Zoho WorkDrive Review, Pricing & Features

What is Zoho WorkDrive?

Zoho WorkDrive is an affordable document management system used by a wide range of businesses to create and store their company’s files and maximize workflow efficiency. Its standout points are its affordability, document creation tools, and workflow automation.

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Table of Contents

• What is Zoho WorkDrive?
• Zoho WorkDrive Review Summary
• Zoho WorkDrive Pricing & Cost
• Zoho WorkDrive Features
  • Admin Console
  • Cloud Storage
  • File Management
  • Collaboration
  • Workflow Automation
• Zoho WorkDrive Integrations
• Zoho WorkDrive Customer Service
• Zoho WorkDrive Alternatives & Competitors
• Is Zoho WorkDrive Right For You?

Zoho WorkDrive Review Summary

Zoho was founded in 1996 by Sridhar Vembu, Tony Thomas, and Sreenivas Kanumuru. Zoho WorkDrive was created afterwards to bring businesses a suite of content creation, document storage, and collaboration tools. Since then, Zoho WorkDrive has served a wide range of businesses from its headquarters in Chennai, India.

Zoho WorkDrive’s features are more robust than standard document management tools such as Dropbox Business and Box. Its strongest features include its document creation capabilities and workflow automation.

Zoho WorkDrive’s pricing starts at $3 per month per user. It is one of the more affordable solutions on the market today. It is more affordable than both of its closest alternatives, Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.

Overall, Zoho WorkDrive is an affordable and powerful document management solution used by a wide range of businesses. Zoho WorkDrive’s suite of tools help your business manage your documents and team. We highly recommend Zoho WorkDrive for any business that prefers Zoho over Microsoft and Google and prioritizes affordability in its document management software.

Zoho WorkDrive Pricing & Cost

Zoho WorkDrive pricing starts at $3 per month per user. It is one of the more affordable document management solutions. More expensive plans come with additional file upload and team storage limits.

Zoho WorkDrive Features

Let’s discuss the major features that Zoho WorkDrive offers and how they can help your document management needs. Product screenshots are included to add context and demonstrate the user interface.

Admin Console

Zoho WorkDrive’s admin console is user-friendly and accessible for businesses new to document management. This means that you can easily set advanced settings for your team management, permissions, and security.

Dashboard

Zoho WorkDrive’s team member dashboard is standard in design and comes with helpful team management features.

You can sort your members by their account status, name, and storage used.

Unfortunately, you cannot create user templates to automatically assign licenses, profile information, and permissions to your users. This is a hindrance to your workflow, especially if you’re planning for users to have access to the same licenses or permissions.

Permissions

Setting permissions in Zoho WorkDrive is easy to do. The process is similar to Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 in that you assign specific roles to users.

As you can see, you can assign the following roles to users:

These roles all come with respective top-level permissions. If you want to set specific permissions for any of the files you create and store in Zoho WorkDrive, you can do so by accessing those files directly.

Security

Setting up your company’s security in Zoho WorkDrive is streamlined. Note that you have to verify your domain before you can adjust any settings.

You can adjust standard security settings such as password policies, two-factor authentication, allowed IPs, and active directory. These settings can all be set in Zoho WorkDrive’s starting plan. This will be particularly helpful for businesses who prioritize both security and affordability.

Cloud Storage

Cloud storage functionality is powerful in Zoho WorkDrive if you are using Zoho’s proprietary file creation applications. Offline access is easy to set up and version history is very strong. Additionally, files can be recovered after 90 days of deletion. Overall, this means that your company has ample flexibility when it comes to storing, editing, and recovering your files.

Offline Access

Offline file access in Zoho WorkDrive is simple to set up. However, you can only enable offline access if you download WorkDrive’s desktop application. Contrast this with Google Workspace, which allows you to enable offline access through your browser.

You can access and sync files on the following devices:

File Recovery

Zoho WorkDrive applications can be recovered 90 days after deletion. Only team administrators and organizers can restore files. Although 90 days is a flexible cutoff period, alternatives like Dropbox Business and Box can respectively recover files after 180 days or with no cutoff date at all.

File version histories in Zoho WorkDrive are up to par with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. Below is an example of version history in Zoho Writer.

Document Version Control

Version histories across Zoho WorkDrive applications have the same format. You can see and sort through direct changes that were made in each version. One unique advantage of Zoho WorkDrive’s version history over alternatives is the ability to compare any two versions of a file instead of just the last modified version.

Version control for files that are not created with Zoho’s document creation tools are more similar to Dropbox Business and Box. They are not as detailed and exact changes cannot be seen. This means that you should consider using Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 if you’re already creating files with their respective content creation suites.

File Management

Zoho WorkDrive’s file management is feature rich due to its file creation suite. Organizing files, however, is not as streamlined as alternatives like Dropbox Business.

Document Creation

You can create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations in Zoho WorkDrive using Zoho Writer, Sheet, and Show. All of these creators are feature rich and directly integrated with every other Zoho WorkDrive application.

The ultimate factor in your company using WorkDrive’s document creators over Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 is whether you prefer Zoho over Google or Microsoft.

Document Organization

Organizing documents in Zoho WorkDrive is standard. Organization is slightly weaker than Dropbox Business.

Folders in Zoho WorkDrive are hierarchically organized. If you are moving or uploading files, you cannot view subfolders through dropdown menus. This contrasts with Dropbox Business, which has a more streamlined method of document organization. WorkDrive’s system will most likely hinder you if your business has a high volume of files.

Collaboration

Collaboration features in Zoho WorkDrive are adequate. The main ways to facilitate collaboration in WorkDrive are through Zoho’s document creators and its dedicated collaboration hub: Zoho Cliq. These tools serve as effective ways for your business to coordinate on projects and deadlines.

Document Creators

You can create, edit, and comment on documents in Zoho WorkDrive in real time with anyone you invite to your file. This workflow is similar to Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.

You can create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. We found that these creators are on par with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. The deciding factor for which software you choose is whether you and your team prefer Zoho over Google or Microsoft products.

Zoho Cliq

Zoho Cliq is Zoho’s alternative to Slack. It is a powerful hub of communication for your team but not as strong as Microsoft Teams.

You can chat with teammates through the conversations panel or through video. Unlike Microsoft Teams, you cannot directly create and store content in your Cliq. Ultimately, like many other features in Zoho WorkDrive, the main factor behind choosing Zoho Cliq over Microsoft Teams depends on which platform you prefer.

Comments

You can make comments on Zoho WorkDrive’s three primary document editors: Writer, Sheet, and Show. Commenting is straightforward but cannot be accomplished with files directly uploaded to WorkDrive.

As you can see above, you can highlight direct text you want to comment on. However, you cannot directly comment on files shared in WorkDrive. This means that if you upload a PDF file to your team’s drive, anyone who wants to comment must first open the file in Show to do so. This workflow is limiting and more efficient in alternatives like Box.

File Sharing

You can share any number of files in WorkDrive. Note that the individual size limit for sharing files depends on your plan.

You can generate links through WorkDrive that you can share with teammates or people outside of your organization. WorkDrive does not come with a dedicated landing page for your shared files like Dropbox Business. This means that companies who want to communicate their branding to clients will find Dropbox Business more valuable.

Electronic Signatures

Zoho WorkDrive offers native integrations with Docusign, SignEasy, and Adobe Sign so you can attach electronic signatures to your documents.

All of these applications are directly accessible through any document in Zoho Writer. Zoho additionally offers its own e-signature application: Zoho Sign. Note that you have to purchase individual plans for whichever software you’re using.

Workflow Automation

Workflow automations are rules you can set to automate repetitive tasks for your team. Some examples in document management software include automatically sending new hires onboarding documents or sending alerts when a user’s password changes.

Workflow automation in Zoho WorkDrive is very strong but must be purchased in addition to your WorkDrive plan.

Workflow automations are primarily run through Zoho Flow. Each automated workflow you create can be visualized in a flowchart like in Microsoft 365.

As you can see above, you create automated workflows using conditions and “if-then” statements. Zoho Flow is integrated with all of Zoho’s applications for further flexibility.

You are also provided templates in Zoho Flow. Here are some helpful workflow automation templates your business can leverage:

Zoho WorkDrive Integrations

Zoho WorkDrive offers a number of integrations outside of Zoho’s own applications. Here are some popular integrations Zoho WorkDrive supports:

Zoho WorkDrive Customer Service

Zoho WorkDrive’s customer support team is attentive and quick to respond. They are reachable through phone, email, and live chat. They are available 24 hours a day, from Monday to Friday.

Zoho WorkDrive’s most helpful secondary resource is its Knowledge Base. This is the official page dedicated to troubleshooting solutions and learning about WorkDrive tips.

Zoho WorkDrive Alternatives & Competitors

Zoho WorkDrive has a number of competitors on the market today. Its most comparable alternatives are Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.

Here’s a full list of Zoho WorkDrive competitors:

Is Zoho WorkDrive Right For You?

Overall, Zoho WorkDrive is an affordable and powerful document management solution used by a wide range of businesses. Zoho WorkDrive’s suite of tools help your business manage your documents and team. We highly recommend Zoho WorkDrive for any business that prefers Zoho over Microsoft and Google and prioritizes affordability in its document management software.

If you're interested, you can try Zoho WorkDrive today.