What is the Difference Between SharePoint and OneDrive? A Detailed Comparison!

In this fast-growing world of cloud storage, choosing the right platform can take time and effort. However, Microsoft offers two popular cloud-based solutions OneDrive and SharePoint. While both let you store and manage files they serve different purposes. Let’s dive in and see the difference between SharePoint and OneDrive.

Yes, there are many advantages of SharePoint but it depends upon a user’s need and a user should also know their use cases. If the organization has a solo user who doesn’t need to collaborate with other users in this case generally OneDrive is preferable. Let’s see the difference between SharePoint and OneDrive to simplify the confusion of the user.

Introduction to SharePoint and OneDrive

SharePoint: It is a popular document-sharing and collaboration platform. It lets teams work together on files, projects, tasks, lists, calendars, and more. Information is shared centrally, and users with proper access can modify or create documents. However, It provides flexible deployment options and various pricing models, it is built to serve businesses of all sizes.

SharePoint comes with three different deployment modes  

• On-premises SharePoint: A dedicated server installed in-premise to facilitate SharePoint sites
• SharePoint Online (cloud-based): A cloud-based storage for facilitating SharePoint Online sites
• Hybrid: Empowers the features of both above deployment modes

OneDrive: It lets you store your important files, folders, images, and documents on the cloud which is accessible from anywhere with the OneDrive app, desktop folder, or web. Everything stays synced for easy editing and collaboration.

OneDrive features two versions:

• OneDrive Personal: Store your photos, videos, and documents for your use.where  You can manage everything.
• OneDrive For Business: Collaborate with colleagues on office projects and save office documents. Your organization manages the storage.

Difference Between SharePoint and OneDrive – Features Comparison

The detailed comparison for SharePoint vs OneDrive for Business. However, both come with the Microsoft 365 plan and serve different user bases. Let’s see what they offer differently based on features.

After going through this table one can easily notice the key differences of SharePoint vs OneDrive.  The features column describes the general features that are integrated with these cloud storage and collaboration platforms. Let’s move forward and see the differences between SharePoint and OneDrive according to their uses.

SharePoint and OneDrive – Determine Which Suits You Best!

There are two scenarios for choosing SharePoint vs OneDrive. Here we have discussed these scenarios and their benefits in detail, making it easy for users to choose the cloud-based storage.

Personal Cloud storage: if you want to provide your employees with individual storage for saving files and necessary data then you should choose OneDrive. It is ideal for storing files like photos, videos, and documents.

Benefits of OneDrive:

• Users can access files from anywhere (using phone, computer, web).
• Active sync for keeping your file for offline editing with sync to cloud storage.
• Manage access to who can see your files (by default set to Private).

Collaborative cloud storage: if you want to create a space where your employees can share files or projects and work on those projects collaboratively. In this case, SharePoint is Ideal for Sharing and working together on project documents, tasks, lists, and calendars.

Benefits of SharePoint:

• Provide a centralized location for team documents.
• Loaded with advanced features like version control and metadata management.
• Managed by your organization for security and permissions.

After reading this comparison you can decide which cloud-based storage you should choose. Hopefully, now you can able to understand the difference between SharePoint and OneDrive.

Standalone Availability of SharePoint and OneDrive!

To understand the SharePoint VS OneDrive in depth we have to analyze the standalone availability with plans and pricing. This gives us a more accurate look at this topic.

OneDrive: It is part of Microsoft’s cloud storage service. This service is available as part of Microsoft 365 plans and as a standalone service. Let’s see the plans and pricing for OneDrive Standalone:

SharePoint: It is primarily known as part of Microsoft 365’s enterprise plans but is also available in standalone options for those who need it without the full suite of services. Let’s see SharePoint Standalone Plans and pricing.

The standalone pricing provides flexibility for those who particularly need SharePoint’s features without the additional tools.

Note: Pricing and availability can vary by region and may change. You should verify with the Microsoft 365 Official site.

Bring it All Together

To conclude, choosing the best cloud storage according to need can be tricky because Microsoft provides the two best cloud-based storage options. Therefore, we have mentioned all the necessary details that are useful in finding the difference between SharePoint and OneDrive. However, we have also differentiated based on use cases and their needs. Additionally, we have discussed the standalone availability of both by mentioning plans and pricing.