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Box vs Office 365 comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 29, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.4
Organizations using Box report efficiency in file management, reduced compliance risks, and notable returns despite some awaiting detailed calculations.
Sentiment score
7.3
Organizations benefited from Office 365 with cost savings, productivity enhancements, flexibility, integration, improved security, and valuable Microsoft support.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.4
Box customer service is generally praised, but users want improved response times and frontline expertise for better experiences.
Sentiment score
4.2
Office 365 customer service is highly rated for responsiveness, but some users prefer internal IT or community resources.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Box offers strong scalability and performance for large organizations, but some limitations appear in enterprise-level deployments and large file handling.
Sentiment score
7.8
Office 365 efficiently scales to accommodate organizational growth, handling thousands of users with high adaptability and licensing flexibility.
I am uncertain about its effectiveness at an enterprise level, where SharePoint might be preferred.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Box is highly stable and secure, with minimal outages, though users seek improvements in upload speed.
Sentiment score
7.4
Users find Office 365 reliable, appreciating improvements and support, despite minor issues with Excel macros and Teams connectivity.
Box was very stable and did not have any latency issues.
 

Room For Improvement

Box needs improved sync, search, file management, security, integration, interface, performance, permissions, API, pricing, and data recovery.
Office 365 faces challenges with platform compatibility, performance, costs, integration, and requires enhancements in user-friendliness and documentation.
Collaborative editing was challenging if multiple people were in a document at once.
 

Setup Cost

Box pricing is initially steep but offers excellent value, with discounts and free versions available for businesses and education.
Office 365 provides scalable licensing plans offering good value and flexible pricing, although setup can be complex for larger enterprises.
 

Valuable Features

Box provides secure file sharing, collaboration, advanced security, and seamless Microsoft integration, making it ideal for organizations.
Office 365 enhances productivity with strong integration, collaboration tools, AI features, scalability, cloud storage, and comprehensive app support.
Box had a very easy-to-use search feature and a good user interface on its website, which was faster and better than SharePoint.
 

Categories and Ranking

Box
Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Content Management (8th), Cloud Storage (13th), Digital Asset Management (3rd), Document Management Software (4th)
Office 365
Ranking in Content Collaboration Platforms
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
143
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Content Collaboration Platforms category, the mindshare of Box is 9.3%, up from 8.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Office 365 is 6.9%, up from 5.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Content Collaboration Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

Parthasarathy Chellapillai - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Gary Cook - PeerSpot reviewer
Access to advanced features boosts productivity despite pricing concerns in developing regions
I need to do maintenance for Office 365 very seldom, once a year. In the maintenance process for Office 365, we have about 12 people involved. For the maintenance side of Office 365, only one person is involved. Looking at Office 365's pricing, I would give it a 4 on a scale from 1 to 10. My overall rating for Office 365 is an 8 out of 10, but for the product itself, I would give it a 10. I would definitely recommend Office 365 to other businesses, probably a 9 out of 10 for recommendation. This is only because of its price and the fact that they do not take into account developing countries such as South Africa, where they should give us more favorable prices or local prices. We do not have a partnership with Microsoft, which is a sore point for us. We have reached out to Microsoft South Africa, and they are very hard to contact and largely uncooperative. We are a B-Level 2 and a B-Level 1, which are local affirmative action ratings that companies get. Level 1 is the highest, and Level 8 is the lowest. We hold amongst the highest BEE ratings, but we have not found Microsoft South Africa to be forthcoming or very open. We should have a partnership with them, and we run Power BI as we are a Power BI shop now. I strongly would want to see a box within Office 365 for our team to have ChatGPT through OpenAI as well. We use Excel as a data source for many tasks and find that it integrates really well with Python. We write a lot of Python code and use Excel as a data sheet many times, and we operate through SQL and other zero elements as well. From an Office 365 viewpoint, we find that with Copilot and Python and Excel's provision for Python, it is very useful.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
18%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
Healthcare Company
5%
Educational Organization
40%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

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?
I was not involved in discussions about paying for Box, so I cannot provide specifics about pricing.
What needs improvement with Box?
Collaborative editing was challenging if multiple people were in a document at once. The installation procedure was tricky but manageable with provided guidance and steps.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Office 365?
For pricing, I think it's fairly priced, I would rate it 8.
What needs improvement with Office 365?
The areas of Office 365 that have room for improvement are what should be better in this solution.
What is your primary use case for Office 365?
A typical use case for Office 365 is how I primarily use this solution.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Microsoft Office 365, Office 365 Enterprise, Office 365 Enterprise E1, Office 365 Enterprise E3, Office 365 Enterprise E5, Office 365 ProPlus, Office 365 Business, Office 365 Business Essentials, Office 365 Business Premium, Office 365 F1
 

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
Me & the Bees Lemonade
Find out what your peers are saying about Box vs. Office 365 and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
861,490 professionals have used our research since 2012.