Google Drive vs Box
A side-by-side look at what Google Drive and Box publish about pricing, plans and features.
This page sets the two products' recorded data side by side. It is not an editorial review — nobody has tested either product for this page, and the figures below are not independently verified. Read how we handle data and what each label means.
| Field | Google Drive | Box |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Cloud Storage | Cloud Storage |
| Entry price | $2/mo | $5/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | 14-day trial |
| Tagged for | Freelancers | Enterprise |
| G2 rating unverified | 4.7 / 5 | 4.2 / 5 |
| Capterra rating unverified | 4.8 / 5 | 4.4 / 5 |
Where they differ
- Entry pricing recorded here is $2/month for Google Drive and $5/month for Box. Plan structures differ, so these are not like-for-like — check both pricing pages before comparing totals.
Head to head
Google Drive
Google Drive is storage fused with creation: Docs, Sheets and Slides live natively inside it, and 15 GB free makes it the default personal cloud. Real-time collaboration and search that actually finds things remain its everyday superpowers, with Gemini features layering on summarization. The desktop sync client trails Dropbox's refinement, and privacy-sensitive organizations sometimes look elsewhere, but its value at Workspace prices is hard to argue with.
Storage tied to Google's productivity suite.
What we record about Google Drive →Reported strengths
- Generous free tier
- Workspace integration
- Great collaboration
Reported drawbacks
- Privacy concerns
- Sync app basic
Box
Box long ago stopped competing on consumer storage and rebuilt itself as enterprise content management: granular permissions, retention policies, compliance certifications (HIPAA, FedRAMP) and workflow automation via Box Relay. Box AI now queries documents conversationally. It is the choice when legal and IT set the requirements — collaboration features are solid but the consumer-grade polish of Drive or Dropbox is not the point.
Secure content management for business.
What we record about Box →Reported strengths
- Strong security
- Good admin controls
- Enterprise-ready
Reported drawbacks
- Less consumer-friendly
- Sync can lag