bDrive vs. Box vs. CalShare vs. bCourses Projects: What's the best choice for online collaboration?
The chart below gives a high-level comparison of the four major campus-supported options for collaboration at UC Berkeley.
This chart is intended only as guidance for which tool is best suited to a particular purpose. Depending on what you're trying to do, each of the tools may be either a good or a bad choice for that purpose. There is no one tool that is the best choice for every person and project.
We strongly encourage you to experiment with multiple tools before making a selection, especially for larger or longer-term projects. You might want to also consider a hybrid approach, using CalShare for a project dashboard, and embedding a view of your Box file repository there.
The "updated" date of this knowledge base article, shown below, shows when this guidance was last updated. Please check back here for updated and expanded guidance.
Tools for hosting websites and for software developers are also available.
Best for |
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Key capabilities |
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Other useful features |
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Price |
Free to all faculty, staff, students |
Free to all faculty, staff, students |
Free to all faculty and staff |
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Storage limits |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
1GB included, more can be purchased |
2GB |
Off-campus collaboration |
Easily collaborate with all other Google users, including people with free Google accounts. Can also make selected files viewable by anyone on the Internet. |
Easily collaborate with all other Box users, including people with free Box accounts. Can also make selected files viewable by anyone on the Internet. |
Requires CalNet Guest account, or ADFS integration with outside collaborator's organization. Can also make selected files viewable by anyone on the Internet. |
Requires CalNet Guest account. |
Security |
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More questions? |