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Box vs Cloudinary comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 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 Digital Asset Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Content Management (6th), Cloud Storage (12th), Document Management Software (3rd), Content Collaboration Platforms (5th)
Cloudinary
Ranking in Digital Asset Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

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,…
Josue BYIRINGIRO - PeerSpot reviewer
Saves time and resources and has a clear dashboard
I like the tool best because it's straightforward and doesn't have too many complicated options like AWS. The dashboard is clear - you create a directory, get credentials, and then use those in your Node.js or Java application to access resources. With AWS, you have to consider many things, like bucket policies and user permissions. It doesn't have these complications. Everything on Cloudinary is clearer than other platforms I've seen. It is very easy to use. It's easier than the AWS platforms I've seen. Even general developers can use it, while AWS needs more experience. The solution saves time and resources in several ways. It's easy to get started with, saving time from the beginning. You can implement file uploads in about thirty minutes without complications. The SDK and APIs provided to access their resources are simple and not complicated. Cloudinary is also a popular platform with good documentation and community support, making it easy to find solutions to problems.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The collaboration of the solution is good."
"File sharing, authorization on the back, its ease of use and reliable uptime performance are valuable features of this solution."
"Using Box for cloud storage allows us to focus on the service and maintaining infrastructure."
"Office Integration. The full integration into the Microsoft Office products is just perfect."
"Box is very simple and effective, so I prefer Box."
"The solution is used for data storage and any kind of visualization."
"File sharing with collaborators not on the same domain with offline access from multiple devices: I work on many projects that are multi-organizational, such as with customers, suppliers, or acquisitions."
"We've never had a penetration. We've never had a security issue that their support didn't solve. We love their audit trail. We can know exactly when a collaborator opens. We love how you can define a collaborator."
"I use the solution for posting images."
"I can create folders in the Cloudinary interface using the front end, allowing me to store profile pictures, post pictures, cover pictures, and other media files."
"Cloudinary provides a free plan for developers wanting to get started or explore its capabilities."
"Unlike Firebase Storage, Cloudinary handles media-specific tasks like re-encoding uploads. For example, when users upload a video from an Apple device, it's often encoded in a proprietary Apple codec."
"I like its ease of implementation. I can easily call the API into my platform and use it to upload images from the machine to the server."
"The product's most valuable feature is the ability to upload images quickly and retrieve URLs. It integrates well with code, providing a seamless experience."
"One of the best features of the platform is that we have a generous free tire that I can use for some of my projects without worrying about the platform's cost."
"The automation tools were used most often. They are quite convenient and cover our requirements."
 

Cons

"I find their API to be quite complex and it could be more straightforward."
"The room for improvement is in the area of integrations. They need to establish more integrations, especially with Office 365 and Outlook."
"I haven't really come across a case where we're not able to use it for what it is, so I don't really have anything holding us up or any customers holding us up at this point that I know of. There are always some limitations, but as a technologist, I just live with them, and there is always room for improvement, but I don't have anything quantifiable."
"Working on documents in real-time is sometimes faulty and could be improved."
"If you want to delete something in Box, you have to do it manually, one by one. That was my recent experience. They might have a bulk delete, but I could not find that option. If you want to delete something, you have to go to each and every file and delete it."
"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."
"Data privacy, regarding where to store your data: Offering several transparent(!) options (where to store my data and whether to sync back or not and where to sync) regarding the local law situations (USA, EU, Switzerland!) would increase the credibility of a US based company (after NSA ‘snooping’)."
"The upload speed needs improvement."
"The platform's API features need enhancement."
"I haven't really thought about what improvements I’d like to see in Cloudinary recently. One thing that comes to mind is the capability for hosting very large video files, similar to platforms like YouTube. Cloudinary is not as widely known for video uploads as other platforms, and it would be great if it had a larger user base for this purpose. Apart from marketing and video uploading, I haven't identified specific features or functionalities that need improvement. It’s been a while since I actively used Cloudinary, and I’m just starting to get back into it. Once I’m more familiar with it again, I’ll have a better idea of any gaps or areas for enhancement. I’ll need to think more about this and might provide feedback later."
"Cloudinary's first paid plan is quite expensive, around one hundred dollars, which is more expensive than competitors like Dropbox"
"The AI can't edit the image. If Cloudinary can add a way or a module that can generate the image, then you won't need to upload images to it."
"The product could be improved by being more user-friendly for beginner programmers."
"When you open the product's management console, it can just be a little bit overwhelming at first until you figure it out."
"The main issue with the package is how it handles errors. It swallows errors and throws its own, but without preserving the stack trace, making debugging nearly impossible."
"I believe there is some scope for improvement in areas like the dashboard, specifically the user dashboard and the browser where you can navigate the platform."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Box's pricing is excellent."
"It is expensive per head, as you need the enterprise license to get full security and tools. So negotiate a discount!"
"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 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."
"Better sign a full year's contract to get a discount."
"We are using the free version of the solution. There is a free version and monthly and yearly subscriptions available."
"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 solution’s pricing is moderate."
"The tool's pricing is very high."
"I am using the free version."
"The product's free tier licensing plan is beneficial for individual developers to learn about its functionality."
"It is a free tool."
"We decided to quit using Cloudinary after two years because we were getting a lot of users, and it was becoming expensive. Cloudinary had fixed charges, so if we agreed to pay 500 USD per month, it would be the same whether we used high or low resources. They would notify us if we exceeded our limit, but not if we used less—however, AWS charges according to usage, which became more cost-effective for us as we grew. With AWS, you might pay 100 one month and 200 the next, depending on your usage."
"For us, the price is okay."
"I have not used the product's paid subscription, as the free tier is sufficient for most users."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
59%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Computer Software Company
5%
Government
3%
No data available
 

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?
The solution is expensive when it comes to API calls.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cloudinary?
I did not research Cloudinary's pricing, as I am using it for free. In the free service, it performs well.
What needs improvement with Cloudinary?
The UI needs improvement because it has become quite messy recently, making it difficult to locate the media library and images. Additionally, the initial setup process is complex due to the numero...
What advice do you have for others considering Cloudinary?
I would advise new users to read the documentation thoroughly to understand how to upload and store images effectively. For those using Cloudinary for the first time, be prepared for a learning cur...
 

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
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Find out what your peers are saying about Box vs. Cloudinary and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.