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Box vs Dropbox comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 27, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Box
Ranking in Cloud Storage
13th
Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Content Management (8th), Digital Asset Management (3rd), Document Management Software (4th)
Dropbox
Ranking in Cloud Storage
5th
Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Cloud Storage category, the mindshare of Box is 3.9%, down from 4.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dropbox is 4.9%, down from 6.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Storage
 

Q&A Highlights

AS
Jul 09, 2014
 

Featured Reviews

Shrikant Pillay - PeerSpot reviewer
Allows you to upload and download files quickly but lacks integration with Office 365
For enterprise users, the data is in a local repository. We use it for files for the end user process. This is a cloud solution. In my current organization, we have over 10,000 people using this solution. I use it very extensively. Users these days are working remotely You can upload your bin,…
Edgar  Paez - PeerSpot reviewer
Work from anywhere and backup easily while being practical
I recommend Dropbox, yet not for all of the features it has. I am a basic user. In a personal mode, we have about 100 employees, and maybe 20 of them use Dropbox as a personal backup system. ShareFile is more secure than Dropbox. Five years ago, ShareFile was qualified as having better security control, access privilege management, and version control recovery, among many features that we were using for private documentation. Overall, I would rate Dropbox an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Sharing and collaborating across files and folders has been a massive game changer."
"The system's performance is impressive, and file sharing is notably straightforward."
"Box is very realistic when it comes to sharing capabilities."
"The sharing feature, with its various permission settings, such as viewing or uploading, is convenient and helpful."
"It is a very user-friendly product."
"Box is extremely stable, they have not been hacked or lost any data in the past seventeen years. I am very impressed with it."
"It is really easy to load files to and from this solution."
"Simple file sharing and sync for internal and external customers."
"The solution provides great performance."
"The user interface is very user-friendly."
"We haven't had any issues at all with the solution."
"I use the product to open files."
"What I like most about Dropbox is that it's very, very easy to use. It's also easy to share files through it."
"The various methods for accessing files, such as through mobile apps, online synchronization, and on a PC, are highly valuable."
"The most valuable features I have found to be accessibility and ease of use."
"The initial setup is extremely easy."
 

Cons

"The integration with other products should be improved."
"With OneDrive, you can continuously save your files over a Box folder. That is something I wish we could have."
"Maturity of the enterprise security around user management."
"Better integration with other solutions is needed."
"The UI should be faster. Sometimes it lags when switching between documents."
"In future releases, there could be encryption, to have better security."
"The price must be lowered."
"The search features and role permissions are not very user friendly. It only searches the first few pages of a document, which is quite a problem."
"The solution could be more scalable."
"It could be more secure."
"I find it a little hard to organize my Dropbox folders on my mobile device."
"They should archive the data."
"The product could always offer more storage."
"Dropbox could improve by increasing its storage."
"The only thing I have had trouble with is the ability to share files. The recipients of my requests have had difficulty accessing the files."
"Dropbox could probably be improved around the integrated security, but those options are probably available. I don't have much of a view on improvements, based on the relatively few occasions that I use it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive per head, as you need the enterprise license to get full security and tools. So negotiate a discount!"
"A business account has a minimum of three users. If you are more than three people in-house, go for the Enterprise version. All the external users are free of charge."
"The pricing may seem steep at first, but delve into the features and you'll soon realize it is incredible value for what you get."
"I believe Box is cheaper than SharePoint."
"We are using the free version of the solution. There is a free version and monthly and yearly subscriptions available."
"They are very price competitive when pushed. Initially, they come out with a standard list price, but they are willing to be very competitive. The Box price was pretty much equal to or lower than the Citrix price, and Box has more features."
"Box's pricing is excellent."
"Our pricing and licensing is excellent. I'd tell all Higher Ed customers to talk with Internet2 for excellent pricing and support."
"The pricing varies depending on the version, and the one we currently utilize is the business version."
"I don't pay any licensing costs."
"The pricing for non-corporations is expensive. They have raised their prices and have low storage capacity."
"I use the free version of the solution."
"The amount of free space they provide is sufficient for me. However, if you want more space I don't believe is very expensive."
"The product is free up to a certain limit."
"There is a subscription-based pricing model and I pay monthly."
"While the pricing is comparable, especially for users of Microsoft Office 365, the value proposition might not be as competitive for those seeking primarily storage options."
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Answers from the Community

AS
Jul 9, 2014
Jul 9, 2014
Just an FYI...I found out this week that Microsoft with their OneDrive solution will be also encrypting files in storage and in transit, and if you have your email already in the cloud with Microsoft O365 you can get enormous amounts of data per user in each person's OneDrive...I probably can't say how much, but let's just say it's WAY more storage per user than you get with Box or Dropbox. I'...
2 out of 4 answers
it_user120363 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jun 17, 2014
If you’ve ever been frustrated by the desire to share your text files with a friend or business colleague, these two products will be a great boon. Both are free too. Both allow you to invite people to either view your files, or to share the editing. A great idea if you want to co-write a report for example. Both allow you to download the file, edit it, and then load it back up again. Or to edit offline on your PC using the synch option. Box (formerly box.net) key features: · Free storage – 10gb · File size limit – 250mb (free version) · Main users – business · Good online help · Works by you uploading files and folders, which you can then share. These can be synched with boxsynch – similar to Dropbox. Also free. · Secure storage · Not as intuitive to use (more like Google docs), due to endless security options · Great for more robust business usage · Looks very flash · Has a business version · Not so widely used (30m users) · Access from most phones, ipads, PCs and Macs. Dropbox key features · Free storage – 2GB (introduce your friends and this goes up) · File size limit – no limit · Main users – everyone · Little online help · Works by synchronising to a folder on your PC · Intuitive to use · A doddle to set up · Looks less flashy than Box, but improving · Secure storage (it is now!) · Great for simple file sharing · Has a business version · Very widely used (300m users) · Access from most phones, ipads, Kindle, Linux, PCs and Macs. If I were choosing now, I would almost certainly pick Box to work with, unless I wanted to share really large files (I don’t) or to run on Linux or a Kindle (don’t want to do this either). If all you want is a simple tool to share a few files, then I’d choose Dropbox. I’ve been using cloud based storage for many years now, but the earlier versions of Box, when it was Box.net, put me off, as they were flaky and cumbersome to use. Dropbox stole their thunder, made it really simple and hundreds of millions of users now use it. Both companies are working fast to capture users, especially business users. So watch this space, and watch Google docs too. Thank you, Jacqui
ED
Jun 17, 2014
The biggest difference we saw when we looked at Box a few years ago was that Box encrypted stored files both in transit and at rest in storage. This is a deal breaker for most enterprises because most enterprise policies won't allow public storage (outside company data center) of employee or customer data without it being encrypted in order to protect that information. In addition to better security, box had much better administrator tools than dropbox at the time. More granular control, better tools for the security team to enforce policies, etc. As far as I know, this hasn't changed in the last few years. Box is the only player really putting forth the effort to offer a secure cloud storage platform that has the ease of use of consumer solutions, but secured for the enterprise. Microsoft doesn't have it. Dropbox doesn't have it. I'm not aware of anyone else focusing on this niche of the marketplace.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
49%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
5%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Educational Organization
68%
Computer Software Company
4%
Financial Services Firm
3%
University
3%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Box?
The solution is used for data storage and any kind of visualization.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Box?
I was not involved in discussions about paying for Box, so I cannot provide specifics about pricing.
What needs improvement with Box?
Collaborative editing was challenging if multiple people were in a document at once. The installation procedure was tricky but manageable with provided guidance and steps.
What do you like most about Dropbox?
For me, the biggest thing is version history. I can easily go back and view older versions.
What needs improvement with Dropbox?
One area of improvement would be to allow multiple users to edit a file simultaneously and see edits in real time, similar to OneDrive. In Dropbox, once a file is opened on one system, it locks the...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

GE, Toyota, P&G, Caterpillar, Flex, Schneider Electric, Sally Beauty, Eurostar, AstraZeneca, AirBnB, Whirlpool, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Nationwide, Aeropostale etc
Vita Coco, BCBGMAXAZRIA Group, Centric Project, Kayak, FourSquare, Asana, Huge Adversting , USA Gymnastics, Appen, Valliant, Radio Lab
Find out what your peers are saying about Box vs. Dropbox and other solutions. Updated: May 2025.
851,491 professionals have used our research since 2012.