Box vs. Google Classroom

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Box
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Box is an online Intelligent Content Management solution that caters to individual users as well as businesses.
$21
per month 3 users (minimum)
Google Classroom
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
N/A
$0
per month
Pricing
BoxGoogle Classroom
Editions & Modules
Business Starter
$7
per month per user (3 minimum)
Business
$20
per month per user (3 minimum)
Business Plus
$33
per month per user (3 minimum)
Enterprise
$47
per month per user (3 minimum)
Enterprise Plus
$50
per month (billed annually) per user (3 minimum)
Enterprise Advanced
Contact us
per month per user (35 minimum)
Education Fundamentals
$0
per license/per month
Google Workspace for Education Standard
$3
per student/per year
Teaching and Learning Upgrade
$4
per license/per month
Google Workspace for Education Plus
$5
per student/per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BoxGoogle Classroom
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsA discount is available for annual pricing.Education Fundamentals Version - 30-day free trial for qualifying institutions.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BoxGoogle Classroom
Features
BoxGoogle Classroom
Enterprise Content Management
Comparison of Enterprise Content Management features of Product A and Product B
Box
7.6
26 Ratings
6% below category average
Google Classroom
-
Ratings
Content capture & imaging8.119 Ratings00 Ratings
File sync, storage & archiving9.725 Ratings00 Ratings
Document management8.424 Ratings00 Ratings
Records management7.020 Ratings00 Ratings
Content search & retrieval8.224 Ratings00 Ratings
Enterprise content collaboration8.021 Ratings00 Ratings
Content publishing & creation5.015 Ratings00 Ratings
Security, risk management & information governance8.226 Ratings00 Ratings
Contract lifecycle management8.912 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated workflows8.914 Ratings00 Ratings
Artificial intelligence2.011 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile support6.723 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration9.623 Ratings00 Ratings
Learning Management
Comparison of Learning Management features of Product A and Product B
Box
-
Ratings
Google Classroom
7.6
60 Ratings
8% below category average
Course authoring00 Ratings8.652 Ratings
Course catalog or library00 Ratings7.839 Ratings
Player/Portal00 Ratings7.338 Ratings
Learning content00 Ratings7.641 Ratings
Mobile friendly00 Ratings7.257 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications00 Ratings7.444 Ratings
Assignments00 Ratings7.558 Ratings
Compliance management00 Ratings7.334 Ratings
Learning administration00 Ratings7.546 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics00 Ratings7.342 Ratings
Social learning00 Ratings8.551 Ratings
Gamification00 Ratings4.98 Ratings
Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning00 Ratings9.512 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BoxGoogle Classroom
Small Businesses
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.7 out of 10
iSpring LMS
iSpring LMS
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
MediaValet
MediaValet
Score 9.0 out of 10
Schoology Learning
Schoology Learning
Score 8.0 out of 10
Enterprises
MediaValet
MediaValet
Score 9.0 out of 10
Schoology Learning
Schoology Learning
Score 8.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BoxGoogle Classroom
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(154 ratings)
8.5
(77 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(12 ratings)
10.0
(4 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(21 ratings)
8.5
(8 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(5 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(12 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.5
(29 ratings)
1.9
(14 ratings)
In-Person Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
10.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(6 ratings)
2.0
(2 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BoxGoogle Classroom
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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Google
Google Classroom allows teachers to post for daily lessons and assignments. It also allows teachers to be able to communicate with students easily outside of class. Students are able to stay connected and know where to find all information and resources easily in a streamlined manner for all of their classes.
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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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Google
  • Student-teacher communication - I love using Classroom for this because my students can always go back and check what was on Classroom by looking through the stream. This way they don't have to go dig through emails to find what they're looking for.
  • Posting to multiple classes - I can post the same announcement or assignment to multiple classes at once without having to repeat the process or send separate emails.
  • Streamlining grading - when students turn work in on Classroom, it all goes to one place and then when I'm grading I can open their documents directly from Classroom or my Drive folder. This way, I'm not looking through emails and Google Doc shared files for their assignment.
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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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Google
  • The content management of the Classroom is not that good. The sub-section for notes, syllabus, or discussion is missing.
  • It doesn't have parental control feature.
  • It converts the excel output into a normal file. All the formulas and pivots got changed into plain text.
Read full review
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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Google
Testing is particularly important in online learning, and Google Classroom falls far short of other learning management systems in this regard. Security is also a concern: while account control is reasonable for the account used with Google Classroom, the person controlling a particular account is often able to, for example, forward or download proprietary materials.
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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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Google
Simple design and seamless integration with Google tools and drive, but missing some key features. However, since it is limited in overall functions and ability to truly personalize / customize, it is quite user friendly and easy to set up and get going, other than sending out the code to your course or dropping students in via their gmail account. Users of Google Forms and sites will find the layout similar in design.
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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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Google
We have had very little trouble in accessing Google Classroom. Our issues, if any, have risen from our server and not the Google servers.
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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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Google
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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Google
Since this platform is provided by Google, the technical support is better than any others, and we are not required to bother about the space constraints for adding the contents. If we have a good uninterrupted internet facility we can access Google Classroom without any delay or lag. They have app support in both Android and iPhone.
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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.
Read full review
Google
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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Google
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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Google
It was relatively easy to implement due to the simplicity of the platform. Even our more technology challenged teachers found it easy to get started with Google Classroom.
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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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Google
I haven't tested or evaluated another digital classroom website or application. I feel like Google Classroom is convenient for many reasons such as compatibility to Google docs, slides, etc. I also love the ability to link to YouTube and other sites. I don't know if there would be a site that is easier to maneuver.
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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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Google
It is very easy to push out this program across our buildings. Teachers are able to use it without much trouble.
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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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Google
  • Students are able to continue learning in a remote environment
  • Parents have a single, consistent organization structure to make it easy to track assignments and progress for multiple children
  • Much better solution than the quickly assembled Zoom-and-gloom of the previous spring when school abruptly went remote with no planning
Read full review
ScreenShots

Box Screenshots

Screenshot of an overview of Box's intelligent content management platform. It provides a unified, AI-powered approach to managing and securing your unstructured data, or content. ICM provides organizations with collaboration, AI, security, compliance, and workflow tools, interoperable and customizable, to get the most from their content.Screenshot of how with Box AI, AI can be accessed right where enterprise content exists. While that work can reside within Microsoft, Google, Apple, and other productivity suites, Box helps users to tap the full potential of AI for unstructured data.Screenshot of how Box creates a central workspace to edit, review, and assign tasks. Users can automate business processes and centralize content workflows in Box, including a configurable content submission, unlimited e-signatures, user-drive no-code workflow, and task assignment to power approvals.Screenshot of how Box secures content from threats, including malware and ransomware, and recover from attacks if they happen. This helps to maintain a zero trust architecture to ensure proper usage of corporate data, and prevent data theft.Screenshot of how Box can connect to any productivity suite, including Microsoft, Google, and Apple. This extends any existing security investments with integrations into key DLP, SIEM, and network security tools. Thus, seamless experiences can be built for users in any system they use, whether that’s a business tool like Salesforce or ServiceNow, or communications engines like Zoom and Slack.Screenshot of an overview describing Box's scalability. With unlimited storage capabilities Box has an exabyte (1,000PB) of customer data plus 1 gigabit per second upload and download speed. At its core, Box is a multi-tenant global SaaS platform with enterprise-grade reliability and end-to-end encryption to secure content.