---
id: backups.why-are-google-drive-and-dropbox-backups-slower
url: https://storagestudio.us/faq/backups/why-are-google-drive-and-dropbox-backups-slower
category: "Backups & restore points"
subcategory: "Where backups go"
question: "Why are backups to Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive slower?"
alt_questions:
  - "Which cloud is fastest for Storage Studio backups?"
  - "Google Drive backup slow throttling"
  - "best cloud destination for Data Backup"
  - "Dropbox backup speed"
  - "OneDrive backup takes forever"
  - "fastest place to back up to"
short_answer: "Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive deliberately throttle large uploads, so backups there are slower. An external SSD is fastest, and bucket storage such as Amazon S3 is the quickest cloud option."
tags: ["speed", "google drive", "dropbox", "onedrive"]
related: ["https://storagestudio.us/faq/backups/why-is-my-first-backup-so-slow", "https://storagestudio.us/faq/backups/where-can-i-back-up-to"]
applies_to: "all"
last_reviewed: 2026-10-01
---

# Why are backups to Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive slower?

Those services deliberately limit (throttle) large uploads, so a big backup takes noticeably longer there. They work fine as destinations — just slower, especially for the first full backup.

For the fastest results:
- An **external SSD** is quickest of all.
- **Bucket storage**, such as Amazon S3, is the quickest cloud choice.

After the first backup, only changes are uploaded, so day-to-day backups to any of these are usually quick.