Storage Services Comparison
Options
| Product | Best Use | Storage Limits/Prices through Fall 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Box for Individuals | Collaboration and files | <200GB- standard for individuals- free |
| Box for Individuals | Collaboration and files | >200GB will cost $10 / 100GB / year or $100/ 1TB /year. You may purchase 100 GB increments. |
| Box for Groups, Centers & Labs | Collaboration and files | <1TB - standard for groups and centers- free |
| Box for Groups, Centers & Labs | Collaboration and files | >1TB will cost $100/ 1TB / year |
| OneDrive | Collaboration and files | < 200GB - standard for individuals - free (100GB max for A1 licensees - guests, visitors, external affiliates and staff (light Microsoft users) - Starting January 2024 |
| OneDrive | Collaboration and files | > 200GB will cost $40 per 100GB per year or $400/year for 1TB. You may purchase 100 GB increments. Starting January 2024. |
| Google Workspace | Collaboration - non research data | <50G free. Extra storage is $100/TB/year or an increment of $10/100G/month >50G. |
| Amazon Web Services (AWS) | Backup and storage | $.0009 to $.023 per month/GB |
| High Performance Cluster | Large research data sets | 10 Tb – 30 TB- no charge; >30 TB $6.40/TB/month |
| SharePoint for Groups | Collaboration and files | <1TB free; Additional storage available for $400/TB/Year or $40/100GB/Year (max. of 25TB) |
Feature Comparison
| Features | Box | OneDrive for Business | SharePoint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Default Storage for Individuals - free | 200GB | 200GB - standard for individuals; 100GB max A1 licensees - guests, visitors, external affiliates and staff (light Microsoft users (Starting January 2024) | 50GB (free up to 1TB) |
| Research Groups and Center (upon request) | 1 TB free | No | Contact Help Desk |
| Additional Storage (upon request) | $100/ 1TB/year (limits will apply) | Upon request(2) | Upon requests(2) |
| Group Storage | Yes | No | Yes |
| Web Editing | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Real-time collaboration and editing | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sync client ** | PC, Mac, iOS, Android | PC, Mac, iOS, Android | PC, Mac, iOS, Android |
| Selective sync | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| File Size Limit | 15GB | 15GB | 15GB |
| Office Integration *** | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Share files with users outside of Caltech | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Legal Protection (HIPAA, FERPA, etc) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Uses Caltech login | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Pricing & Terms
1) Beginning June 1, 2022, individual accounts requesting >200GB will be charged $100/ 1 TB / year. This is a one-time annual charge that will occur on October 1, 2022.
2) Additional storage requests will be evaluated and available based on the limits of our licensing agreements. Contact the Help Desk for assistance.
Privacy Agreements
IMSS acknowledges that some may prefer to use other cloud storage solutions such as DropBox. While we do not discourage this, it is important to note that DropBox does not have business agreements with Caltech to guarantee your data security (i.e. no data mining, HIPAA, and FERPA compliance, or whether data is stored in the US).
References
** Drive/file mapping is available in some cases. OneDrive for Business and SharePoint both natively allow file mapping only from the Office applications. Box allows file mapping from Office applications with the installation of the Box for Office plug-in.
*** Office integration with OneDrive for Business and SharePoint is native. Office integration with Box is only possible with the installation of Box Edit.