Egnyte vs Box in 2023: Who Wins the Business Cloud Storage Battle?
If you’re looking for enterprise file storage, it’s hard to beat Egnyte and Box. We threw them into the ring to compete across multiple categories, so you can find the best cloud storage.
Egnyte Connect and Box Business both made our list of the best business cloud storage services, taking second and third place, respectively, in our roundup of enterprise file sync and share providers (read our best EFSS guide). In this Egnyte vs Box comparison, though, only one can win.
As two services at the top of business storage, it’s hard to make a bad choice. Still, we split hairs to bring you all of the differences between Egnyte and Box. In this guide, we’ll compare the two across multiple categories, covering the user experience, value and more.
Key Takeaways:
- Egnyte is the best storage service for business, but Box makes a compelling argument.
- Box comes with a robust list of add-ons, and it has dense user management settings.
- Egnyte is one of the fastest, most secure cloud platforms on the market.
Although we’ll hit all of the highlights here, we recommend having our Egnyte Connect review and Box Business review handy. Our full reviews go in-depth in a way that our comparisons can’t, breaking down the minutiae, so you can find the best cloud storage for your business.
That’s especially important in this matchup, as we’re comparing two of the top services on the market. A lot of the decision comes down to how many members you need, how much storage you need and which integrations make the most sense.
 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| 1TB$20 / month(All Plans) | 100GB - Unlimited GB$5 / month(All Plans) | |
| Review | Review | |
| Sync | ||
| Sync Folder | ||
| Block-Level Sync | ||
| Selective Sync | ||
| Bandwidth Throttling | ||
| Sync Any Folder | ||
| Max File Size | 100 GB | 150 GB |
| Network Drive | ||
| File Sharing | ||
| File Link Sharing | ||
| Link Passwords | ||
| Link Expiry Dates | ||
| Folder Sharing | ||
| Folder Permissions | ||
| Link Download Limits | ||
| Upload Links | ||
| User Management | ||
| User Groups | ||
| Set User Roles | ||
| Monitor User Activity | ||
| Restrict User Storage | ||
| Remote Device Wipe | ||
| Productivity | ||
| File Previews | ||
| Edit Files | ||
| In-App Collaboration | ||
| Office Integrations | MS Office & Google Workspace | Office365, Google Workspace |
| Notes App | ||
| Media Playback | ||
| Mobile Apps | ||
| Deleted File Retention | ||
| Versioning | ||
| WebDAV | ||
| Security | ||
| At-Rest Encryption | AES-256 | |
| In-Transit Encryption | TLS/SSL | |
| Two-Factor Authentication | ||
| Client-Side Encryption | ||
| Data Residency | ||
| SSO Integration | ||
| Custom Password Requirements | ||
| Support | ||
| 24/7 Support | ||
| Live Chat Support | ||
| Telephone Support | ||
| Email Support | ||
| User Forum | ||
| Knowledgebase | ||
| Misc | ||
| Free Plan |
Egnyte Connect is a cloud platform for syncing and sharing content. It provides a safe place to store your files and allows you to use those files with a long list of third-party integrations.
Egnyte Connect is highly secure. It uses AES-256 encryption to protect your files, which is impossible to crack with brute-force methods. Plus, it also allows you to manage your encryption keys depending on your plan.
Box employs AES-256 encryption for your files, which is the strongest form of encryption available. Additionally, it offers data residency options, automatic threat protection and classification-based security controls through add-ons.
There is a free version of Box for personal use. The free plan only comes with 10GB of storage and a 250MB file upload limit, but it does offer all the other features of Box’s paid offerings.
Egnyte vs Box Matchup
We have six categories in this matchup, touching on everything from user permissions to sharing content in your account. Each round, we’ll talk about the strengths and weaknesses of each service and declare a winner. Whichever service has more wins will be our champion.
Both of our competitors can keep your files safe in the cloud, so a lot of this comparison comes down to the features, security and overall value to your operation. Box and Egnyte both offer free trials, so we recommend giving each a shot to see which service works best.
- 1
- :
- : 100 GB
- :
- :
- :
- :
- 2
- :
- : 150 GB
- :
- :
- :
- :
1. Features
Egnyte Connect is light on features, but that’s by design. Its strengths lie in third-party integrations, with products like Slack, DocuSign and 123FormBuilder available natively. The two standout integrations are Microsoft Office Online and Google Workspace, though, allowing you to collaborate on content in real time.
Box has several integrations, too. It matches Egnyte with native Google Workspace and Microsoft Office Online integrations and offers several first-party apps. As we’ll get to in the next section, though, Box limits the number of apps you can use depending on your plan.
First-Party Offerings
Thankfully, Box handles some of the minor integrations you might need. For example, it comes with Box Notes, which is a great note-taking app (read our Box Notes review). Additionally, Box offers a task manager that allows you to create and track workflows across your business. It’s not Asana or monday.com, but it gets the job done.
Egnyte offers a basic task management tool, too, but it’s far from the best project management software. Thankfully, there’s an external integration for Trello, so you can still keep track of everything (read our Trello review).
External Integrations
Trello is one of several external integrations at Egnyte. These services loop into Egnyte, but you won’t find options for them within Egnyte. For example, you can attach files to a Trello card or off-load attachments from Gmail to your server.
Don’t confuse external integrations with Egnyte’s add-ons. Add-ons offer native integrations within Egnyte Connect, and the list includes Google’s and Microsoft’s Office Suites, Adobe Sign and more.
Egnyte and Box are evenly matched in terms of features. That said, Egnyte allows you to integrate as much supported software as you want and Box allows integrations to its Enterprise subscribers, but it depends on what plan you have. Because of that, we’re giving Egnyte the win this round.
2. Pricing
Since Egnyte and Box use different pricing schemes, comparing them directly is tough. Though neither provider is cheap — read our Sync.com for Teams review if that’s what you’re after — both are scalable to meet the needs of the largest businesses. So, choosing between them comes down to integrations and how much storage you need.
Egnyte Pricing
Starting with Egnyte, small businesses have access to the Team plan. It’s limited to 10 users, and at $10 per user per month, there are better options. The Business plan is more reasonable. For $20 per user, you get 1TB of storage, plus 10GB for each user. pCloud Business offers 1TB per user, and it’s about half the price (read our pCloud Business review).
- Price per user; Secure collaboration; Privilege management; Ransomware protection
- 1TB
- Everything in Business; 3rd-party source support; Content lifecycle management; Threat detection
- 1TB
- Everything in Enterprise Lite; Privacy & compliance; Advanced ransomware protection & recovery; Content safeguards
- 1TB
Storage space isn’t really the point of Egnyte Connect, though. From the Business plan up, you can contact Egnyte to customize your storage. Additionally, you can loop in public clouds like Google Cloud (read our Google Cloud review) and AWS to expand your storage space. Egnyte is a hybrid cloud provider, and you’ll get the most out of it by leveraging public cloud services.
Box Pricing
Box takes a different approach. At the low end, the Business Starter plan is limited to 10 users and 100GB of storage. It’s cheaper than Egnyte, but the storage space stings. The Business plan is where Box comes into its own. It’s as expensive as Egnyte’s Business plan but comes with a hallmark feature from Box: unlimited storage.
- Single user
- 10GB
- Single user
- 100GB
- Price per user, minimum of three users
- 100GB
- Users: No limit
- Unlimited GB
- Users: No limit
- Unlimited GB
- Users: No limit
- Unlimited GB
Instead of restricting storage, Box restricts features. There are several differences between each of the plans, the most important of which are upload limits and app integrations. Box’s Business plan offers a single enterprise app integration and a 5GB single file upload limit, while the most expensive plan offers unlimited integrations and a 150GB limit.
Value for Money
Box is a closed unit, offering as much storage as you want while limiting features. Egnyte, on the other hand, doesn’t offer much storage. However, it can easily integrate with other cloud storage platforms (including Box).
We’re giving the win to Egnyte. Depending on your setup, Egnyte may end up cheaper than Box and offers more features on its low-end plans. That said, there isn’t really a definitive winner this round. Both services are on the expensive end of things, so it comes down to what’s important to your business.
3. Usability
Box and Egnyte both earned “excellent” marks in their reviews for usability, so there isn’t a bad choice this round. That said, there are some usability comparisons that separate our two competitors.
Egnyte’s Standard Layout
Egnyte uses a standard cloud storage layout, similar to OneDrive and Dropbox. You can see your folder hierarchy on the left side of the web interface, and when you select a file, you’ll see an activity log on the right side. There are also links at the top of the control panel page, allowing you to quickly see active sharing links and any tasks assigned to you.
However, Egnyte goes much deeper (read our Egnyte Connect beginner’s guide to see just how deep). In the admin section, you can change just about everything. That includes changing user permissions, adding new members to your company, generating reports and adding custom metadata to your files.
Egnyte’s desktop app offers a few settings, but it’s mostly there to mount a network drive on your computer. You can see and open content locally, but it doesn’t take up space on your computer. Because Egnyte uses a network drive, it allows you to access your data as long as you have an internet connection.
That flow works the other way, too. With WebEdit, you can find content in the web app and automatically open it with the associated local app, all without digging through your computer. From top to bottom, Egnyte is a functional cloud storage solution that can meet the needs of almost any business.
Box’s Quality-of-Life UX
Box doesn’t have as many options on the surface, though it offers several quality-of-life improvements. The web app is a standard affair with a left-side menu and a details pane on the right. There are small additions that make the web app stand out, though. For example, clicking the “new” button allows you to create a new folder, as well as create a document in Google Workspace or Microsoft Office Online.
Users have a few options depending on their permissions. For example, you can hide the name of collaborators on certain folders or receive a notification whenever someone interacts with select content in your account.
The admin panel goes even further. On the admin page, you can manage your apps, put users into groups and view insights on your storage, users and account as a whole. In short, Box offers as many options as Egnyte in its admin panel, and it’s even easier to use.
Like we mentioned at the top of this round, there isn’t a clear winner here. Both of our competitors offer excellent user interfaces packed with functionality, but Box goes a little further with some quality-of-life improvements. Still, we recommend trying out both to see which provider works best with your process.
4. File Syncing & Sharing
Egnyte and Box deviate quite a bit when it comes to syncing. Box automatically syncs your files across your account, and you can choose to sync files to your desktop or keep them in the cloud. However, Box doesn’t support block-level sync, leading to lengthy upload times (more on that in the next section).
Worse, Box has low file limits. The cheapest plan comes with a 5GB file limit, and the most expensive plan only raises the limit to 150GB. For reference, our best cloud storage for large files pick, Sync.com, doesn’t have any limits.
Egnyte has a file limit, too, but at 100GB across all of the plans, it hardly matters. Like Box, your files automatically sync across your devices with Egnyte, and they don’t take up space on your hard drive unless you were the one who uploaded them.
However, it’s the hybrid cloud model that makes the difference. You can loop in files stored in public clouds, making it easy to centralize your cloud storage. Additionally, Egnyte allows you to sync files on local storage, so you can add a NAS or other small business server to your account.
Sharing Settings
However, sharing is a different matter. Box offers link sharing, external content requests and real-time collaboration for files in your account. For links, you can set an expiration date, set a password and choose whether the recipient can download the file or not.
Egnyte matches those sharing settings. It also supports requests for files, link sharing and direct sharing with internal or external users but has a slight edge with WebEdit. WebEdit makes it easy for multiple users to find files in your account and collaborate on them.
Both of our competitors make it easy to sync and share content, but Egnyte goes further. In addition to high limits for your files, it supports local storage solutions. In the most clear round of this comparison, we’re giving the win to Egnyte.
5. Speed
We ran speed tests with Egnyte Connect and Box using a 1GB test folder on a wired connection. Starting with Egnyte, we measured our connection speed at 450 Mbps download and 21 Mbps upload. Given those speeds, we’d expect an average upload time of six minutes and 49 seconds and an average download time of 19 seconds, ignoring network overhead.
Egnyte: Beyond Expectations
| Egnyte | First Attempt: | Second Attempt: | Average: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upload | 6:37 | 6:35 | 6:36 |
| Download | 0:33 | 0:33 | 0:33 |
Egnyte managed the impossible by dropping below our expected times. Even Dropbox Business — one of the fastest cloud storage services, as you can read in our Dropbox Business review — struggles to keep up with Egnyte.
Upload times are excellent, and that’s what’s important. Egnyte struggles with its download speed, but that shouldn’t pose too much of an issue. Large downloads may take a while, but you’re more likely to upload files in bulk.
Box: Inconsistent and Slow Speeds
We remeasured our speed before testing Box, clocking in with the same download and upload speed and, therefore, the same expected times. Box is measurably slower than Egnyte, but worse than that, it’s inconsistent.
| Box | First Attempt: | Second Attempt: | Average: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upload | 7:44 | 8:15 | 7:59 |
| Download | 0:55 | 0:54 | 0:55 |
There was a 30-second gap between our two upload trials, which we don’t normally see. It may seem like splitting hairs, but it’s important to remember that these tests were run with a 1GB test folder. The margin of error should be a few seconds, not half a minute.
Download times were more consistent, though still far above our expected time. That said, Box doesn’t really have an excuse for these speeds. Even zero-knowledge cloud storage providers like Icedrive are faster (read our Icedrive review). Box employs strong encryption but doesn’t have any of the end-to-end encryption overhead that contributes to slow speeds.
That makes choosing a winner this round simple. Egnyte is one of the fastest cloud storage services we’ve tested, while Box is on the slow end of things. There’s really no comparison between them when it comes to speed.
6. Security & Privacy
Egnyte and Box are both highly secure cloud storage services, though neither of them offer zero-knowledge encryption. Instead, they stick with the industry-standard AES-256 cipher and encrypt your files server-side (meaning, they are encrypted at the provider’s servers). If you’re still learning about cloud security, make sure to read our description of encryption.
This design makes sense. If you encrypted files client-side on your computer, you wouldn’t have access to the many integrations available from Egnyte and Box. Egnyte even made our list of the most secure cloud storage services, going toe-to-toe with the toughest end-to-end encryption.
Although Egnyte and Box don’t offer zero-knowledge encryption, both allow you to manage your own encryption keys. Enterprise subscribers at Egnyte can manage their own keys.
Box KeySafe is available in the other camp, which is an add-on you can purchase with your plan. You can pick up other add-ons like Shield, which looks for threats in your account, and Zones, which lets you choose where in the world your data is stored.
Breaking Down Privacy
Egnyte Connect and Box both collect a modest amount of personal data. Box says it uses this data to monitor and analyze trends for sales and advertising purposes, and Egnyte says it may access your account to respond to technical problems. Neither is particularly friendly to user privacy, but there are options to bypass this level of data collection.
With services like Boxcryptor and the ability to manage your own keys, you can lock Egnyte and Box out of the data in your account. As for your personal data, you’ll have to give at least a little bit of it up. Unfortunately, that’s the state of enterprise content storage at the moment.
It’s hard making any comparisons when it comes to security features. Our competitors are evenly matched on nearly all fronts, offering top-notch encryption, threat detection and an option to manage your own encryption keys. So, we’re calling this round a tie.
The Verdict: Box vs Egnyte
Choosing a cloud storage provider for your company is all about figuring out the needs of your organization. Box and Egnyte are both excellent services, going toe-to-toe on features, content sharing, file permissions and much more. It’s hard making a bad choice between them.
Overall Winner: Egnyte Connect
Egnyte won more rounds, though, so we’re giving it the win. Although it lacks some of the advanced security features of Box, Egnyte excels in all other categories. It’s a true enterprise storage service, fit with the capabilities and features businesses need.
Don’t discount Box, though. It comes with excellent controls for user permissions, plenty of storage space for your files and access to a range of diverse integrations.
Which service are you going to pick? Why did you choose it? Let us know in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.
