---
id: comparisons.is-storage-studio-a-cloud-storage-service
url: https://storagestudio.us/faq/comparisons/is-storage-studio-a-cloud-storage-service
category: "Comparisons & alternatives"
subcategory: "Cloud storage and online-only files"
question: "Is Storage Studio a cloud storage service like Dropbox or Google Drive?"
alt_questions:
  - "does storage studio give me cloud storage"
  - "storage studio cloud space included"
  - "is storage studio like dropbox"
  - "storage studio online storage"
short_answer: "No. Storage Studio is a Mac app that works with storage you already have — your Mac, an external drive and any cloud accounts you connect. You don't need a cloud account to use it."
tags: ["cloud", "overview", "accounts"]
related: ["https://storagestudio.us/faq/comparisons/external-ssd-vs-a-bigger-icloud-plan", "https://storagestudio.us/faq/comparisons/data-transfers-vs-provider-website-uploads"]
applies_to: "all"
last_reviewed: 2026-10-01
---

# Is Storage Studio a cloud storage service like Dropbox or Google Drive?

No — Storage Studio is a Mac app, not a cloud drive. It works with the storage **you already have**: your Mac's internal drive, an external drive, and any cloud accounts you choose to connect, such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, Amazon S3, FTP or SFTP. Your files stay in those places; Storage Studio moves, copies, syncs and backs them up between them.

You don't need any cloud account at all to use it — moving folders and apps to an external drive works entirely offline.

Storage Studio also has optional storage of its own; that's covered in [its own section of this FAQ](https://storagestudio.us/faq/delta-drive/). See [Cloud accounts](https://storagestudio.us/faq/cloud-accounts/) for connecting the services you already use.