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Box vs IBM ECM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

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 Enterprise Content Management
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Storage (12th), Digital Asset Management (3rd), Document Management Software (3rd), Content Collaboration Platforms (5th)
IBM ECM
Ranking in Enterprise Content Management
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Enterprise Content Management category, the mindshare of Box is 3.9%, down from 5.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM ECM is 2.2%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Content Management
 

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,…
Omar_Ismail - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable solution for automation with high availability
Moving to the cloud with IBM ECM is not allowed. In Saudi Arabia, the cloud infrastructure is still non-operational, potentially for the next two to three months. Static clouds are prevalent among foundational enterprises such as IBM and Oracle. IBM offers its cloud insights, maintaining its cloud ecosystem. IBM's efforts to enhance the user experience within its ECM platform are lacking compared to competitors like OpenText. Progress in implementing new technologies and features seems sluggish. Overall, I rate the solution 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

"I like that Box makes it easy to deploy virtual machines."
"It is a very user-friendly product."
"The collaboration of the solution is good."
"The solution is used for data storage and any kind of visualization."
"The most valuable feature of Box is security."
"The sharing feature, with its various permission settings, such as viewing or uploading, is convenient and helpful."
"We can provide controlled access to documents using the product."
"The interface is very good."
"The vertical scalability, as we can use it across some of our applications."
"The scalability is a valuable feature, that we're able to display our documents to so many people."
"The tool is a very stable solution with high availability and no information leakage. It has built-in API integration on-site. You can integrate with other components and applications like SAP, Microsoft, Oracle, etc."
"The content management is all about you as you can make the same content for minimal purpose solutions applications."
 

Cons

"I find their API to be quite complex and it could be more straightforward."
"Better integration with other solutions is needed."
"If there was a plugin that added some sort of toolbar in Office, that would be great."
"Maturity of the enterprise security around user management."
"One thing that Box would benefit from is a records management component."
"They could integrate better with other platforms."
"Working on documents in real-time is sometimes faulty and could be improved."
"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."
"I would like to see seamless application integration."
"The development platform is not local. For example, you need 100 days in IBM, whereas other platforms, like ServiceNow, need only 20 days."
"I would recommend not going with ECM 8 and going with FileNet instead. It seems like that is the future of the lower-volume repository. It seems like they are moving away from ECM 8.5 so I think we're going to have some challenges coming up, getting off of that technology."
"I think it's already getting away from Java applets. A lot of our users struggle with keeping up to date with Java versioning, so a lot of the functions they're doing, like printing, emailing, and even some of the viewing, they're struggling with."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Box needs to improve with their pricing in terms of licensing costs."
"I believe Box is cheaper than SharePoint."
"My organization pays for the license."
"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."
"Better sign a full year's contract to get a discount."
"Box's pricing is excellent."
"We are using the free version of the solution. There is a free version and monthly and yearly subscriptions available."
"I'm in Higher Ed, so we purchase through Internet2-Net+. I absolutely recommend going that route for Higher Ed customers."
"Reach out to local IBM partners.​"
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
57%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Computer Software Company
5%
Government
3%
Financial Services Firm
34%
Government
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Real Estate/Law Firm
7%
 

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 do you like most about IBM ECM?
The tool is a very stable solution with high availability and no information leakage. It has built-in API integration on-site. You can integrate with other components and applications like SAP, Mic...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM ECM?
The product is expensive and has a perpetual license.
What needs improvement with IBM ECM?
The development platform is not local. For example, you need 100 days in IBM, whereas other platforms, like ServiceNow, need only 20 days.
 

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
KeyBank, Standard Chartered Bank, Union Bank, Sistema Tecnol‹gico de Monterrey, Illinois Department of Human Services, UnitedHealth Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Box vs. IBM ECM and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
848,207 professionals have used our research since 2012.