Box vs. Alfresco

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Box
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Box is an online cloud content management solution that caters to individual users as well as businesses.
$5
Per Month (Paid Annually) per user (minimum of 3 users)
Alfresco
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
The Alfresco platform, from Hyland, delivers comprehensive cloud-native content services. It is used to intelligently activate processes and content to accelerate the flow of business.N/A
Pricing
BoxAlfresco
Editions & Modules
Business Starter
$5
Per Month (Paid Annually) per user (minimum of 3 users)
Business
$15
Per Month (Paid Annually) per user (minimum of 3 users)
Business Plus
$25
Per Month (Paid Annually) per user (minimum of 3 users)
Enterprise
$35
Per Month (Paid Annually) per user (minimum of 3 users)
Enterprise Plus
Custom
Contact Us
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BoxAlfresco
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsBox is available as an annual subscription. Many customers opt for either the Digital Workplace or Digital Business suite, which includes the baseline software plat (Box Enterprise) plus multiple additional features including Box Shield for data loss prevention and threat detection, Box Governance for retention management and legal holds, Box Relay for no-code workflow, and Premier Services. Customers are eligible for discounting beyond volume list prices, depending on a number of conditions.
More Pricing Information
Features
BoxAlfresco
Enterprise Content Management
Comparison of Enterprise Content Management features of Product A and Product B
Box
7.9
23 Ratings
4% below category average
Alfresco
8.0
6 Ratings
3% below category average
Content capture & imaging7.519 Ratings3.14 Ratings
File sync, storage & archiving8.222 Ratings9.05 Ratings
Document management8.621 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Records management8.117 Ratings8.05 Ratings
Content search & retrieval7.421 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Enterprise content collaboration8.020 Ratings8.06 Ratings
Content publishing & creation7.014 Ratings8.04 Ratings
Security, risk management & information governance7.823 Ratings9.05 Ratings
Contract lifecycle management7.510 Ratings8.95 Ratings
Automated workflows8.112 Ratings9.03 Ratings
Artificial intelligence8.110 Ratings8.02 Ratings
Mobile support7.921 Ratings3.03 Ratings
Integration8.021 Ratings10.03 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BoxAlfresco
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Score 9.7 out of 10
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
MediaValet
MediaValet
Score 9.9 out of 10
MediaValet
MediaValet
Score 9.9 out of 10
Enterprises
MediaValet
MediaValet
Score 9.9 out of 10
MediaValet
MediaValet
Score 9.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BoxAlfresco
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(151 ratings)
7.0
(17 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(12 ratings)
9.0
(9 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(18 ratings)
9.9
(2 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.5
(29 ratings)
7.0
(2 ratings)
In-Person Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
10.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(6 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BoxAlfresco
Likelihood to Recommend
Box
I think Box is great for research teams or anyone that has a large number of files that need to be securely stored. Particularly in the case of social science research, where it is important to protect identifying data, Box is a great option. In cases where teams need a more reliable means for real-time collaboration, I would probably consider a different alternative
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Hyland Software
Easy integration with the external APIs Workflows can be invoked via REST call Wonderful swagger documentation for process REST APIs REST, MULE, CAMEL, Google Drive, and Box features are available with Alfresco Process Services The micro-service version deployment should be well documented and needs improvement
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Pros
Box
  • The main feature that I like the most in Box is that it makes collaboration seamless, workers can easily check the documents any time and make changes according to the needs.
  • Box manages and backs up all of your files on its cloud servers, and provides a very nice interface for creating, viewing, editing, and collaborating on the most commonly used file types (PDF, XLS, DOC, etc.).
  • Over the past few years, Box has built on top of its basic cloud storage management with a host of other tools, such as workflows, AI, monitoring, and analytics.
  • It is helping us to make good connections with clients and our workers themselves as to its syncing and viewing feature to all is very much helpful and easy to go.
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Hyland Software
  • Basic workflows are easy enough for casual users to set up and utilize.
  • Cloud sync capability provides a great way to share documents with third parties and to use as a backup system for critical documents.
  • Alfresco mobile app makes it easy for those on the road to access, approve and share documents.
  • Folder rules are easy to set up and make assignment of metadata easier to automate.
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Cons
Box
  • The graphic design of the dashboard should be simpler and more tangible that can be changed to the liking of the Admin.
  • Sometimes there are some syncing issues in the background.
  • The product has very limited functionality in some areas which could be a bit frustrating at times.
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Hyland Software
  • Alfresco Process Services and Alfresco Application Development Framework integration makes for best functionality/application of ECM.
  • Use case alignment - Marketing content and documentation of specific business requirements and user stories being available as reference material/documentation.
  • Integration with multiple silos for content.
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Likelihood to Renew
Box
I like the security features and I like the website. It's easy to use and create and move things around as needed. The main reason for a lower rating is because the Box Sync app is just not a good program. It's a memory hog, it's slow, transfer speeds are slow, and it's not the most efficient route. If you have a large Box account and you need to get a computer up to speed on a large amount of data within Box, you are in for the long haul. Last time I had to do this, it took 3 days to sync all of the files and we are talking around 100 GB worth of data
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Hyland Software
As per the current market and the line of products that are available for content and document management system, Alfresco is a very good option compared to other systems in terms of features and cost. Plus the community support is great. Also since the product is open source, it can be extended or understood in a better way.
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Usability
Box
Everything with Box is seamless. It can be integrated into virtually any other software or application. You can even get the app for your phone or tablet to work on the go. File syncing is so quick. The only reason I gave it a 9 is the issue I discussed earlier about the local file application rebooting and not continuing to sync files. Other than that, it's great!
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Hyland Software
Alfresco Content Services' UI has never been its strength from the beginning. Therefore, rating it from a usability standpoint, I will not rank it high. However, Alfresco Content Services can easily be integrated with any application and leveraged as a backend CMS or DM system. With the new Angular-based UI approach, it's very much possible to create custom UI on top of it as required.
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Reliability and Availability
Box
Yeah, it's always worked, I've never had any kind of connection issues, the only issues I've had it I've been on our end when the Internet hasn't worked.
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Hyland Software
No answers on this topic
Performance
Box
The general operation and management of Box is very efficient, both when accessing the account, and when adding files, downloading or modifying any document directly. The web platform, mobile and desktop versions work really well and quickly, making all the work and process flow smoothly and without setbacks. So far I have not been able to observe any inconvenience
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Hyland Software
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Box
I found their support community lacking in clarity when I experienced a login issue. The error messaging was poor on my Box Sync application. I did not reach out to support staff for help, instead, I reasoned that I should try downloading the Box Sync application again and reinstall it. That fixed my issue, thankfully. I think a less computer-savvy user would've been much more frustrated.
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Hyland Software
I am not big fan of Alfresco Content Services' support; it works on its own speed and sometimes it becomes challenging to achieve business needs. However, I appreciate regular delivery of security patches and updates
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In-Person Training
Box
The in person training was done in house and I helped with the training, people seem to respond well.
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Hyland Software
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Box
The documentation is good. Since Box is a popular service, there were also a number of YouTube videos and other sources that were helpful as we were considering the product and planning for deployment. Also, the ability to try the free version helped to prepare us.
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Hyland Software
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Box
Be careful with settings. It is easy to get overwhelmed with updates. For example, you don’t want to be updated when doing historical data uploads. I recommend taking off notifications initially and then turn on post you have done your historical data upload.
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Hyland Software
Process was relatively smooth and overall, downtime minimal. MSI was very responsive to our needs and made the transition easier than it otherwise might have been.
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Alternatives Considered
Box
They are kind of the same. And both of them do their job as promised. But for company and project wise I think that Box slightly wins for some points. Which [makes him] win over Google Drive (don't forget that Google Drive is very easy to use and has a lot [of] nice features too).
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Hyland Software
All software has some pros and some cons. Alfresco has some good pluses, and suits our environment very well. It fit perfectly in the place that we are working on. That is why we decided to go with this software. Overall, the kind of content management that needs to be done in an organization is what would determine which software to use.
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Scalability
Box
It's great, as we put more files on there it's done very well.
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Hyland Software
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Box
  • Box has been an only positive experience. It provides a seamless way for me and my team to collaborate on documents in such a way where we're not sending the document back/forth via email. It's a huge timesaver.
  • Box reduces the risk of sharing a sensitive document to the wrong person via email.
  • Box has provided a platform where my team can share notes in meetings - this has helped streamline and organize our meetings. Our meetings are more productive and actionable.
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Hyland Software
  • Instant document lookup - No paper files to mail which saves in all areas of postage, truck delivery, physical storage warehouse space, printing, etc
  • No longer losing important documents - Previously with paper files things would go missing and those could be costly reports/assessments.
  • Ability to secure documents and provide access to only those who should be allowed to see that content
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ScreenShots

Box Screenshots

Screenshot of In the Content Cloud, you get a single, secure, easy-to-use platform built for the entire content lifecycle, from file creation and sharing, to editing, signature, and retention.Screenshot of Keep your files safe with cloud-native security and compliance capabilities like granular access controls, watermarking, and classification. Stay proactive with Box Shield’s machine learning and the ability to set policies that detect threats.Screenshot of Power secure collaboration from anywhere with a central workspace to edit, review, and assign tasks.Screenshot of Integrate your tech stack across 1,500+ best-of-breed apps.Screenshot of Get e-signatures right where your content lives in Box. Power a simple, seamless signing experience for critical business documents like sales contracts and offer letters.Screenshot of Create workflows in minutes, so you spend more time on what matters most.

Alfresco Screenshots

Screenshot of Alfresco Control CenterScreenshot of Alfresco