Box vs Office 365: Pick the Best Match For Your Company.
Box and Microsoft 365 are leading cloud platforms for document management and storage that have become essential for flexible work culture. If you are wondering which would fit your organization, you are at the right place.
This blog demonstrates Box vs Microsoft 365 features, pricing, and more to help you adopt the best match for your business needs.
Overview
Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) is a collaboration cloud platform offering robust file storage, sharing, and organization tools – SharePoint Online and OneDrive, along with a suite of other business productivity applications.
It allows co-authoring documents in real-time, sharing of files externally to people outside your company, and provides offline sync.
Box
Box is a leading file management cloud platform that excels in file storage and sharing and offers additional features.
Besides file storage and sharing, it allows you to create and track workflows and automates tasks like setting reminders to review documents and approve contracts within the app.
Pricing
| Microsoft 365 | Box |
|---|---|
| Basic plan: $6/user/month. (Includes 1 TB storage) | Free plan (10 GB) |
| Business Standard: $12.50/user/month. (2 TB) | Starter plan: $5/month per 2 to 3 users (100 GB limit) |
| Business Premium: $22/user/month. (5 TB) | Business: $15/user/month, unlimited storage Business Plus: $25/user/month, unlimited storage, additional collaboration features. |
| Microsoft 365 Apps for business $8.25/user/month (Includes only apps) | Enterprise: $35/user/month, unlimited storage, features customized to your specific needs. |
Looking at the pricing, Box offers more value at a lower cost and can benefit small and medium businesses.
On the other hand, Microsoft also provides a nearly similar plan at a slightly varied price.
Ease of Use
When using business collaboration tools, ease of use is a key feature that drives enterprises to adopt that tool. Let’s compare Microsoft 365 vs Box and determine which is easier to use.
Microsoft 365
The setup and initial installation is comparatively time-consuming and involves extra steps. Though it is very efficient and powerful, it is slightly challenging to customize the tool.
Box
It is more intuitive, with an easier learning curve to understand and kickstart the platform. The environment is straightforward and not overwhelming for new users.
The Box vs Office 365 comparison on ease of use clearly shows Box as the preferred choice owing to its simple and easy-to-use platform.
Integration With Other Apps and Tools
Microsoft 365
It offers integration with all Office 365 apps. You can directly connect with OneDrive and Outlook from SharePoint Online. You can also integrate seamlessly with other third-party platforms like HubSpot and Adobe Acrobat.
Box
Box offers easy integration with external applications, including Microsoft 365 and Google Drive. You can link a Google account in Box even during the initial setup.
This feature comparison of Box vs SharePoint Online shows that both offer almost similar levels of integration capabilities.
Desktop Sync
Syncing offline data to your cloud storage is important because it prevents any data loss and enables uninterrupted work.
Microsoft 365
Microsoft offers an offline sync feature that reflects the changes made in desktop files to the cloud. But at times, there could be a slight lag in the offline changes to the cloud data.
Box
Box offers a desktop app called Box Sync that helps you to work offline without logging in to the Box portal via a browser. The changes in the desktop files will be automatically reflected in the Box cloud once you are connected to the internet.
Though both Box and Office 365 offer similar functionality in offline sync, Box subtly has the edge over Microsoft.
User management
An admin must efficiently control different users and their access to maintain overall security. Grouping users into different categories and giving them granular access control helps govern user accounts. Let’s compare how each platform assigns these parameters to its users and admins.
Microsoft 365
It distinguishes users into three types.
Tenant accounts: Users within the company with a license to cloud services
B2B accounts: Users outside the company are invited to collaborate.
Priority accounts: Users with heightened security, direct mail flows, and report visibility.
Microsoft 365 also offers different user access controls based on their role assignments. For example, Global admin, Billing admin, License admin, user admin, group admin, and apps admin.
Box
Box differentiates its users based on the role assigned.
Managed users: Box users are controlled in the admin console.
Unmanaged users: Users with no license with the managed domain.
External users: Users not within the admin console but invited for collaboration.
It also offers varied access controls like admin, co-admin, group admin, and member.
So, based on your organizational needs to provide granular access control and administrator roles, you can choose from the two platforms accordingly.
User Sign-ins
User sign-ins must be secure and effectively controlled to prevent data loss and account hacking.
Microsoft 365
It provides strong multi-factor authentication, conditional access where you can set rules to be met for sign-ins, and automated detection and remediation of risky user sign-ins.
Box
It provides multi-factor authentication for user sign-in through additional steps like text messages, phone calls, or smartphone app verification for enhanced security. It also audits passwords and suggests resetting them regularly or in case of using weak combinations.
The Box vs Office 365 user sign-in comparison indicates that Microsoft has the upper hand with additional security features.
Intelligent Search, Tagging, and Scanning
Microsoft 365
Microsoft offers smart AI-enabled search functionality. It helps search and access information across various Office 365 applications and provides instant results and search query predictions.
It can also scan through images and text (OCR) and perform automatic and intelligent tagging.
Box
Box offers a basic search feature to access files within the app. It lacks the additional features available in Microsoft for advanced search, scanning, and tagging.
File Upload Size
Microsoft 365
Microsoft enables users to upload files with a maximum size of 15 GB in its business plans.
Box
The maximum file upload size available in Box is only 5 GB.
Microsoft 365 is a clear winner in this comparison of file upload size.
Based on the comparison of Office 365 vs Box, pick the right platform that fits your business requirements.
If you plan to migrate from Box to Microsoft 365, our data migration experts at CloudFuze can help you with the process.
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