages pick up where this one stops.
Free tiers, lifetime plans, one-off transfers.
You're also choosing email and docsOffice suitesGoogle Workspace, Microsoft 365 and more.
You need to file and find documentsDocument managementSearch, approvals, retention.
You want to leave DropboxDropbox alternativesWhere to go and how to migrate.
You want off Google DriveGoogle Drive alternativesOptions and migration steps.
You need encryption or self-hostingTresorit and NextcloudThe unranked options.
Small business file sharing · FAQ
What's the cheapest cloud storage for a small business?
For a team of up to six, kDrive Team at CHF 10.00 a month billed annually, flat, with 3 TB. Among US vendors, Microsoft 365 Business Basic runs $6 and Google Workspace Business Starter $7 per user per month, billed annually. Microsoft gives 1 TB per person; Google gives 30 GB per seat, pooled.Google Drive or OneDrive for a small team?
Google Drive if you want people sharing with zero training, OneDrive if you need fine permissions and lots of space. Entry prices are close ($7 versus $6 per seat). The real gap is storage: 30 GB pooled per seat on Google Starter versus 1 TB per person on Microsoft Business Basic.Is Dropbox Business worth it for a small team?
Only if you send large files to clients often. Standard costs $15 per user per month, about double Google or Microsoft, but includes Transfer (100 GB per send) and 180-day recovery. Standard now starts at one user; Advanced needs three.Can a client download a file without an account?
Yes, on every service here, through a share link. Set it to view only, with a password and an expiry date. For very large files, Dropbox Transfer sends up to 100 GB on Standard and 250 GB on Enterprise.Can I reduce the number of seats mid-year?
Rarely on annual billing. Dropbox customers report needing support to remove seats before renewal, and Advanced won't go below three. Add seats as you grow, but remove them just before your renewal date. Monthly billing costs more and keeps that flexibility.Is cloud file sharing the same as backup?
No. Sync replicates mistakes: delete or encrypt a file by accident and it's gone everywhere. Version history is a safety net, not a backup. Keep a copy on a separate platform and test restoring it.Is 1 TB per user enough?
For office documents, easily: that's hundreds of thousands of Word or PDF files. It gets tight with video, design files or raw photos. In that case, pooled and expandable storage works better, like kDrive Pro, which starts at 6 TB for the team and scales to 106 TB.Which option is end-to-end encrypted?
Proton Drive encrypts every file end to end on all plans. Dropbox offers it on Advanced, and Tresorit is built around it.
