Do you want to use a cloud storage environment and confuse which one to use? Google Drive or Box? Here you will get a detailed comparison of Google Drive Vs Box.
Cloud storage has taken over the entire data computing and storage industry, all thanks to significant technological advancements which have made content organization and collaboration as seamless as it could ever get.
In a matter of a few years only, it has carved its niche successfully, trashing away physical storage tools and devices long back.
Digitalization has led online data retrieval and storage services to soar at a very alarming rate now. You don’t need to maintain hefty physical folders with all your originals, store them at the places, copy and paste their soft copies into external hard disks, or save them on your already out of storage desktop.
Now there are ways to store every single piece of digital content you own, regardless of the format, safely and securely in unlimited storage space available on your cloud!
Clubbed with excellent features like editing, sharing, organizing, and backing up, cloud storage clients help in empowering productivity manifold, regardless of it being used for personal or enterprise purposes. With the ease of the internet, you can send or save any work in a matter of seconds across many users too.
Google Drive Vs Box: A Brief Introduction
Box, founded in 2005, is an old but valuable cloud-based content management platform. An ideal business assistive tool allows you to collaborate with like-minded people and discover new ideas.
From data storage to interactive sharing features, Box was one of the first pioneers in the cloud storage domain, even before Microsoft could brag about its OneDrive.
On the other hand, Google Drive is not a new name for people nowadays. With every Google service well knitted together, users find it effortlessly synchronized to back up their data on Google Drive.
Launched in 2012, Drive has transformed itself into the customer-friendly cloud storage client in no time. It is quick to use, easy to upload or download, and has excellent subscription plans.
Both these platforms have made data organization way more convenient than before. Cloud storage has become a more manageable and affordable alternative to other data storage mediums, long data records, maintenance lists, or maybe even your original documents.
Among the most popular and safe cloud storage computing clients available, Google Drive and Box are pretty standard amongst users. The debate amongst them is timeless. They yield the same result but have their methods to do that. There is no best and worst between them. It all comes down to the features better suited to you.
Let us have a look at the detailed analysis.
Read Google Drive vs Amazon Drive – Which one is the better Drive?
Google Drive Vs Box: Point by Point Comparison
It is essential not to be in haste while selecting the best cloud storage client for you. There are many pointers to be taken into consideration before landing on one platform.
A well-guided comparison will help users choose the better desirable choice for themselves, even when they are stuck in the middle of the Box vs. Google Drive confusion!
Which ones should you look out for, and which ones overlap? Are they safe to use? Do you even need one? How do we make a choice? No worries, we have got every single thing covered here.
To save your time (and patience), we have researched and curated a comparatively easy breakdown of some of the most common yet crucial five major aspects that you should have in your mind while making the right decision for yourself.
Let us understand them one by one:
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Google Drive Vs Box: Plans and Pricing
A very crucial aspect to look for while shopping for your new platform. Storage platforms are of no use if they are not cost-effective. Both Google Drive and Box are pretty affordable and offer ample free space, unlike those old storage mediums.
Both these platforms are not at all too hard on your pocket. The subscription plans vary accordingly, depending upon the space offered and the particular platform services we are considering.
Google Drive offers a no-cost storage limit of up to 15 GB for personal or business use. The free space available on Google is by far the most affordable amongst other cloud storage clients.
This makes it a loved choice for people who do not wish to spend their bucks over storage space due to their lesser data, especially students. Yearly variants are more cost-effective.
| Plan | Free | Basic | Standard | Premium |
| Pricing/month | Free | $1.99 | $2.99 | $9.99 |
| Storage | 15GB | 100GB | 200GB | 2TB |
But, things do not stop here. You can boost your free ‘Basic’ plan further to the ‘Standard’ plan for only $1.99 per month for a whopping 100 GB of usable space!
Again, Google services are very cost-effective here, like most other platforms for this limit. A further 1 TB ‘Premium’ subscription plan for $9.99 per month. Being single user plans, only one person can avail the allowed space at a time.
To have a more expanded space experience on your entire Google suite, go for the Google One subscription plan for all Google services.
This plan can only go up to 30 TB of space, ranging from $100 to $299.99 per month, all depending on the size you prefer. The Google One plans have multi-user support, so call in your family and avail the Google benefits!
Read Google Drive Vs iCloud- Which one seems to be Better?
What we know about Box?
Coming to Box, the plans and their pricing are pretty extensive. The Box was initially set in for business uses, and therefore, the majority of the programs are ideal for large businesses and enterprises.
The Business plans are not free. The starting ‘Business’ plan is priced at $20 every month for a maximum of three users. Its Plus variant goes up to $33 for the same user limit per month.
The ‘Enterprise’ plan is available for $47 per month, allowing three users only. The features are much refined here, including built-in integrations and advanced workflow possibilities. There is a ‘Plus’ variant for it as well.
| Plan | Business | Business Plus | Enterprise | Enterprise Plus |
| Pricing user/month | $20 | $33 | $47 | Custom |
| Upload Files Upto | 5GB | 15GB | 50GB | 150GB |
Box has also introduced custom plans, unlike any other cloud storage client, which allows users to design a plan for themselves according to their needs, based accordingly.
This is the most value for money option out there. Box has expanded its plans for personal uses, not just limited to company usage.
The free personal plan limit is for 10 GB only, lesser than Google Drive. Its pro version is for $14 per month for 100 GB, slightly pricey than Google. But no worries.
Box allows you to try on the subscriptions through their free trial period, letting you decide the suitable choice!
Also, look out for festive discounts for meagre prices!
Read Google Drive Vs Google Docs – Overview & Comparison
Google Drive Vs Box: Security Support
Well, this is one point of comparison where Box absolutely takes over the lead and leaves Google Drive way behind.
Security is a big concern for people, regardless of the context they are using such cloud storage platforms for; the data you upload is at potential risk on any online service client, for that matter.
There have been times when Google has not been able to prevent security breaches, although they have worked on this issue and improved a lot. The sheer ease of access that some of these third-party tools have over Drive is a lot.
Google Drive has been making people use it more and more, but there are still many users who stick to other platforms just for the sake of safety.
On the contrary, Box is known for its top-notch security system. Your data is primarily safe on this platform. Unlike Google Drive, neither does it go through a user’s personal stored content, nor does it share it with other apps.
In contrast with Google Drive, the shareable links are well protected so as to prevent any random data invasions.
Google Drive may win at its flexible communication capabilities, but Box will ensure your data is well boxed up, preventing minor breaches.
Read Google Drive vs Dropbox – A Head To Head Comparison
Google Drive Vs Box: File-Sharing Efficiency
File sharing is yet another important aspect here. The ease of uploading and downloading should be the prime feature of any cloud storage platform. It should provide scope for collaboration and easy file transfers across devices.
Google Drive has an effortless transfer mechanism. The data upload and download are straightforward to execute, and most of the file formats are supported by it.
Google transfers can be done for individual files, or their folder, even multiple, or entire Drive as well. You can send away shareable links with advanced restrictions and permissions so that your data remains safe and sound.
Box also has a compelling user interface and allows quick data sharing. The mobile transfers are very fast too. Some users have complained about Box’s lagging response and delayed file transfers in some cases. Box plans have different upload and download limits according to the price paid; you cannot go beyond that.
Google Drive also has maximum file sizes for Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets. Interestingly, Google Drive also has storage limits on a daily basis (5 TB a day).
You just cannot upload TBs of data randomly one day on your Drive. Box is a highly preferred option when safely storing humongous business data and records.
Read How to Migrate from Evernote to Google Drive
Google Drive Vs Box: Data Types supported
Both the platforms in the picture are very comfortable while working with different file formats. You can back up your videos, audios, documents, sheets, presentations in the most available forms.
Additionally, Google Drive lets you view even Photoshop-created graphical content without having the need to download particular reading clients on your device. Google Device is preferred chiefly for storing personal to low-level secretive data under password protection.
Using Box, you can directly preview the content of all formats. It even allows high program-level range, including HTML and XML files too. Storing personal records, institutional archives, and confidential data elements have never been that easy.
Read Google Drive Download without Zipping Files
Google Drive Vs Box: Compatibility and Integration
The features provided in such plans are a lot. Unlike the basic business plan, the plus variant allows users ten app integrations, which allows only one integration. The collaborator limit is endless for plus and limited to the organization only for the basic plan.
Google Drive is a much more flexible platform than Box. The Google workspace is increasingly becoming the people’s favorite choice because of its links with other online services.
A simple login using your Google account, and you can register at most platforms. Google Drive swiftly helps you to store any random webpage, too, all thanks to its Chrome extension.
Not just browsers, Google Drive is well supported by mobile devices, tablets, and desktops, too, with most of the famous ones available. The interface is designed according to the device’s performance abilities and is a much more preferred choice than the browser version.
Similarly, Box also offers great collaborative opportunities. With its many plans available, you can share your content with your teammates, family, students, and many more without needing to use external sharing tools.
Not to miss how efficiently Box performs when pooled with the powerful Microsoft Office Suite.
In no time, you can now sync in your desktop or your PowerPoint presentation, maybe your excel data records, even your word documents; all well decked up into Box’s limitless organization features.
Final words
Although in recent times, Google Drive has been a rising star, incorporating many users every single day, it still cannot wholly overpower Box’s simple interface and powerful abilities.
Box has been here for a longer time and has its own flavor. The features and functionality it offers are well developed and work substantially faster than its other contemporaries.
We can opt for different approaches while comparing the two choices. Box and Google Drive are quite similar in the service they provide but also have tiny perks attached to them here and there, respectively. Judge your ultimate choice on different yet crucial factors tabulated from reliable sources.
People would generally opt for Google Drive due to its epic compatibility and better integration capabilities as compared to Box. On the other hand, Box takes away the deal with the most robust cloud security systems out there, taking care of all your privacy-related woos.
So, in the end, it depends on your preferences. Whatever UI feels more comfortable to you, you can opt for that. Other aspects, like the ones mentioned earlier in the article. Weigh in the features offered, its cost, interface, and performance to reach a common conclusion.
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Hello, my name is Shirley. I’m a Google Drive expert and have been working with the platform since it launched. I’ve written extensively about Google Drive tips and tricks, and have created numerous tutorials on how to get the most out of the platform. I also enjoy creating tutorials to help people learn how to use Drive like pros. Read more