Box Reviews

Pros

Box has great storage capacity and many useful tools for editing and syncing items. It's a very flexible, scalable tool

Cons

We rely on Box so much that on the few occasions that it has gone down temporarily, we have been stuck until it's come back online. The good news is that this has happened only once or twice in 3+ years.

Alternatives Considered

Google Docs

Reasons for Choosing Box

Cleaner interface, better user experience, more reliable & capable

Switched From

Dropbox Business

Pros

Box is beneficial for managing all of my files; with the correct settings, I can safely share and archive my files with anybody, anywhere. It has a positive effect on all of the salvaged projects. The UI is straightforward to grasp. The ability to form an instantaneous collaborative framework is, without question, tremendously remarkable. The only real problem is the customer service, which needs to be improved in the future. Finding a piece of helpful software is rewarding.

Cons

The program's only real drawback is its unresponsive support; in my experience, getting a proper response takes three to four days.

Pros

I love the Box branding and aesthetic. It's a pleasant backdrop for day-to-day use. They have a lot of features on the enterprise front, and I can see they've put a lot of work into their business model.

Cons

(Note: This relates to Box Sync, which is the version that stores files locally on your device and backs them up on the cloud. This is in contrast to Box Drive, which stores on the network by default.)

There have been at least 2 occasions entire directories have disappeared from my local storage even though I did not delete them on any of my synced devices. In the most recent case, this was >50 GB across thousands of files. I had to figure out how to redownload them, which turned out to be a huge hassle in the online interface. Download size limits at 15 GB (or something on that order) prevented me from downloading the higher level directories all at once. The next best thing was making batch selections of files. This ended up being very nonintuitive and took me a long time to figure out (I had to go to a help board).

Another criticism is that Box Sync (apparently?) will be deprecated in the future. If, like me, you are uncomfortable with network storage as the default, then Box might not be the best choice for you. I understand this is their business model -- and I can't speak for everyone -- but to me the upsides of default network storage seem outweighed by their downsides for typical use cases.

Pros

Box is simple and quick in terms of sharing documentation, requesting signatures, uploading, and editing content. I love how customizable are the signatures as you may just drag the signature, seals, and date of signature options. Also, the storage capacity you get for the free option is very reasonable (10GB). If you desire to have a customized price for your needs, Box also offers other options with good prices.

Cons

When you share a document, your coworkers do not get notified in their Box dashboard. They need to check their emails in order to notice that they got new shared content or signature requests. I'd rather prefer that each of us gets notified in Box, as always as we are logged into our accounts. Also, you may not receive your notifications in your primary inbox, but in "Promotions" or Spam.On the other hand, once you request signatures and you get notified everyone has signed the document, you'll have to create a copy of it for you to sign. I would prefer to sign the original document, instead of Box creating a copy of it, so I can sign it too.

Pros

Super secure and reliable. Definitely a tier-up from Google Drive services when it comes to security.

Cons

Box offers so many different great features that can be a bit overwhelming for the average user. Other than that, it will take time to learn it.

Pros

We used Box for a few years as our knowledge management storage and document / installation files / customer-facing content solution.

Cons

For us there was unfortunately no unique selling point or feature that kept Box on the table when considering the other applications and tools we use as an MSP. We use Office 365 for emails, the Office suite for document creation and editing, Sharepoint for team collaboration, Teams for IM and customer communication and calls, Visio for diagramming, etc. With this investment into Office 365 and having a Business Premium license for all users, there was no reason to keep paying for Box (and other solutions) when an equivalent is 1st Party integrated with our other solutions.

Pros

It's so easy to use- within the organization as well as for external folks. We are able to share what we want, and also keep confidential documents private.

Cons

N/A- I have no issues while using Box on a daily basis.

Pros

For sharing large files and folders, Box is a great option, especially when companies are not already using alternatives like SharePoint or Google Drive.

Cons

It's somewhat expensive compared to other solutions, especially when those other solutions are packaged up with the other software being used by companies already.

Pros

The Sync feature with Box is a great tool to view and access files. It provides an environment to share files real-time with other stakeholders and view the files in a desktop environment. File syncing is very quick and allows collaboration from remote locations.

Cons

The sync feature can occasionally be glitchy causing issues with accessing and sharing files, but I have not experienced this issue frequently.

Pros

Box features a simple and intuitive user interface allowing users to organize and manage their files easily and effectively

Cons

The free storage space is very limited. If you need a lot of storage space, you will need to pay an additional subscription fee

Pros

Uploads and downloads are fast, sharing files or folders is easy, as an editor or viewer, and it is easy to use.

Cons

The Business options are expensive for small businesses since they require you to purchase multiple licenses, not only one. If you get the Individual license you are not GDPR compliant, thus it turns out to be expensive for SMEs.

Alternatives Considered

Dropbox Business and OneDrive

Reasons for Choosing Box

Uploads/Downloads are faster than the Dropbox paid Business Account and you avoid document conflicts you have with Dropbox. BOX is much better in that case.

Switched From

Dropbox Business

Reasons for Switching to Box

OneDrive is connected with my Office 365 subscription and I might lose my documents if I switch account. Dropbox has some document conflicts and uploads are extremely slow with DSL.

Pros

I like the simplicity and good features and the appropriate speed of Box platform, you can easily transfer files from any device to the cloud storage space of the box. I like its speed and security, you will not feel any strangeness with the software. E-Signature make it more secure and Integration with lot of apps is wonderful. The cost and price is very reasonable and economical compared to the many features it provides to the user.‌ Data Loss Protection is great.

Cons

The graphic design of the dashboard should be simpler and more tangible and can be changed to the liking of the admin, Also a feature in the dashboard should be added to display the status of shared files and folders, and the latest status of views and downloads to be clearly and simply visible to the admin.

Alternatives Considered

Hightail and DocSend

Reasons for Choosing Box

We were looking for more features and less cost to store information

Switched From

Dropbox Business, OneDrive, Google Drive, Egnyte, ShareFile and pCloud Business

Reasons for Switching to Box

Having a powerful and secure tool with modern features and at the same time easy to use for storing Documents and data in the cloud with affordable price

Pros

Simple, intuitive, simple to use, and offers data transfer and networking that is extremely secure. Box also provides excellent value for the money.
Although I primarily use Box to store and exchange files online, I have occasionally used its collaborative tools and I absolutely love them. Regarding a document that is being drafted, team members can share thoughts, opinions, and links. Some of these features were progressively added to productivity programs like Office, but you need to use OneDrive to get them (and I don't want to be identified with a particular cloud storage service). Simple, intuitive, simple to use, and offers data transfer and networking that is extremely secure. Box also provides excellent value for the money.
Although I primarily use Box to store and exchange files online, I have occasionally used its collaborative tools and I absolutely love them. Regarding a document that is being drafted, team members can share thoughts, opinions, and links. Some of these features were progressively added to productivity programs like Office, but you need to use OneDrive to get them (and I don't want to be identified with a particular cloud storage service).

Cons

Box offers services that are just as amazing as the things it offers. Sorry but I am not able to find any cons

Pros

The software is very straightforward to use. It's a simple interface. In its most basic form, it's just a place you can upload, download, and share files.

If you are a (slightly) more advanced user, you can set up "Box Sync" so that a folder on your computer automatically syncs with Box. This is awesome to use as an automatic backup!

Cons

There's not much to dislike, but if I had to nitpick, it takes too menu menus and clicks to do things like (1) delete a file, (2) share a file, and (3) sync a file/folder. These are pretty much the only three things that I ever want to do, but they are hidden behind like 3-4 clicks and menu options.

Pros

As a tutor and a researcher, I love being able to upload videos of lesson plans and lectures so that my team and those I am working for are able to look back on what I said. Another thing I love about Box is how you can share multiple files with anyone you want and you are able to view who has downloaded something to maintain privacy and confidentiality. Box is especially useful for big groups of people. Everything is extremely accessible and easy to learn how to use. I recommend Box to my colleagues in research who want a safe way of maintaining confidentiality in research projects.

Cons

I do not have any problems with Box so far and I have been using Box for most of my college experience. I have used it for research, tutoring, and collaboration projects.

Pros

The Box Desktop app actually works to keep files in the cloud until and unless I'm using them, saving precious disk space on users' systems — unlike an unnamed popular competitor. And on the Mac, it works just like an external disk or mounted file share — right on the desktop, in the proper file hierarchy with no proprietary interface to complicate things, or presume how I want to look at my files.

Cons

Tech support can be slow to respond, as its first tier of support is via their forum and email, and I've waited as long as two days to get a response to an issue for a corporate subscription, and it's painfully apparent that the first tier team is reading straight off of cue cards, because they suggest things to try, even when my previous communication states IN DETAIL that I've already done said thing in my own troubleshooting.

Beef up the support staff, pay better attention to what a customer has already said in their communications, and escalate things to engineering quicker, and they will remedy the one, glaring shortcoming in their service.

Alternatives Considered

Dropbox Business

Reasons for Choosing Box

In order to make file services fully remote accessible, and avoid issues that DropBox caused, including the disconnect between local resources and cloud resources.

Reasons for Switching to Box

DropBox sync doesn't work reliably, and the cloud only option often breaks and fills up a computer's storage. in addition, DropBox gets in the way of a MacOS Finder interface to splash their own, proprietary interface that attempts to predict what I want to look at. I want to look at a folder tree, in the windows my own computer provides. Box Desktop gives me that.

Pros

Ease of use. It is simple, whatever is in your Box Drive folder is what is on Box. It is very easy to share files with others. Files are safe, and I would recommend them to anyone.

Cons

Some users have to use a secure DAV connection, and Box severely throttles DAV connections. Moving files around using this takes a lot of time, BUT it does work for now.

Alternatives Considered

Dropbox Business

Reasons for Choosing Box

Dropped Google Apps for Business

Switched From

Google Drive

Reasons for Switching to Box

Dropbox is a security nightmare. Used Box before, and so we moved back to them.

Pros

Before trying Box.com I tried both market leaders...

Google Drive was cheap but horrendously buggy, when you’re logged into multiple gmail accounts it gets horribly confused and won’t let you access/edit/download your own files. I found workarounds for this like using an Incognito window or Firefox to access my files but it felt clunky and buggy.

Dropbox didn’t have any of those issues, it was perfect but for a business plan for multiple staff members they charge crazy prices. Way too expensive.

Box.com had none of the issues of Google drive, all of the functionality of Dropbox and charged a very reasonable price for it. Best of both worlds and in my opinion they should be the market leader.

Cons

Nothing. Literally have zero issues with it. After using their competitors box.com is a breath of fresh air in every sense.

Pros

Of all the amazing features Box offers, real time synchronization has been one of the most critical ones that have allowed me and my team to maintain optimal productivity during this forced period of remote work. Ease of file sharing, and access control management come in as close second favorite benefits of Box.

Cons

We usually have to open files of interest to confirm they are the right ones. And with images or other forms of visual files, where proper file naming is typically not observed, a preview panel might come in handy

Pros

Box allows users to upload all kinds of files of different formats (documents, images, video, drawing packages, zipped folders etc.) to its webpage (or app on phone/tablet) with ease. These uploaded documents can be shared with relevant team members, while also keeping them private from others where necessary. Shareable with the help of the link, Box files are easy to update, one can either edit in the browser itself or download to do the same. It is easy to track the activity of users, like who has viewed, downloaded and edited the files. This is a great tool when collaborating with colleagues through the web as all changes in a particular document/content are updated in real time and everybody working on that project can track changes and updates.
I consider Box to be a reliable, simplified and secure software that I am able to utilize abundantly on a daily basis with my team. It is accessible anywhere and everywhere with a stable internet connection. One can simply drag and drop files and folders to Box and it will get uploaded instantly. This works wonders when you are out of office (for example, site or travelling) and your team needs to access the documents you've been working on or vice versa.
Also, it is possible to have Box sync (as a standalone app) set up on your computer and aids easy syncing without the need to log in every time.

Cons

When compared to its competitors (Google Drive/OneDrive), Box does look a bit unappealing owing to its price tag. It offers four plans, the most inexpensive one being Standard (for personal use I presume), followed by Business, Business Plus and Enterprise. Small and medium-sized firms can make do with the average priced Business and Business Plus offerings. However, I don't think that I would invest in it if for my personal use.
Secondly, for files such as .dwg and .rar do not open as a preview and have to be downloaded for viewing. This poses a problem for me as I have to review large drawing packages and downloading them just for review is quite a hassle. Would love if these little aspects are fixed for the upcoming updates.

Pros

1. I use the Box Sync feature on a daily basis on my MacBook. Box Sync allows uers to sync folders/files from Box Cloud to your finder so it feels like your just working from finder but it's being backed up the cloud! It's a simple and convenient way for me to access and organize our box files using finder. Our company has a lot of folder/files so I just sync the folders I use the most and I have quick access to my files. Box cloud also has a Box Drive feature which is similar but has one downside which I mention in the Cons section.
2. With Box Sync it's easy to know when your files have been sync to the box cloud with the file icons.
3. Sharing files to internal or external users is simple. Sharing files include a lot of features based on the security levels you want.
4. Another great feature is that it integrates our DocuSign software (e-signatures). I can easily get files signed electronically through Box and not have to log into our DocuSign software. A very convenient feature as I have to get a lot of files signed electronically on a daily basis.
5. Lastly, we basically have unlimited storage!

Cons

1. One con about Box Sync is that it doesn't seamlessly sync files in finder as Box Drive does. There is a slight delay, sometimes a minute or two to sync to the cloud. However, I have to rename a lot of files and I can't just select a file and click "enter/return" on my MacBook to rename files with Box Drive. So I've stuck with box sync for now. But it would be nice if Box Drive would let me rename files easily.
2. I noticed is sometimes when you preview a file it sometimes takes time to load. It's sometimes faster just to open the file to view it which doesn't make sense when a preview should be faster.
3. I noticed is that the name length view is fixed when viewing on the box cloud. Therefore if you have a lot of files in a folder with the same name but different ending, you see all the files with the same name because the end of the filename is truncated. So you aren't easily able to see a specific file other than clicking one the files. At least have a feature where you hover your mouse over the file and it displays the full name of the file or something. It shouldn't require extra clicking just to find your files.
4. It does have a max file size of 5GB

Pros

1. Sharing files is simple, no matter who you want to share with and no matter from what device. You can share a document with someone inside or outside of the organization without giving up control of the document. No need for someone outside of the organization to upload any software in order to access the shared document.
2. As an HR professional I find Box to be a great tool for collaborating with hiring managers. I set up a system for resume sorting that allows hiring managers to see just those resumes selected for their review, and allows the manager to move the candidates ahead in the hiring process, or not, as desired. I can then take action based on their actions in Box. It's very efficient. As a small business we do not need expensive, extensive stand-alone software for applicant tracking. Box allows us to record our decision making process
3. Largely intuitive, but in case you need a bit of help, the webinars and how-to videos are very easy to follow.
4. I can access, read and send documents from my phone. Very helpful for those moments at the beach when you realize you forgot to send a document to your boss. It's happened.

Cons

1. I work mostly from an old Mac. I find some of the interface less smooth than from my PC. For example, when I create a Word doc within Box while using my Mac, the Mac defaults to Text Edit instead of Word. I suspect that's user error, though.

Pros

I like that this software just works without a bunch of hassle. I also like that box is not, to my knowledge, google or microsoft. No need to have either of them snooping through my files. At the time I switched from dropbox, I was very happy that box wasn't dropbox. I think Box used to have faster pipes than Sync but am not so sure anymore.

Cons

I think that Sync.com has a better product for my day-to-day. All I really want is secure storage and for all my computers to sync up certain directories. I don't want to ever doubt that every file is synced onto every computer. I left dropbox because their smartsync made me wonder if I was getting what I wanted. I think Sync is the company that is most focused on giving me exactly what I want. Box is OK, but they aren't focused on the precise thing I'm after. That makes me worry that they are going to go the dropbox route and try to some "smart" thing that makes them useless to me. Also, there was the box hacker exploit discovered in 2019. I think that's when I moved important stuff to Sync.

Pros

1. User-Friendly Interface: Many users appreciate the easy-to-use and intuitive interface of Box software. It makes it simple to upload and organize files, create folders, and share files with others.2. Collaboration Tools: The collaboration tools provided by Box software make it easier for users to work on files in real time. Users can leave comments, edit files, and work on projects with team members without worrying about version control or conflicts.3. Integrations with Other Tools: Box software seamlessly integrates with other tools like Google Drive, Salesforce, and Microsoft Office, which is helpful for users who use those tools regularly. This allows users to work more efficiently and streamline their workflow.

Cons

1. Limited free storage: The free version of Box only offers 10GB of storage, which might not be enough for some users. The pricing plans for additional storage can also be a bit pricey compared to other cloud storage options.2. No file syncing: Unlike other cloud storage solutions, Box does not have a native syncing feature. This means that files must be manually uploaded or downloaded each time, which can be time-consuming.3. Steep learning curve: While the interface is intuitive, some users may find the advanced features and customization options a bit complex to navigate at first. It may take some time to get used to the software's full capabilities.

Pros

There are many things to love about Box. For one, its Business plans come with unlimited storage! We started out with Free just to try it, then moved to Starter then Business (as we needed more than 10 users on board). It's worth it esp for small to medium-sized businesses looking for a secure place for storage with tons of extra features for both admin and security.

The 5GB upload is enough for the big multimedia and other iso/archive files we have.

For our admin, the integration with our Active Directory saved us from having to require our users to create/maintain an extra account (user/password) for Box. We are also proud to announce to our team about its security features like SSL, encryption, and even two-factor authentication for the meticulous.
Although​ we haven't had the need for the DLP (Data Loss Prevention) that Box advertises, we are happy that this is part of our subscription and gives a little extra boost of confidence with our files.

The corporate logo can also be incorporated into the platform to make it personalized according to your company's branding scheme.

Box also offers a ton of possible integrations. So far what we use are integrations with Google Suite (e.g., docs), Salesforce (CRM), and MS Office 365. This makes it easy for users​ to create content is our usual platforms and then easily save and manage them in Box.

Cons

We have quite a number of staff who already use other online storage platforms (Dropbox, Google Drive). Note that Non-Box users can only access files as Read-Only... in which case our people really had to be forced to create an account for edit purposes and collaboration.