Collecting files from other people - clients, students, guests, candidates - usually comes down to one of three mechanisms: a Dropbox File Request, a Google Drive shared folder, or a dedicated upload link. They differ on four axes that actually decide the choice: whether uploaders need an account, whose storage quota absorbs the files, how much control you get over the collection, and what cleanup looks like afterwards.
Dropbox File Request
You create a request in Dropbox, share the link, and uploads land in a folder of your choosing. Uploaders don't need a Dropbox account - which makes this the best of the cloud-storage options for external people.
Where it pinches:
- Your quota is the ceiling. Uploads count against your Dropbox storage, and the free Basic plan has 2 GB total. A handful of video files ends the collection early.
- Control features are paid. Deadlines (with or without late uploads) and request passwords belong to paid plans; on free you can only close the request manually when you're done.
- No structure. You can't tell uploaders which specific files you're waiting for, and the page carries Dropbox's branding, not yours.
Verdict: fine if you already pay for Dropbox and have quota to spare; cramped on free.
Google Drive shared folder
You create a folder, set sharing to "anyone with the link can edit", and people drag files in. The 15 GB free quota is the most generous of the three - and that's roughly where the good news ends for external collection.
- Uploaders need a Google account. Editing a shared folder requires sign-in. Inside a Workspace org - fine. For a client list or wedding guests, some fraction is locked out or gives up.
- "Can edit" means can delete. Everyone with the link can see, move, rename, and remove everyone else's files. For thirty uploaders that's not a permission model, it's an honor system.
- No collection semantics. No record of who uploaded what beyond file metadata, no notification when files arrive, no endpoint - the folder lives until you remember to change the permissions.
Verdict: the right tool inside a Google org, a workaround everywhere else.
Dedicated upload link
A tool built for the receiving direction: create a page at getfiles.app, share the link, uploads land in a dashboard rather than your personal cloud. Nobody needs an account on either side, uploads are chunked and resume after dropped connections, and the page itself is the control surface: optional checklist of required files, password, moderation, your branding, and the uploader interface in 19 languages.
The structural difference is that collection is bounded by design. A page expires (7 days by default, at most 10 at creation, extendable in 10-day steps up to 90 days), and files are yours to take as a single ZIP until 3 days past expiry - then they're gone. Cleanup is automatic because the endpoint was part of the deal.
That same bound is the honest disqualifier: an upload link is not storage. If what you're actually building is a permanent shared archive that keeps growing, that's the one job here where the cloud folders win and the upload link loses.
Side by side
| Dropbox File Request | Google Drive folder | getfiles.app | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uploader needs account | No | Yes (Google) | No |
| Files land in | Your Dropbox (quota) | Your Drive (quota) | Separate dashboard |
| Free ceiling | 2 GB total (Basic) | 15 GB (shared with Gmail/Photos) | 500 files, 200 MB each per page |
| Uploaders can touch others' files | No | Yes ("can edit") | No (gallery is opt-in, view-only) |
| Deadline / expiry control | Paid plans | Manual | Built in, automatic |
| Checklist of required files | No | No | Yes |
| Resumable uploads | No | No | Yes (chunked) |
| Branding on upload page | Dropbox's | Google's | Yours |
| Long-term storage | Yes | Yes | No - temporary by design |
Which to choose
- Already paying for Dropbox, collecting a few documents: File Request - the quota and paid-deadline caveats won't bite at that scale.
- Everyone involved is in your Google org: shared Drive folder; the account wall doesn't exist for you and permanence is probably what you want.
- External uploaders, bounded collection: dedicated upload link - it's the only one of the three where "no account", "not my quota" and "ends by itself" all hold at once.
One event-specific note: collecting wedding or event photos is this same decision with the friction dial turned to maximum (a guest list is the most external audience there is) - the setup that works is covered in our wedding photo collection guide.