Box vs. ownCloud

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Box
Score 7.1 out of 10
N/A
Box is an online Intelligent Content Management solution that caters to individual users as well as businesses.
$7
per month per user (3 minimum)
ownCloud
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
ownCloud is a self-hosted open source file syncing and sharing option, from the Boston-based company of the same name.
$5
per month
Pricing
BoxownCloud
Editions & Modules
Business Starter
$7
per month per user (3 minimum)
Business
$20
per month per user (3 minimum)
Business Plus
$33
per month per user (3 minimum)
Enterprise
$47
per month per user (3 minimum)
Enterprise Plus
$50
per month (billed annually) per user (3 minimum)
Enterprise Advanced
Contact us
per month per user (35 minimum)
Standard
$5
per month
Enterprise
$12
per month
For Teams
$13
per month
For Single Users
$15
per month
Community
Free
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BoxownCloud
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsA discount is available for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BoxownCloud
Features
BoxownCloud
Enterprise Content Management
Comparison of Enterprise Content Management features of Product A and Product B
Box
6.1
Ratings
26% below category average
ownCloud
-
Ratings
Content capture & imaging8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
File sync, storage & archiving9.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Document management6.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Records management5.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Content search & retrieval7.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Enterprise content collaboration8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Content publishing & creation5.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Security, risk management & information governance6.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Contract lifecycle management5.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated workflows5.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Artificial intelligence2.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile support3.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
Box
-
Ratings
ownCloud
8.5
Ratings
1% above category average
Versioning00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Video files00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Audio files00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Document collaboration00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Access control00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
File search00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Device sync00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Cloud Storage Security & Administration
Comparison of Cloud Storage Security & Administration features of Product A and Product B
Box
-
Ratings
ownCloud
8.5
Ratings
2% below category average
User and role management00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
File organization00 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Device management00 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Cloud Storage Platform
Comparison of Cloud Storage Platform features of Product A and Product B
Box
-
Ratings
ownCloud
8.8
Ratings
3% above category average
Performance00 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Reliability00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Storage Reports00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BoxownCloud
Small Businesses
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.5 out of 10
SugarSync
SugarSync
Score 5.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
MediaValet
MediaValet
Score 9.1 out of 10
Druva Security Cloud
Druva Security Cloud
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
MediaValet
MediaValet
Score 9.1 out of 10
Druva Security Cloud
Druva Security Cloud
Score 9.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BoxownCloud
Likelihood to Recommend
6.7
(0 ratings)
7.8
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
6.7
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.5
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BoxownCloud
Likelihood to Recommend
Very likely to use it. It gives you the comfort that all the files are being stored in [the] same places from different team members. It is easy to organize in folders and also very useful by adding time stamps. [With] an easy setup u can have and box extension installed on your laptop and use it directly. So you can sync files easily.
Read full review
OwnCloud/Nextcloud is a great application for cloud storage of files, and makes sharing specific files or folders easy and fast. It also makes a great tool for real-time collaboration, including real-time chat and simultaneous editing of documents or spreadsheets. I have used ownCloud to assist clients in sending large files that could not be emailed -- for example, one of my clients is a Video Production agency. They produced a commercial to air, but could not email the file as it was 400MB. OwncCloud came to the rescue. I set up a temporary share and allowed him access to upload into that folder. Once the file was in the folder, I generated a share link that was then forwarded to TV stations for instant viewing in a browser. Each TV station then downloaded it and was able to add it to their scheduling system quickly. From the Photography side... I am able to deliver large amounts of files quickly and easily to my clients, and they can download or view on mobile devices easily. Since I use ownCloud on a daily basis, I cannot think of any reason why I would not use this software
Read full review
Pros
  • The main feature that I like the most in Box is that it makes collaboration seamless, workers can easily check the documents any time and make changes according to the needs.
  • Box manages and backs up all of your files on its cloud servers, and provides a very nice interface for creating, viewing, editing, and collaborating on the most commonly used file types (PDF, XLS, DOC, etc.).
  • Over the past few years, Box has built on top of its basic cloud storage management with a host of other tools, such as workflows, AI, monitoring, and analytics.
  • It is helping us to make good connections with clients and our workers themselves as to its syncing and viewing feature to all is very much helpful and easy to go.
Read full review
  • 100% of our data is stored ONLY on our servers and workstation. No external hosting anywhere.
  • Open source, no recurring fees for any amount of data we need.
  • Feature rich browser based application.
  • Mature desktop sync client for PC and Mac.
Read full review
Cons
  • The graphic design of the dashboard should be simpler and more tangible that can be changed to the liking of the Admin.
  • Sometimes there are some syncing issues in the background.
  • The product has very limited functionality in some areas which could be a bit frustrating at times.
Read full review
  • Requires you to manage the infrastructure, software updates, backups and security because it is self-hosted
  • The picture viewer in ownCloud is not really snappy by default (You need to setup plugins or some kind of cache)
  • No video viewer by default
  • The web UI requires a cache setup to have reasonable load times (to be fair, it is recommended in the admin page)
  • I stopped using the calendar and contacts plugins because after each update they would break
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
As I've stated Box is very easy to use and to set up. The documentation provided by Box is easy to follow and the interface is designed in a way that makes sense. With only a few limitations on the administrator side the system is fully capable to get the job done for our company
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Usability
I think I can only describe it as excellent. All aspects of Box work without problem, quickly and efficiently. The file upload and download systems are quite fast, the process of access from different platforms is carried out without problems, so far no document has been generated in conflicts or unexpected copies, or any type of error.
Read full review
OwnCloud is easy for me to use, and I believe it would be for others too. The barrier for most people will be the set up. For a technology professional like myself, ownCloud's setup is pretty straightforward, but it's not the sort of thing most casual users will be able to handle. Also, it's on the user to maintain the service. These can be taken care of by paying someone to do it for you.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Yeah, it's always worked, I've never had any kind of connection issues, the only issues I've had it I've been on our end when the Internet hasn't worked.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Performance
It's performance is great. Everything loads as soon as you open a page. The same goes for the local file application, if is just like going through folders on a native "My Computer" or "Finder" folder. The integration into other softwares is also fantastic, as Box keeps them all running smoothly and quickly
Read full review
Compared with other cloud services, ownCloud has been the most efficient. It doesn't create a noticeable drain on resources and very quickly syncs across all my devices. I'm usually able to save a file on my laptop and by the time I walk over and sit down at my desktop machine, it's already there. I don't need to wait as often as I have with services like OneDrive.
Read full review
Support Rating
I found their support community lacking in clarity when I experienced a login issue. The error messaging was poor on my Box Sync application. I did not reach out to support staff for help, instead, I reasoned that I should try downloading the Box Sync application again and reinstall it. That fixed my issue, thankfully. I think a less computer-savvy user would've been much more frustrated.
Read full review
Regarding the community edition, there is a reasonably good support on the IRC, forums and in the issue section on Github. Perhaps a much more individual approach would be available if the premium support was chosen and the instance of the server was provided by the Owncloud company that also offers some premium extensions, not available generally. However, we did not need this level of support yet.
Read full review
In-Person Training
The in person training was done in house and I helped with the training, people seem to respond well.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Online Training
The documentation is good. Since Box is a popular service, there were also a number of YouTube videos and other sources that were helpful as we were considering the product and planning for deployment. Also, the ability to try the free version helped to prepare us.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Be careful with settings. It is easy to get overwhelmed with updates. For example, you don’t want to be updated when doing historical data uploads. I recommend taking off notifications initially and then turn on post you have done your historical data upload.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
I slightly prefer Box over Dropbox, especially if I need to store and manage thousands of files. Dropbox online file management was not as easy to navigate as Box. However, Dropbox also has a similar cloud sync feature that worked similar to Box and was pretty comparable to the Box feature. The main reason my team switched to Box was because our organization provided it at no cost to our team, whereas for Dropbox we had to use our own research grant money to pay for it.
Read full review
ownCloud is better than Google Drive and Microsoft's OneDrive. I have not used Google Drive in some time now, so it may have improved. OneDrive has become better over time too, but my go-to is still ownCloud. Firstly, I prefer to have my data under my control. No other service can offer the level of control that ownCloud does. Setting that aside, in my experience Google Drive never quite got syncing right. Unless you have a very small collection of files and you're not synced across many devices, Google Drive fails to achieve a complete sync. The icon is always showing that Drive is syncing (and not up to date). I've had similar issues with OneDrive, but these days on Windows 10 OneDrive usually can achieve a complete sync across multiple devices, but it often hogs CPU and Network resources to do so, and it's still slower than OneDrive.
Read full review
Scalability
It's great, as we put more files on there it's done very well.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • Box has been an only positive experience. It provides a seamless way for me and my team to collaborate on documents in such a way where we're not sending the document back/forth via email. It's a huge timesaver.
  • Box reduces the risk of sharing a sensitive document to the wrong person via email.
  • Box has provided a platform where my team can share notes in meetings - this has helped streamline and organize our meetings. Our meetings are more productive and actionable.
Read full review
  • The company grew from 4 employees in 2013 when ownCloud was initially deployed to about 40 in 2017 and still using it with a very similar setting without any major upgrade on the same Linux VPS. 95% of all company data are stored and shared via ownCloud successfully. No clear data about ROI but clearly the perfect adoption rate by all people and its ubiquitous use makes it an essential part of the company workflow.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Box Screenshots

Screenshot of an overview of Box's intelligent content management platform. It provides a unified, AI-powered approach to managing and securing your unstructured data, or content. ICM provides organizations with collaboration, AI, security, compliance, and workflow tools, interoperable and customizable, to get the most from their content.Screenshot of how with Box AI, AI can be accessed right where enterprise content exists. While that work can reside within Microsoft, Google, Apple, and other productivity suites, Box helps users to tap the full potential of AI for unstructured data.Screenshot of how Box creates a central workspace to edit, review, and assign tasks. Users can automate business processes and centralize content workflows in Box, including a configurable content submission, unlimited e-signatures, user-drive no-code workflow, and task assignment to power approvals.Screenshot of how Box secures content from threats, including malware and ransomware, and recover from attacks if they happen. This helps to maintain a zero trust architecture to ensure proper usage of corporate data, and prevent data theft.Screenshot of how Box can connect to any productivity suite, including Microsoft, Google, and Apple. This extends any existing security investments with integrations into key DLP, SIEM, and network security tools. Thus, seamless experiences can be built for users in any system they use, whether that’s a business tool like Salesforce or ServiceNow, or communications engines like Zoom and Slack.Screenshot of an overview describing Box's scalability. With unlimited storage capabilities Box has an exabyte (1,000PB) of customer data plus 1 gigabit per second upload and download speed. At its core, Box is a multi-tenant global SaaS platform with enterprise-grade reliability and end-to-end encryption to secure content.