Box vs Amazon S3

Box9.1Visit Amazon S38.9Visit

Higher score Box #2 in Cloud Storage Services 9.1/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 2 of 3 features Visit Box

vs

Amazon S3 #5 in Cloud Storage Services 8.9/10 From $0.02/mo ✓ 0 of 3 features Visit Amazon S3

• Box fits best

  Businesses needing storage plus workflow controls

• Amazon S3 fits best

  Developers and applications needing object storage

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Side by side

Feature	Box 9.1/10 Visit ↗	Amazon S3 8.9/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.1	8.9
Ranking	#2 in Cloud Storage Services	#5 in Cloud Storage Services
Best for	Businesses needing storage plus workflow controls	Developers and applications needing object storage
Pricing model	Free plan + paid	Paid
Starting price	—	From $0.02/mo
Free plan	✓ (best)	—
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud, Desktop, Mobile	Cloud
Platforms	Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android	Web
Integrations	1,500+ integrations	8 integrations
Features Box 2/3 · Amazon S3 0/3
File versioning	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Zero-knowledge encryption	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Business admin controls	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Specs
Storage limit	100 GB	Not checked yet
File size limit	2 GB	Not checked yet
Device platforms	windows, macos, ios, android	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Storage, sharing, version history, and offline access across major platforms Workflow automation, Box Sign, Box AI, and 1,500+ integrations Administrative controls including SSO, MFA, permissions, and audit logs	Lifecycle rules, versioning, retention controls, and replication REST API, SDK, CLI, and web console access Integrations across Lambda, Athena, CloudFront, and AWS tools
Cons	Individual limits uploads to 250 MB and includes one file version Business Starter requires a minimum of three users Advanced security, compliance, workflows, and controls require higher tiers	Paid-only service with usage-based billing Pricing varies by region, storage class, requests, and data transfer Access is centered on web and API-based workflows
Our verdict	Box is a cloud content management and storage platform for individuals, teams, and enterprises. It combines cloud file organization with sharing, shared links, collaboration, version history, restore options, desktop access through Box… Read the review →	Amazon S3 is a cloud object storage service for organizing, protecting, and retrieving data in buckets. It is suited to developers and applications that need storage for data lakes, backups, archives, analytics, content delivery, or… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Box — where it wins

  • Storage, sharing, version history, and offline access across major platforms
  • Workflow automation, Box Sign, Box AI, and 1,500+ integrations
  • Administrative controls including SSO, MFA, permissions, and audit logs

  Where it doesn't

  • Individual limits uploads to 250 MB and includes one file version
  • Business Starter requires a minimum of three users
  • Advanced security, compliance, workflows, and controls require higher tiers

• Amazon S3 — where it wins

  • Lifecycle rules, versioning, retention controls, and replication
  • REST API, SDK, CLI, and web console access
  • Integrations across Lambda, Athena, CloudFront, and AWS tools

  Where it doesn't

  • Paid-only service with usage-based billing
  • Pricing varies by region, storage class, requests, and data transfer
  • Access is centered on web and API-based workflows

• Box9.1/10 · Free plan

  A broad cloud storage platform for businesses that need content controls and workflow tools.

  Visit BoxFull verdict →
• Amazon S38.9/10 · From $0.02/mo

  A deep object-storage service for applications, analytics, backups, and archives.

  Visit Amazon S3Full verdict →