Box vs. Remote Desktop Services

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Box
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Box is an online Intelligent Content Management solution that caters to individual users as well as businesses.
$20
per month 3 users (minimum)
Remote Desktop Services
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
Remote Desktop Services from Microsoft is virtual desktop and remote user session technology.N/A
Pricing
BoxRemote Desktop Services
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)
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BoxRemote Desktop Services
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsA discount is available for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BoxRemote Desktop Services
Features
BoxRemote Desktop Services
Enterprise Content Management
Comparison of Enterprise Content Management features of Product A and Product B
Box
7.6
26 Ratings
6% below category average
Remote Desktop Services
-
Ratings
Content capture & imaging8.119 Ratings00 Ratings
File sync, storage & archiving9.725 Ratings00 Ratings
Document management8.424 Ratings00 Ratings
Records management7.120 Ratings00 Ratings
Content search & retrieval8.324 Ratings00 Ratings
Enterprise content collaboration8.021 Ratings00 Ratings
Content publishing & creation5.015 Ratings00 Ratings
Security, risk management & information governance8.326 Ratings00 Ratings
Contract lifecycle management9.012 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated workflows9.014 Ratings00 Ratings
Artificial intelligence2.011 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile support6.823 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration9.623 Ratings00 Ratings
Remote Administration
Comparison of Remote Administration features of Product A and Product B
Box
-
Ratings
Remote Desktop Services
4.5
5 Ratings
55% below category average
Screen sharing00 Ratings7.85 Ratings
File transfer00 Ratings4.45 Ratings
Instant message00 Ratings1.01 Ratings
Secure remote access with Smart Card authentication00 Ratings6.12 Ratings
Access to sleeping/powered-off computers00 Ratings1.32 Ratings
Over-the-Internet remote session00 Ratings6.05 Ratings
Initiate remote control from mobile00 Ratings3.44 Ratings
Remote management of servers & workstations00 Ratings7.74 Ratings
Remote Active Directory® management00 Ratings8.24 Ratings
Centralized management dashboard00 Ratings2.53 Ratings
Session record00 Ratings2.53 Ratings
Monitoring and Alerts00 Ratings3.43 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BoxRemote Desktop Services
Small Businesses
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.7 out of 10
Getscreen.me
Getscreen.me
Score 9.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
MediaValet
MediaValet
Score 9.0 out of 10
Remote Desktop Manager
Remote Desktop Manager
Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises
MediaValet
MediaValet
Score 9.0 out of 10
Remote Desktop Manager
Remote Desktop Manager
Score 9.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BoxRemote Desktop Services
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(154 ratings)
7.6
(19 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(12 ratings)
6.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
8.1
(21 ratings)
7.1
(4 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(12 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.5
(29 ratings)
3.0
(1 ratings)
In-Person Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
10.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(1 ratings)
5.0
(1 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
BoxRemote Desktop Services
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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Microsoft
This is well-suited if you need to log in to a remote machine on occasion to make updates or change configurations. It is also good for a production environment or for environments where people need to log in to use common applications, so you don't need to install the application on each individual client.
Read full review
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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Microsoft
  • When you connect with RDS, everything looks and feels (and is) exactly like you're sitting at that desktop. This is great for us and for users.
  • You can sign in with RDS and the desktop will be the same as when you left it (if you choose to set it up that way).
  • Although they take some setup, RemoteApps are a very handy way to let users access a program without requiring them to actually connect to a remote desktop on the server.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Remote Desktop Services currently does not support multiple monitors on the terminal server. Unlike other applications such as Teamviewer, there's no feature to toggle between multiple screens even if they were connected to the terminal server.
  • Remote Desktop Services should provide an option to scale up or down the screen size after a connection is established. Currently you can only adjust the screen size prior to a connection is established. So you'll have to take a best guess at what display screen resolution will fit best on your screen.
  • Remote Desktop Services should offer some kind of menu to send special key strokes like Ctrl+Alt+Del to the terminal server. Currently the substitute for that particular combination is Ctrl+Alt+End. But I have yet to discover a replacement for other combination keystrokes such as Alt+PrintScrn.
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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
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
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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Microsoft
The initial setup for Remote Desktop Services is complex, and licensing is costly. Each user connects to their virtual desktop hosted by a single server or group of servers, so a change or issue with servers quickly impacts every single user at the same time. Aside from that, users appreciate seeing their same personal desktop from any device or geographical location.
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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.
Read full review
Microsoft
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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Microsoft
There are some third party tools available that allow you to manage multiple connections.
Read full review
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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Microsoft
As with any Microsoft Server product, support for Remote Desktop Services requires a paid support package. These are license-based and very costly, on top of the already costly product licensing. Microsoft's licensing is complicated to begin with, so setting up licensing alone essentially requires a licensing expert's counsel. There is community documentation and support available on Microsoft websites, as well as community websites.
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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
Microsoft
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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Microsoft
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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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
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).
Read full review
Microsoft
We selected Remote Desktop Services based upon price alone. Other solutions on the market are significantly more expensive, but if your company can foot the bill you should seriously consider products that have been on the market for longer. The lack of an ability to easily upgrade farm servers has been a challenge for us - although it is still faster than updating an application on 2000+ machines. The lack of a centralized management console in 2008 R2 is also challenging, but you get by with the tools available to you. If you don't have the money to spend on Citrix or VMWare Horizon, Remote Desktop Services is a decent replacement.
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Scalability
Box
It's great, as we put more files on there it's done very well.
Read full review
Microsoft
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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Microsoft
  • Allowed remote users access from home
  • Shared file access for multipolar users from a centralized location
  • Cost to add additional users when maxed out
  • Purchase multiple licenses for programs to run in virtual machines. Or unable to run on a virtual machine
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.