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Dropbox vs Spike

Dropbox keeps a disk in the cloud so a team can live in the same tree. Spike is the door you hand a client: one pack, a preview you control, sometimes a payment. It does not replace Dropbox inside the studio.

Kerttu Mäkinen

Pori4 min read

Dropbox vs Spike is easy to misread as a storage fight. Dropbox won by making a folder on your Mac feel like a folder in the office. That is still the right tool when three people edit in place. A client delivery is a different day: one person, one pack, rules for what they can take, sometimes a card payment. Spike is built for that door.

Dropbox also has a send product. Useful. It is still a pipe sitting next to a sync product. Spike's extra is that the library is the starting point, the preview can be blurred or marked, and checkout can live on the same URL. You can keep both. This page is when the extras matter.

Dropbox keeps you and the cloud in sync. Spike is the third door: the client, a preview, optional pay.

What Dropbox is for

  • A working tree that should exist on more than one machine.
  • People who already have Dropbox and expect a shared folder.
  • Drafts that are not a product yet.
  • Paper, comments, and the messy middle of a job.

What a client should not see

A shared Dropbox folder is a room in your house. Last year's jobs sit next to this week's finals. "Anyone with the link" is easy to leave on. A full-resolution photo in that tree is a download. None of that makes Dropbox bad. It makes it a workbench. Export the finals into a Spike folder when the job is done. The client never has to see the archive.

What you getDropbox share or TransferSpike folder link
Sync a working treeYes, that is the jobNot the job
Send a linkYesYes
Team collaborationStrongNot the job
Blur or watermark previewNot the usual jobBuilt in
Checkout on the same URLSeparate invoiceOptional, on the folder
Looks like your deliveryDropbox UIYour branding on the page

Without adding them to the team

Many clients will not create a Dropbox account to fetch a ZIP. A Spike share can be a password and a page. They do not join your space. You do not grant them a seat on a tree that also holds next year's pitch. How to share files with clients is that playbook.

When the send also has to collect money

Dropbox moves files. Payment is another product. If the gallery is also the invoice, get paid before sending files on the Spike URL. Spike takes 5% on Free, 1% on Pro, 0% on Business, from the payout. Stripe's card fee still applies.

Dropbox answers "is this folder on every machine." Spike answers "can this person see a preview and pay without joining the team."

If the other drive in your head is Google, read Google Drive vs Spike. If it is a classic pipe, WeTransfer vs Spike. Large video is where quotas and "make a copy" habits hurt: how to send large video files.

Permissions that were "anyone with the link" for a week can stay that way for a year. A Spike delivery has an expiry you can see and a selling switch if money is still due. Dropbox can do some of that with extra admin. The extra Spike sells is that the admin is the product, not a policy you remember later.

Questions

Good to know

No. Keep Dropbox for sync, Paper, and people who already live in that tree. Use Spike when the recipient is a client or buyer and you want a preview, a password, or checkout without adding them to the team folder.

Keep reading

Related articles

Try the workflow in the article.

Upload a folder, protect the preview, share or sell from one link.

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