This is a question I am seeing more and more. I was actually asked this very question today in the SharePoint Administration for IT Pro course that I’m running at the moment. I gave my standard answer but upon later reflection on that I found what I think is a much better, if not somewhat simpler answer to use. So here goes.
So above you can see a typical OneDrive for Business location.
and now above is a typical Team Site.
I believe the simplest answer to the differences between OneDrive for Business and a Team Site is clear when you look at the contents of the sites.
OneDrive for Business is mainly for storing personal documents while a Team Site is for collaborating on documents AND other things like calendars, contacts, lists, etc that are required by a group (i.e. team) of people.
Of course both OneDrive for Business and Team Sites can do exactly what the other does by virtue of the fact they are both SharePoint sites. However, I think the above description is the best way to understand the distinction at its most basic.
The general idea is that for a document an individual wants to work on privately or with a limited number of people, they should use OneDrive for Business. If however, they need to work on a project that requires multiple people’s input and requires multiple elements like calendar’s, contacts, lists AS WELL as documents, then a Team Site is a better option.
What makes the positioning hard at the moments is that all OneDrive for Business users get 1,000GB or storage while a Team Site on starts with 10GB. I’m sure that will change very soon but for now it doesn’t help the whole concept of ‘collaboration’ that SharePoint is about. However, I understand that OneDrive for Business and like products are a good way for businesses to start dipping their toes in the cloud.
So, if someone asks you about what they should be using OneDrive for Business versus Team Sites hopefully you can use the above definition as way to help them understand.
CIAOPS 