# Publidock vs Google Drive and Dropbox

Google Drive and Dropbox share files, but no longer show HTML as a web page. Publidock opens HTML, Markdown, CSV and folders as pages at a link, with company sign-in, comments and versions.

Source: https://publidock.com/compare/google-drive

## In short

Google Drive and Dropbox are good homes for documents, and both share a PDF or an image well. Neither shows an HTML file as a web page any more: Google Drive stopped hosting web pages on 31 August 2016, and Dropbox shared links do not render HTML. Publidock opens what your AI made as a working page, interactive charts and all, at a link only the right people can open.

## Side by side

| What | Publidock | Google Drive and Dropbox |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Opens an HTML file as a working page | Yes, scripts and charts included | No: Drive ended web hosting in 2016; Dropbox links do not render HTML |
| A folder of pages with working links between them | Yes, relative paths are kept | No |
| Markdown and CSV | Markdown renders as a page; CSV opens as a sortable sheet | Shown as files |
| Only people at your company | Team and up | Yes, with your Google Workspace or Dropbox sharing settings |
| Comments on the page | Pinned to the spot in the page | On documents and files, not inside an HTML page |
| Update without sending a new link | Yes, versions at one address | Yes, file version history |

## When Google Drive and Dropbox is the better choice

- The work is a document, a spreadsheet, a PDF or an image.
- You want it next to the rest of your company’s files.

## When Publidock is the better choice

- The work is an HTML dashboard, report or prototype that has to run in the browser.
- You want people to click through it, not download it.

## Sources

What this page says about Google Drive and Dropbox was last checked on 2026-10-26, against these pages.

- [Google Workspace Updates: Reminder, turn down of Google Drive web hosting (July 2016)](https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2016/07/reminder-turn-down-of-google-drive-web.html)
- [Dropbox Help Center: How to force a shared link to download or render](https://help.dropbox.com/share/force-download)

## Guides

- [How to share an HTML file with someone](https://publidock.com/blog/how-to-share-an-html-file/index.md)
- [How to share HTML reports with your team](https://publidock.com/blog/share-html-reports-with-your-team/index.md)

## Why does my HTML file download instead of opening from Google Drive?

Google Drive stopped serving web pages in 2016, so an HTML file shows as a file preview or a download. Publidock serves it as a page at its own address.

## Should we move our documents to Publidock?

No. Keep documents and spreadsheets where they are. Publidock is for the things that need to run in a browser: dashboards, reports, prototypes and AI-made pages.