Best Box Alternatives for Teams in 2026

Why Teams Switch From Box

Box built its reputation on enterprise content management. It has 100,000+ business customers and strong compliance features. But that enterprise focus comes with tradeoffs.

Common reasons teams leave Box:

• Per-seat pricing adds up fast. At $15-20 per user per month, a 50-person team pays $750-1,000 monthly. Many alternatives offer team-based pricing that costs 70% less.
• Overkill for creative teams. Box excels at document governance but lacks native video streaming, frame-accurate feedback, or creative workflow tools.
• Sync-based architecture causes friction. Box Drive works well for documents but struggles with large media files. Teams working with video, RAW photos, or design files often hit limitations.
• IT-centric, not user-centric. Box prioritizes admin controls over user experience. Some teams find the interface dated compared to modern alternatives.

The right alternative depends on what you actually need. A legal firm has different requirements than a video production house.

Box Alternatives Comparison Table

A Box alternative is a cloud content management platform that offers similar enterprise features to Box, often with better pricing or specialized capabilities.

Here's how the major options compare:

Price comparison based on publicly available pricing as of January 2026.

Fast.io: Best for Creative and Media Teams

Fast.io takes a different approach than Box. Instead of per-seat pricing, it uses usage-based billing. Your 25-seat team costs around $60/month with 5TB of storage, compared to $375+ on Box.

Where Fast.io beats Box:

• Native video streaming. HLS adaptive streaming means instant playback for any video. No buffering, no downloads. Box serves video as progressive downloads that require waiting.
• Frame-accurate feedback. Pin comments to specific frames in a video timeline. Reviewers can give precise feedback like "fix the color at 1:42:15" instead of vague notes.
• Organization-owned files. Files belong to the company, not individual users. When someone leaves, their files stay put. No awkward transfer processes.
• Real-time collaboration. See who's viewing files right now. Follow a teammate's view during reviews. Built for "let's look at this together" workflows.

Where Box still wins:

• Compliance certifications (SOC 2, HIPAA, FedRAMP)
• Retention policies and legal holds
• Third-party integrations through Box Platform

If your team works with video, design files, or creative assets, Fast.io handles those workflows out of the box. If you need enterprise governance and compliance documentation, Box remains a solid choice.

Dropbox Business: Familiar and Straightforward

Dropbox Business is Box's closest competitor. Both serve enterprise teams, but Dropbox has a simpler, more consumer-friendly approach.

Dropbox advantages over Box:

• More intuitive interface. Less IT overhead.
• Better individual user experience.
• Smart Sync for managing local storage.
• Generally cheaper for small teams.

Box advantages over Dropbox:

• Stronger admin and governance controls.
• More granular permissions.
• Better suited for regulated industries.
• More enterprise integrations.

Is Dropbox better than Box? For teams under 100 users who don't need advanced compliance, often yes. For enterprises with strict governance requirements, Box's admin controls justify the premium.

Both charge per seat. Both require you to sync files locally. Both struggle with large video files. If those are your pain points, look at cloud-native alternatives instead.

Google Drive and OneDrive: Ecosystem Plays

If your company already uses Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, the bundled storage makes sense. You're probably already paying for it.

Google Drive works well when:

• Your team lives in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides
• Real-time document collaboration is primary
• You want simple sharing with Gmail integration

OneDrive works well when:

• You're deep in the Microsoft ecosystem
• SharePoint handles your intranet needs
• Office file collaboration is the main use case

Why teams still leave these platforms:

• "My Drive" chaos. Files scattered across personal drives are hard to find and manage.
• Storage limits per user. You pay per seat, with capped storage per account.
• Weak for large files. Neither handles video workflows well.
• No real content management. These are storage systems, not asset management platforms.

Google and Microsoft optimize for their own productivity suites. If your main need is file sharing and organization, a purpose-built platform often works better.

ShareFile and Egnyte: Enterprise Specialists

ShareFile (owned by Citrix) and Egnyte serve specific enterprise niches.

ShareFile works best for:

• Document-centric workflows
• eSignature integrations
• Client portals for professional services
• Healthcare and financial services compliance

ShareFile feels dated compared to newer platforms. The UX hasn't changed much, and pricing starts at $16+ per user.

Egnyte works best for:

• Hybrid deployments mixing cloud and on-premise storage
• Companies with strict data residency requirements
• Architecture and engineering firms with CAD file needs
• Enterprises that can't go fully cloud

Egnyte's hybrid approach adds complexity. If you don't need on-prem integration, you're paying for capability you won't use.

Both are solid for their niches. Both charge enterprise prices. If you're considering either, make sure their specific strengths match your specific needs.

Budget Options: pCloud and Sync.com

Not every team needs enterprise features. If you're a small team looking for reliable cloud storage without the enterprise price tag, consider these options.

pCloud offers:

• Lifetime purchase options (pay once, own forever)
• No per-seat pricing on some plans
• Block-level sync for faster uploads
• Crypto folder for client-side encryption

Sync.com offers:

• Zero-knowledge encryption by default
• Simple pricing with generous storage
• Strong privacy focus (Canadian company)

The tradeoff:

Budget platforms lack collaboration features. No real-time presence, limited commenting, basic sharing controls. They're storage systems, not team workspaces.

If you just need somewhere to keep files with basic sharing, these work well. If you need your team to actively collaborate on files, you'll outgrow them quickly.

How to Choose Your Box Alternative

Picking the right alternative comes down to what you actually need.

Stay with Box if:

• You need SOC 2, HIPAA, or FedRAMP compliance documentation
• Legal holds and retention policies are business-critical
• You've built workflows around Box Platform integrations
• Admin control and governance are top priorities

Switch to Fast.io if:

• You work with video, design files, or creative assets
• Per-seat pricing is straining your budget
• You want native streaming, not downloads
• Real-time collaboration matters more than governance

Switch to Dropbox if:

• You want something simpler than Box
• Your team already knows Dropbox
• Basic sync and share covers your needs

Stick with Google/Microsoft if:

• You're already paying for Workspace or 365
• Document collaboration is your main use case
• Storage is secondary to productivity apps

Consider Egnyte if:

• Hybrid cloud is a genuine requirement
• You have on-premise infrastructure to integrate

Before switching, run a pilot. Move one project or team to the new platform. See how it handles your actual workflows. That's how you'll know if it's a real improvement over Box for your situation.