Cloud drives weren't built for client work

Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive are storage products. Sharing with a client is something you assemble on top of them: a folder, a permission level, a link, and the discipline to keep all three straight across every client you have. Droplana starts from the other end - the client is the unit, each one gets a private portal, and there are no permissions to configure because there is nothing to configure them against.

The "just share a Drive folder" problem

Most people start here. It's free, you already have it, the client probably has it too. Then reality kicks in:

• A client accidentally deletes a file. You don't notice for a week.
• You forget to set "view only" - they edit your master file.
• They share the link with someone else. Now a stranger has access.
• Your folder structure makes sense to you and confuses them completely.
• You have 14 client folders mixed with your tax returns and vacation photos.
• Six months later, half the clients still have access to old work you forgot about.
• There's no way to say "I'm still waiting on your ID and last year's return" - you have to remember and nag manually. A document checklist makes that visible to both sides.
• There's no way to leave a comment on the file. So you go back to email. And the cycle starts again.

Cloud drives are a filesystem. Client work needs a workspace. For the full picture on what a client portal is and how to evaluate one, see our client portal guide.

Side-by-side comparison

When Droplana wins (real scenarios)

A client deletes the wrong file

Drive: They had edit access because you needed them to upload. They delete the master logo. You restore from trash if you catch it in time. Droplana: Clients can upload but can't touch your master files. Boundary problems disappear.

Onboarding client number 12

Drive: New folder. Set permissions. Share link. Send welcome email separately. Hope they bookmark it. Pray they don't share it. Droplana: Click "new client". Done. Send link. Each portal is isolated by default.

A new project for an existing client

Drive: New subfolder? New folder? Share again? Permissions inherit weirdly. Droplana: It's the same portal. Just upload. They already know where to look.

Wrapping up a client relationship

Drive: You probably forget to revoke access. They probably still have the link saved somewhere. Droplana: One toggle revokes the portal. Cleanly, completely - files stay put.

A 1.5 GB video file

Drive: Counts against your storage. Slow uploads. Permissions reset weirdly. (How to send large video files →) Droplana: Upload it to the client's portal and send nothing - they already have the link. A file that size needs Practice or Studio, since the per-file ceiling is 100 MB on the free plan and 1 GB on Solo.

When a cloud drive is still fine

Be honest with yourself about the use case.

Cloud drives are still right for: long-term archival storage, files you and your team work on collaboratively, anything that needs to integrate deeply with Docs/Sheets/Office, and your own personal stuff.

Droplana is for the client-facing layer. A lot of users keep Drive or Dropbox as their working storage and use Droplana as the polished surface clients actually see.

You don't have to migrate anything. Just stop sending Drive links.

How it works (3 steps)

1. Add a client. Each client gets their own isolated portal.
2. Upload files and add per-file comments. From your dashboard. They land in the client's portal.
3. Send them their one private portal link. They verify their email once - no account, no signup, no confusion on their end.

For the complete walkthrough - including collecting files back and portal security levels - see the step-by-step instructions.

Check our simple pricing (or start free)

Storage levels and team seats scale with your plan.
Security, per-client encryption, isolation, in-browser PDF signing, and data export are the same on every plan.
No per-client fees. Tax calculated by Creem at checkout.

Check who are we building Droplana for