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Box vs Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 1, 2026

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 Document Management Software
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Content Management (10th), Cloud Storage (11th), Digital Asset Management (5th), Content Collaboration Platforms (8th)
Microsoft Purview Data Life...
Ranking in Document Management Software
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.2
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (8th), Data Governance (26th), Microsoft Security Suite (29th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Document Management Software category, the mindshare of Box is 5.2%, down from 7.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management is 5.5%, down from 14.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Document Management Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management5.5%
Box5.2%
Other89.3%
Document Management Software
 

Featured Reviews

Chirag Morajkar - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Ai Tech And Tech Automation Engineer at a individual & family service with 11-50 employees
Structured cloud storage has streamlined document collaboration and automated workflows
The biggest friction point I have encountered with Box is mainly the pricing part; I think five dollars for this platform is not necessarily justified. While I have used it for integrating and using it as a cloud platform, I have not encountered any significant negative aspects. A few times, I might have faced performance issues, but I am uncertain whether that was due to the automation platform or Box itself. Overall, the only thing I could mention is that it can take a little time to understand how the integration works with Box; setup and figuring out what can and cannot be done might take some time, but other than that, I do not think anything else bothered me. One thing I would want Box to introduce to improve the platform and make it stand out even more would be incorporating AI. For example, the only way to identify documents shared in Box currently is by their names, and if those names are not precise, I can get confused. If Box had an AI feature to summarize and identify documents based on their contents, it would significantly enhance usability. AI is essential for making work easier, so that would be an excellent addition to the platform.
ST
Ict Systems Manager at Lltnpa
Automated retention has transformed compliance workflows and now simplifies audit responses
The deep native integration with Microsoft 365 is what ultimately made me decide on Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management over Enterprise Vault and OpenText Content Manager. Auto-apply retention labels using machine learning is the specific integration with Microsoft 365 that made it the deciding factor for me over Enterprise Vault or OpenText. Manually labeling content at our data volumes is not realistic. The automated classification based on sensitive information types and trainable classifiers is what makes the program actually scale. That feature gets used constantly. We went from inconsistent ad-hoc retention practices to a consistent, automated, documented program across the whole organization with Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management. That shift from a compliance audit perspective is enormous.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We use Box for collaboration with files or folders, and our use is mostly for collaboration, especially on the documentation."
"Box's automation capabilities have helped optimize my business processes by saving time for sharing or sending files between the team."
"I like the ease of use."
"Box is very simple and effective, so I prefer Box."
"They're the most compliant company we've ever encountered."
"The application is very light in terms of uploading and downloading files."
"Using Box for cloud storage allows us to focus on the service and maintaining infrastructure."
"We can provide controlled access to documents using the product."
"The system is stable; I haven't encountered any worldwide stability issues unlike other office products."
"We went from inconsistent ad-hoc retention practices to a consistent, automated, documented program across the whole organization with Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management."
"The impact of Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management on my unified data catalog has improved a lot; the improvements I see are in the lineage, the discovery, and the labeling."
"The UI is the most valuable feature."
"HPE Apollo Systems has positively impacted our organization by improving business operations by eighty percent, saving time, improving efficiency, and facilitating the management of large data sets."
 

Cons

"If there was a plugin that added some sort of toolbar in Office, that would be great."
"The integration with other products should be improved."
"I recommend doing the trial first, because it's not cheap ware. It's not overly expensive, but it's not cheap ware, and enterprise has a minimum number of users."
"Search function remove layers."
"I don't like the low level of role-based security it provides – it's very cumbersome, and the support is ordinary at times."
"The waterfall methodology for folders does not allow for privatization of folders at the root level, which sometimes may be necessary."
"Box is extremely user friendly, however our clients have been having a hard time adjusting and understanding Box."
"Box Sync is still a bit buggy and it is difficult to get used to not being able to organize your view of folders as it is determined by the owner of the folder."
"The time it takes to scan is one issue; when we raise high-volume issues and tickets related to scanning failures, it relates to permission errors, which are technical challenges."
"I think labeling could use a lot more AI assistance. AI implementation into labeling would be beneficial."
"There is no specific improvement I would suggest for Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management, but I think if they can work on policy design and usability, adding more granular control for the organization regarding controlling the movement of data outside would definitely improve the solution."
"The initial setup took longer than we expected. Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management is not a turn-it-on-and-go product."
"Microsoft's Purview Data Lifecycle Management preview features can be unreliable, hindering their usefulness."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our pricing and licensing is excellent. I'd tell all Higher Ed customers to talk with Internet2 for excellent pricing and support."
"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."
"It is expensive per head, as you need the enterprise license to get full security and tools. So negotiate a discount!"
"I have to pay for Box. It could be a little cheaper. On a scale from one to ten, I would give the pricing a five."
"The more you dig, the deeper the level of tools, and the more expensive it becomes."
"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."
"I believe Box is cheaper than SharePoint."
"Box needs to improve with their pricing in terms of licensing costs."
"The service operates on a pay-as-you-go basis, charging an extra one cent per field of metadata scanned in our data."
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900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise30
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Box?
I found the pricing reasonable because when I was working for an IBM partner, Box was free for us. We did not go to payment and other matters like this.
What needs improvement with Box?
The biggest friction point I have encountered with Box is mainly the pricing part; I think five dollars for this platform is not necessarily justified. While I have used it for integrating and usin...
What is your primary use case for Box?
My main use case for Box is storing cloud content on its cloud and managing it as a collaborating platform so that I can store secure files and share through Box. I use it for document management a...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management?
We opted for Purview Data Lifecycle Management due to its significant cost advantage over competitors. At a 95 percent price reduction, it was a clear winner. The service operates on a pay-as-you-g...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management?
Better coverage outside Microsoft 365 is a feature I wish Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management had that it does not offer today. If I could change one thing about Microsoft Purview Data Life...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management?
Automating retention and deletion across our Microsoft 365 environment is my main use case for Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management. At Microsoft scale, Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, and T...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Microsoft Information Governance, Microsoft Purview Records Management
 

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
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Box vs. Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.