CloudApp vs Droplr: Is There a Clear Winner?

Of course not! There never is. However, by comparing them we might be able to help you make a decision better suited to your needs. I, for one, have been torn between the two for quite a long time but always stuck with Droplr. We’ll take a look at the pros and cons of each and why you might want to choose one over the other. Take a look!

CloudApp vs Droplr

These two apps seem so similar at first glance you might be wondering if it even matters which one you choose. And, to be honest, it really won’t matter for most people as their basic functions are very, very similar. However, there are differences and for those who really want to use the full potential of these apps, the small differences will be the deciding factors.

What Do They Do?

In case you’re not familiar with either of these apps, they basically make it drag and drop easy to share files. What can you share? Well, you can pretty much share anything; images, videos, music, links, files, etc. However, they make it especially easy for sharing screenshots quickly.

The apps’ web interface makes it super easy to manage your uploads, URLs, bookmarks, etc and check the view count for each. They both have options for access on different platforms and offer free accounts.

Pricing

Both apps are free, but CloudApp offers a Pro plan at $5 or cheaper if purchased in chunks.

Droplr

• 1 GB storage
• 32 MB file size limit
• URL shortening (private or public)
• Custom domain
• Built on Twitter integration
• iPhone ($3.99), Windows (third party) and OS X

Be sure to check out our review of Droplr’s iPhone app via iPhone.AppStorm.net.

CloudApp – Free

• 10 uploads per day
• 25 MB max file size
• Unlimited storage
• URL shortening (private or public)
• iPhone (third party), Android (third party) Windows (third party) and OS X

CloudApp – Pro

• Unlimited uploads per day
• 250 MB max file size
• Unlimited storage
• Custom domain
• URL shortening (private or public)

See our recent review of CloudApp.

Droplr Web & Desktop Interface

Web Interface

Both apps have a great looking web interface, although they are both missing details that would be nice. Droplr’s home page lists your uploads in pages of 20, showing name, link, view count and date uploaded. Click the upload attributes’ link (Name, Link, Views, etc) to change the listing order.

The filter option is great if you’re looking for something more specific, but overall the app would be much better if it were using AJAX to eliminate front end page reloads. That would make the web interface much more fluid feeling.

To delete files, just select the desired files and hit delete in the lower left-hand corner. You can select multiple files, or deselect files by clicking them again. Hold shift and click another file in the list to select multiple files quickly.

The lack of textual titles for the navigation might bother some people, but I prefer it without. From day one I knew what each link meant but I can see how someone less familiar with web icons might be confused. Either way, a quick click through the pages will answer your questions.

Droplr’s image listing page is designed more like a gallery, rather than a basic list, and gives you all the information shown on the dashboard as well as file size. Click images to select or deselect them, just like you can on the dashboard. If you’d rather see your images in list format, you can select that view up at the top right.

The other pages are essentially the same except they list your uploads according to upload type (links, notes, files). The last page is for your settings, where you can enter a custom URL or change the number of rows listed.

Oddly, the List View option wouldn’t change anything for me and appeared to be non-funcitonal.

That’s about all there is to Droplr’s web interface. You can log out using the white link at the lower right of the page if you want. Unfortunately there’s no way to upload through the web interface, which I find very unusual, although I suspect the web app was an addition to the desktop app rather than the other way around.

Desktop Interface

Droplr’s desktop interface is just as simple as its web interface. There’s really not much to it, but that’s really the point. It’s built on the idea of simplicity so it’s not getting in your way. Just drag and drop links and files or snap screenshots with the keyboard shortcut.

Viewing the app preferences includes the basic options you’d expect; start at login, hide dock icon, notifications via Droplr pop-up or Growl, account login details and keyboard shortcuts. You’ll also have the option of selecting how the app interfaces with Twitter (posts via Twitter.com or a desktop app).

CloudApp Web & Desktop Interface

Web Interface

CloudApp’s web interface is just as simple as Droplr’s, though I slightly prefer Droplr’s design. CloudApp, however, takes advantage of more modern web techniques and has a more fluid interface that let’s you navigate through content very quickly without waiting on long page reloads (except when navigating to your Account page).

Your dashboard shows All files under the Library selection column on the left. Selecting other “categories” quickly displays the relevant files. Just as in Droplr, you can quickly jump between grid and list views, though Droplr only allows this for the image gallery view whereas CloudApp allows this for all your uploads.

When viewing your CloudApp web interface and uploading a file via desktop, the upload appears nearly instantly in the web interface. Just the kind of app design we like to see!

Clicking upload names allows you to quickly rename the file or select a different privacy setting (public or private). CloudApp also offers a “Trash can” so you can “recover” files should you decide you didn’t want to delete files from an earlier instance. From your Trash view you can permanently delete or restore files. This is a great feature Droplr is missing — once deleted on Droplr, it’s permanent.

You’ll notice CloudApp has a Bookmarks section and form for creating bookmarks at the top of the web interface. Bookmarks are simply shortened URLs. So, technically Droplr has this as well except you can create new ones from within CloudApp’s web interface. Not only that, but you can also upload files from within CloudApp’s web interface, a seemingly required feature for an app like this. (Although their upload progress indicator could be improved.)

You’ll also notice CloudApp’s page navigation allows you to easily jump to specific pages, whereas Droplr requires one page at a time (unless to edit the URL directly, which is easy).

CloudApp’s settings page lets you easily change your email address, password, default privacy settings (you can update existing items too), set a custom domain or purchase a Pro plan.

The last bit I’d like to point out about CloudApp’s web interface is that when viewing images, you don’t get any ads and there’s a little “+” in the lower right hand corner. When clicked, the plus expands a small menu with CloudApp’s icon (links to their site), the embed URL and a clipboard icon to quickly copy the embed URL.

In Droplr, your image view page has ads (although you can link directly to the image by adding a “+” to the URL). However, Droplr makes it easier to embed images (by adding the “+”). Both apps’ file download page is simple and sexy, but Droplr’s provides more information (kind, size and upload date).

Desktop Interface

CloudApp’s desktop interface is just about as simple as Droplr’s but offers a few other options such as sound selection, whether to copy the URL to your clipboard or not, raindrops for desktop application integration and support.

The Winner

If you’re still with us, you might think the clear winner is CloudApp. From this review, I’d agree with you. However, Droplr is a winner in it’s own way and sports one more feature that’s made me hold onto it for quite a long time — the ability to quickly upload notes with plain text, markdown or code formatting.

This has been an invaluable feature for me, and one that, when combined with Droplr’s other features and my particular needs, makes it the winner in my personal situation. That being said, Droplr could make quite a few improvements that would make me love it much, much more. Like what?

• Paid accounts with much more (unlimited?) storage
• Uploads and URL shortening via web interface
• Enhanced web interface usability with more fluid navigation
• File recovery option(s)

I’d love to see both apps offer video playback in addition to downloading. It really throws a wrench in the system when you upload a video for family or friends and they have to download it and figure out how to play it first. That makes me avoid sending video with these apps, which is really a shame.

I’d like to see CloudApp offer the following.

• Easier way to select multiple files quickly
• Multiple file upload via web interface
• Better social network sharing integration

Which of these apps do you prefer and what features would you like to see them offer?