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Box vs Microsoft OneDrive comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 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 Content Collaboration Platforms
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Content Management (6th), Cloud Storage (12th), Digital Asset Management (3rd), Document Management Software (2nd)
Microsoft OneDrive
Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Content Collaboration Platforms category, the mindshare of Box is 8.5%, up from 8.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft OneDrive is 11.3%, down from 14.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Content Collaboration Platforms
 

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,…
CJ Aulisa - PeerSpot reviewer
Keep organized and have access to important files wherever you are
From my own personal experience, I have a story that tells about how and why the product can be improved and it mostly has to do with customer care. This is about a situation that really caused me great aggravation. I am an independent consultant, so I have OneDrive in my business set up and I pay monthly and it bills monthly. I foolishly let my granddaughter get a robot gaming account under my Microsoft account. Because she is only nine years old and she has autism, she really does not understand what she is doing sometimes. She kept buying points for a game she was playing a lot of and I did not know she was doing it. She would go buy $200 a day in robot points, and then I got on my robots bill and found out what was going on. They would not let me separate the accounts so I could stop the billing. If I canceled the account, I would have to cancel her account, and then she would lose all the things that she had done and accumulated in the game. So I removed the credit card, let that account die out, and then started a new account. I made a new password and all that stuff to start over. When you get a new account, they give you a 30-day free trial. Because I use it and knew I wanted it I already bought PowerPoint in the project and they built that. When the trial came near to the end, they sent me an email saying "your trial is coming to an end" and I called them just to make sure that the PowerPoint purchase was not considered part of the trial that they were talking about because I didn't want to lose anything when I let it lapse. They assured me that everything was good. When the trial came to an end. They removed all the files and I had been working on with a client analyzing their IBR (incremental borrowing rate). So I lost all my trees and they totally removed everything I'd spent hours on. I called and tried to find out what was going on. They spent an hour or two on the phone with me trying to go different ways calling different departments to find out where they might still have the data. Turns out they did not. They lost it. So my caution about the product and trial periods is to be careful. Because I had multiple Microsoft accounts, when the first tech checked and looked it up they thought I had a valid license for the new Microsoft account. They were referring to the old one. There is my lesson learned. Besides that episode, I like working with Microsoft products. But then another thing happened. I had another customer and they wanted me to set up on their desktop. So I created a Microsoft account for them so I could use their client email and their OneDrive and all that stuff in their name. For the life of me, I could not get that removed off my desktop after I had it installed. I had to call Microsoft to try and get it working right again. I could not do a regular delete to get rid of the stuff from the other account. It does not let you delete it. So every time I logged in from scratch, it sent up an error saying I had the wrong password for this account. I just do not need that account anymore and there was no way to get rid of it or regain control of the login. They were terrible for support after COVID hit. I want to write an article on the companies that achieved during COVID and then the companies that used it as an excuse to provide poor customer service. Microsoft would be under that jurisdiction. In the end, I would use it again if it worked and I got my password straight. It works great but with the product, you get the behemoth Microsoft customer support services. I have not contacted them lately, so I do not know if they got it working right. When COVID hit, they just went off the deep end claiming they could not fill support requests. Otherwise, I think Microsoft is pretty good. I can not think of anything that I could make OneDrive better. Besides having different outcomes from these experiences with Microsoft products, I have been happy with them.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Simple file sharing and sync for internal and external customers."
"I like the ease of use."
"Box is very user-friendly; more so than SharePoint."
"Governance and ease of use are why I think a lot of people like Box, including ourselves. Basically, we're concerned about what information is being sent to Box, so we use a lot of the Box governance features to make sure that what is being sent to Box is appropriate. If it is not appropriate, it is not allowed to be sent. It is also pretty easy to use. It is the easiest to use for customers and for technologists."
"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."
"The collaboration of the solution is good."
"The system's performance is impressive, and file sharing is notably straightforward."
"The interface is very good."
"The stability of Microsoft OneDrive is very good, it is reliable. There were multiple instances where I had lost my valuable data on hard drives in several other places. However, with Microsoft OneDrive, I've never lost a single file."
"The most valuable feature is to be able to modify the file online and keep it stored on the cloud, since it is not necessary to download it to make modifications."
"They have support for integration with a lot of tools."
"It gives you access to important files from virtually anywhere."
"It helps you keep organized."
"Scalability is good just because it is a cloud-based product."
"We use Microsoft OneDrive for file sharing without the need for additional hardware (such as flash drives or external hard drives)."
"It is simple to use and it allows me to give me the opportunity to access anything I want from any device."
 

Cons

"One thing that Box would benefit from is a records management component."
"Like all cloud platforms, there are always areas of improvement around sync to local devices."
"I would love to see the ability to invite collaborators extended to a file level, not just the folder level."
"Improvements in speed - Box's high level of security impacts performance, especially when compared with other similar services."
"With OneDrive, you can continuously save your files over a Box folder. That is something I wish we could have."
"I don't like the low level of role-based security it provides – it's very cumbersome, and the support is ordinary at times."
"Better integration with other solutions is needed."
"The price must be lowered."
"OneDrive is a bit behind competing products like Dropbox and Box."
"I think it should be more user-friendly with more tutorials on the full scale of the program."
"If I want to pick out certain criteria of pictures, Google enables me to do that whereas OneDrive is a bit sort of flaky."
"It takes too long for OneDrive to synchronize various applications, especially when you are saving office data. It also requires too much bandwidth."
"Technical support is not very impressive and is typical of large company software support."
"Microsoft OneDrive could improve because it doesn't support backing up .PST files, which are Outlook data files, and email archives. This is a substantial setback when it comes to Microsoft OneDrive."
"The initial setup is a bit clunky."
"I would advice not storage sensitive information since it could be prone to hacking."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Box needs to improve with their pricing in terms of licensing costs."
"I believe Box is cheaper than SharePoint."
"The more you dig, the deeper the level of tools, and the more expensive it becomes."
"Our pricing and licensing is excellent. I'd tell all Higher Ed customers to talk with Internet2 for excellent pricing and support."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"It is free if you are using Office 365, and you get a terabyte of storage with your account."
"The licensing is expensive and on a yearly basis."
"Costwise, it is a great option. In most cases, it is a free space, which will be more than enough for most customers."
"This is a pricy solution, given that we are only using it at 50% capacity."
"OneDrive comes with Microsoft 365 so it is just an added part of that package."
"The price of Microsoft OneDrive is reasonable and compatible with competitors."
"We pay a lot for the Enterprise version, but it is a premium service."
"Using this software, it has had an amazing impact moneywise on our business. It allows us to share documents without the need of extra hardware."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
60%
Computer Software Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Healthcare Company
3%
Educational Organization
57%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
3%
 

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 Microsoft OneDrive?
The backup capability is one feature I love about OneDrive. I also like how it syncs when you're working offline. Everything is updated once you connect again.
What needs improvement with Microsoft OneDrive?
It takes too long for OneDrive to synchronize various applications, especially when you are saving office data. It also requires too much bandwidth.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft OneDrive?
We use OneDrive to share documents throughout the organization and collaborate. It is also used for backups.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
MS OneDrive
 

Learn More

 

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
Chevron, Accenture, Booz Allen Hamilton, DBS, Nestle, Lowe's, MGM Resorts, Textron, MGM Resorts
Find out what your peers are saying about Box vs. Microsoft OneDrive and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
831,020 professionals have used our research since 2012.