Box vs Dropbox Cloud Storage: Which Is Best in2026?

• Large uploads and file transfers: Dropbox allows you to upload files as large as 2TB with the desktop app. It also supports file transfers of up to 250GB on the Business Plus and Enterprise plans or with the Replay add-on, making it a top choice for sending large files.
• Seamless video management: With Dropbox, you can carry out certain video edits (such as generating closed captions, cropping and trimming) in your cloud storage without having to integrate a third-party tool.
• Document Management: Dropbox has inbuilt apps like Paper, PDF Editor and Sign, which make it easy to manage documents without third-party integrations.

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2TB – 5TB$9.99 / month

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• Enterprises: Box integrates with over 1500 enterprise applications, including Slack, Okta, Adobe Express and Microsoft Office (Microsoft 365). Aligning your current set of tools to work with Box shouldn’t be complicated.
• More generous storage: Box offers unlimited storage on most business plans, which is ideal for businesses that collect and store large volumes of data.
• Granular Access Control: Box’s admin dashboard allows you to define highly specific access limits and gives you visibility into access patterns.

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100GB – Unlimited GB$5 / month

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• Large file transfer limit: Box allows you transfer files as large as 150GB in a single operation, depending on the plan.
• Enterprise app integration: Box comes with built-in integration for enterprise apps, like Slack, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Salesforce and Okta.
• Data loss protection: Box offers data loss protection through features such as encryption, access control, content centralization, file versioning and proactive threat detection.
• Electronic signature: With any Box plan, you can send documents out for signatures from the Box website or via third-party apps like HubSpot, VersaFile or Jotform.
• Box AI: Box AI helps analyze and summarize documents, which can aid in answering any questions you have about them. You can also use Box AI to create content, and it integrates with other AI tools like Microsoft Copilot and Gemini.

• Large file transfer limit: Dropbox supports large file transfers, with limits of between 2GB (on the free plan) up to 250GB.
• File backup: You can back up files to Dropbox and access those files on any device that supports Dropbox. If you set files as available for offline use, any changes you make will sync once you’re back online.
• Data protection: Dropbox has features like file versioning, file recovery (up to one year), remote wipe, encryption, access control and threat detection. These features can recover files after accidental deletion and help prevent data leak and data loss.
• PDF editing: With Dropbox, you can edit PDF text and delete, add, reorder and rotate pages on both the mobile app and the web app.
• Video management: Dropbox not only supports large video transfers but also has various video features, including a video editor, AI-powered video transcription, closed caption generation and the option to leave time-stamped comments.

Dropbox has a free plan (Basic) and eight paid plans, including Plus, Professional, Standard and Advanced, which can be paid monthly or annually. The annual plans offer discounts of around 15%-20% over the monthly plans, making them a better option for long-term usage.

Dropbox offers a 30-day free trial of its business plans (Professional, Standard and Advanced). The Plus and Professional plans have no minimum user requirements, while the Standard and Advanced plans require at least three users.

Dropbox plans are cheaper than equivalent Box plans but more expensive than competitors like Google Drive and OneDrive. If you’re a freelancer, the Professional plan offers the best value.

Box has a free plan (Individual) and six paid plans, including Personal Pro, Business Starter, Business, Business Plus, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus.

Apart from the Enterprise Plus plan (which supports annual billing only), all plans can be paid for monthly or annually. Annual plans are around 25% cheaper than monthly rates. You can get a 14-day free trial of all paid plans except Personal Pro. All paid plans also require at least three users, with the exception of Personal Pro.

Box’s plans are generally more expensive than Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive. However, I consider some of its business plans the best value plans because of their unlimited storage.

Security on Box and Dropbox is multi-layered, with both services using the AES-256 algorithm for encryption at rest and in transit. Both services also support end-to-end encryption, multi-factor authentication, secure shared links, access control, device trust and password-protected files and folders.

Box and Dropbox are available on Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. When you’re not using them on a laptop or desktop, you can continue managing files anywhere with your mobile device.

With both Dropbox and Box, authorized account users can access the same files remotely and simultaneously. This fosters collaboration between team members, even if they’re located in different parts of the world.

Dropbox and Box both allow you to set files and folders as available offline. Enabling offline access ensures that you can still work on your documents even without internet access. When you’re able to reconnect to the internet, any changes made offline are updated to the cloud.

Features like file versioning, granular access control, the trash folder and threat detection help prevent data loss on both Dropbox and Box. They allow for easy data recovery in case of accidental deletion and help prevent data theft as a result of ransomware.

Box offers unlimited data storage on its business plans, with the exception of Business Starter. Dropbox, on the other hand, limits storage capacity on similar plans. Furthermore, its free plan offers 2GB of storage capacity, which is less than the 10GB on Box’s free plan. However, Dropbox offers up to 3TB on paid plans for individual users — more than Box’s 100GB.

If you need to upload large files or folders to your cloud storage, Dropbox’s 2TB upload limit on the desktop app comes in handy. This applies to large file transfers as well: Dropbox can transfer files as large as 250GB, while Box accommodates a maximum of only 150GB.

Box is the clear winner when it comes to third-party integrations. It integrates with more than 1,500 third-party applications, including Okta, Slack, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Zoom.

Dropbox also integrates with popular third-party applications, including GitHub, Yahoo Mail, Canva, Adobe and some of the platforms mentioned above. However, it has a smaller catalog of third-party integrations (less than 200) than Box.

Although both Box and Dropbox allow you to store data securely, their implementation of security features like end-to-end encryption (E2EE) differs.

For example, Dropbox’s end-to-end encryption is a built-in feature available only to users on the Advanced plan. Box, on the other hand, offers E2EE through its paid KeySafe add-on, which is available on all Box business plans except for Business Starter.

Both services allow you to set up multi-factor authentication via text messages and authenticator apps; however, Box also offers the option to receive codes via email.

Box and Dropbox have had various security incidents with some coming in recent years. In December 2023, Box had an outage that prevented users from logging into their accounts. In April 2024, Dropbox detected unauthorized access to customer data on Dropbox Sign.

So far in 2025, Dropbox has reported fewer critical issues and outages than Box. However, historically, Box has experienced less security incidents.

Box and Dropbox have some native apps in common, such as Box Notes and Dropbox Paper, which are collaboration tools for document creation and brainstorming. In addition to those two, each platform has e-signature apps (Dropbox Sign and Box Sign), document scanners and data governance apps.

Dropbox has a built-in app that lets you edit videos, images and PDFs. Box, on the other hand, requires integration with Adobe Express, ClipChamp, PDFiller and similar apps to fulfill the same function.

On the flip side, Box has Box Canvas (a virtual whiteboard) and Box Relay (a workflow automation system), for which Dropbox has no direct alternatives. Nonetheless, Dropbox integrations like Miro Intelligent Canvas and Relay.app serve similar purposes.

In addition, while Box has Box Shield (a threat detection app), Dropbox has built-in threat detection features, including ransomware monitoring and data classification.

Many file-sharing features on Dropbox are similar to those on Box. Both services allow you to create links for file or folder sharing, protect shared links with passwords, set an expiration date, configure link actions and control link access. However, Dropbox offers better performance when synchronizing files because it updates files at the block level.

In addition to its built-in file-sharing features, Dropbox has a dedicated file-sharing app, Dropbox Transfer, which allows you to share files that do not require collaboration. Box does not have an equivalent app.

We tested the upload and download speeds of both Dropbox and Box using a 5GB folder containing various files, including text documents, images and videos. There wasn’t much difference between the two; however, Box was slightly faster for uploads.

Dropbox did better on downloads and both providers had low CPU usage, but Dropbox may throttle speeds based on ISP and location.

Cloud Storage	Average Upload	Average Download
	7 minutes, 9 seconds	7 minutes, 36 seconds
	7 minutes, 21 seconds	7 minutes, 20 seconds

For business, Box trumps Dropbox for many reasons, including storage size limits. On Box, all business plans except for Business Starter offer unlimited storage. Dropbox, on the other hand, offers a maximum storage capacity of 1000TB on its Advanced plan, starting at 15TB and growing by 5TB for each active license.

In addition to providing generous storage, Box conforms with industry standards for compliance and risks, including FINRA, ITAR, FedRAMP High and StateRAMP. Dropbox doesn’t have the same compliance, so it may not be the best for federal organizations or broker-dealer firms.

That said, Dropbox offers a lower financial barrier to entry — its plans are generally more affordable than Box’s.

Dropbox and Box collect similar information from their users (such as name, email and payment information). They also offer the same control and rights over data access and deletion. 

Both services have similar security features, especially when it comes to data encryption, and they do not sell data to advertisers. However, both platforms share information with third parties such as payment processors.

Box’s compliance efforts are geared toward enterprises, and its data residency is more flexible. For example, its Box Zones service allows you to choose the geographical region where your data is stored such as the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Japan and Australia.

Dropbox also allows you to change data residency with data centers in Japan, Europe, Australia and the United Kingdom. However, requests are reviewed individually and require at least 10 licenses on a paid annual plan. In addition, users have raised privacy concerns about Dropbox’s ability to detect and take action against copyright infringement. However, there’s no indication that this leads to data exposure.