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Box vs ownCloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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)
ownCloud
Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms
20th
Average Rating
10.0
Number of Reviews
1
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 ownCloud is 0.8%, up from 0.5% 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,…
SC
Self-hosted file sync tool used to deploy custom web UIs.
I think it’s probably the best self-hosted file sync tool on the market. It’s a full web application platform, an indispensable tool for a business of any size that needs to deploy any kind of custom web UI. If you build an ownCloud app, you’ve got authentication, storage, security, caching, and database layers already fully baked for you. You just need to build your UI and custom logic. Your app doesn’t even need to interact with files, sync, or interact with other ownCloud features. Any web UI can be included without ownCloud. It can even be a portal to web interfaces of other applications within a business using the external app to display external sites within ownCloud. This is the case as long as that site allows itself to be displayed within a frame.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Box is extremely stable, they have not been hacked or lost any data in the past seventeen years. I am very impressed with it."
"The solution is scalable."
"It is really easy to load files to and from this solution."
"We can provide controlled access to documents using the product."
"File sharing, authorization on the back, its ease of use and reliable uptime performance are valuable features of this solution."
"The collaboration of the solution is good."
"The system's performance is impressive, and file sharing is notably straightforward."
"Box is very realistic when it comes to sharing capabilities."
"I think it’s probably the best self-hosted file sync tool on the market."
 

Cons

"They could integrate better with other platforms."
"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."
"Tasks and comments could be easier to see, report, search, and manage."
"Improvements in speed - Box's high level of security impacts performance, especially when compared with other similar services."
"I would love to see the ability to invite collaborators extended to a file level, not just the folder level."
"One thing that Box would benefit from is a records management component."
"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."
"Even with fast disks, it still takes a fair bit of time to write most schema changes to multi-GB tables."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our pricing and licensing is excellent. I'd tell all Higher Ed customers to talk with Internet2 for excellent pricing and support."
"I'm in Higher Ed, so we purchase through Internet2-Net+. I absolutely recommend going that route for Higher Ed customers."
"It is expensive per head, as you need the enterprise license to get full security and tools. So negotiate a discount!"
"Box needs to improve with their pricing in terms of licensing costs."
"Box's pricing is excellent."
"My organization pays for the license."
"I believe Box is cheaper than SharePoint."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
60%
Computer Software Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Healthcare Company
3%
No data available
 

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

No data available
 

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
CERN, Joy Global, Sciebo, Bauhaus, datto
Find out what your peers are saying about Dropbox, Google, Microsoft and others in Content Collaboration Platforms. Updated: January 2025.
831,481 professionals have used our research since 2012.