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Box vs M-Files comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Box
Ranking in Document Management Software
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Content Management (5th), Cloud Storage (11th), Digital Asset Management (3rd), Content Collaboration Platforms (4th)
M-Files
Ranking in Document Management Software
8th
Average Rating
9.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Document Management Software category, the mindshare of Box is 7.8%, down from 10.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of M-Files is 6.9%, up from 6.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Document Management Software
 

Featured Reviews

Parthasarathy Chellapillai - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 26, 2024
Used for data storage and data collaboration, but its data security could be improved
If I have restricted access within an organization by keeping the data in Box, there are other applications through which I can barge into the data. If anyone wants to keep a file restricted to four people, I can access it because it's available in the cloud. I can directly access the file and pull in the data by entering the file's name. Someone from outside the organization can't access it. However, someone from within the organization who is not supposed to access the data can access it, provided it is in Box. Box is almost like a folder structure outside your system. The solution uses the cloud, and you don't need any separate storage in your system. Even if your system crashes down, the data will be saved. Overall, I rate the solution a six out of ten.
LN
Oct 11, 2020
Good workflows, and it is easy to use with a dashboard that improves contract visibility
My advice for anybody who is looking into implementing this product is to do a pilot first. After you do your research, do an actual pilot before you commit because everyone has nuances and you might find out that it is not what you want, or that it doesn't really do what you think it's going to do. It is not the simplest product to use but because of the robustness of its feature set in the ability with the workflows, and the APIs, to do just about anything you can imagine with it, that's very valuable. I wish it was a little easier to use because we have to spend more time than I'd like with new users, teaching them how it works. We try to hide all that from them but the setup time to get everything the way we wanted was probably two months. That is two months in one resource working on it half time a week, but it just took a lot of work to get the metadata set up, to get the workflows set up, and to get all the documents added to the repository. Now we've got versioning and we know where everything's at, the dashboard is great, but don't assume when they tell you that you'll be up and running in two weeks, that that is the truth. It takes much longer than you think. I would rate this 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

"The system's performance is impressive, and file sharing is notably straightforward."
"You can upload your bin, upload your files quickly, and download your files quickly. It provides a lot of other alternatives."
"Simple file sharing and sync for internal and external customers."
"It is a very user-friendly product."
"The collaboration of the solution is good."
"I like that Box makes it easy to deploy virtual machines."
"Box is very user-friendly; more so than SharePoint."
"The most valuable feature of Box is security."
"Using M-Files means anybody on the executive team to go in and immediately look at a dashboard and know the status of a contract."
 

Cons

"The room for improvement is in the area of integrations. They need to establish more integrations, especially with Office 365 and Outlook."
"The solution's data security should be improved."
"One thing that Box would benefit from is a records management component."
"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 price must be lowered."
"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."
"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 integration with other products needs to be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Box needs to improve with their pricing in terms of licensing costs."
"My organization pays for the license."
"We are using the free version of the solution. There is a free version and monthly and yearly subscriptions available."
"It is expensive per head, as you need the enterprise license to get full security and tools. So negotiate a discount!"
"I believe Box is cheaper than SharePoint."
"There's a free version that allows you to use it with almost full-feature access. Even in the free version, it gives you all you need."
"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'm in Higher Ed, so we purchase through Internet2-Net+. I absolutely recommend going that route for Higher Ed customers."
"They have an Optical Character Scanning module but we didn't buy it because it's ridiculously expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
57%
Computer Software Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Educational Organization
20%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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.
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Comparisons

 

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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
Crowe UK, Stearns Bank, Head Energy, OMV, TK Elevator
Find out what your peers are saying about Box vs. M-Files and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.