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File Storage · head to head

Box vs Cloudflare R2

Box logo

Box

File Storage

Cloud content management for the enterprise

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Cloudflare R2 logo

Cloudflare R2

File Storage

S3-compatible object storage that charges nothing for egress to the internet

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Box pricing not disclosed for Personal Pro, Business Plus, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus tiers; Cloudflare R2 there is no archive tier below Infrequent Access, so genuinely cold data costs roughly ten to fifteen times what it would cost in a deep archive class and there is nowhere cheaper to lifecycle it to.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Box and Cloudflare R2 actually diverge.

Attributes where Box and Cloudflare R2 differ
AttributeBoxCloudflare R2
Pricing modelsubscriptionPer gigabyte stored per month
PlatformsWebWeb, API

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (File Storage).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Box

Nothing recorded that Cloudflare R2 does not also cover.

Only in Cloudflare R2

  • Zero egress billing
  • S3 API compatibility
  • Worker binding
  • Jurisdictional restriction
  • Infrequent Access tier
  • Custom domain serving

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Box

  • Enterprise cloud file storage and collaborationnot Cloudflare R2
  • Document management with AI capabilitiesnot Cloudflare R2
  • API integration for business automationnot Cloudflare R2

Cloudflare R2

  • Serving a large media or asset library to the public where transfer out, not storage, is the dominant costnot Box
  • Hosting a container or artefact registry that thousands of CI runners pull from every daynot Box
  • Distributing model weights or open datasets that are downloaded far more often than they are updatednot Box
  • Moving off S3 specifically to stop paying data transfer charges on a read heavy bucketnot Box

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Box

  • Pricing not disclosed for Personal Pro, Business Plus, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus tiers
  • Enterprise Advanced requires quote and minimum purchase commitments
  • File upload limits vary from 250 MB to 500 GB across tiers
  • Business plan requires minimum 3 users

Cloudflare R2

  • There is no archive tier below Infrequent Access, so genuinely cold data costs roughly ten to fifteen times what it would cost in a deep archive class and there is nowhere cheaper to lifecycle it to.
  • Class A operations are billed at 4.50 USD per million, so a workload that writes millions of small objects can spend more on operations than on the storage those objects occupy.
  • Infrequent Access carries both a retrieval fee and a thirty day minimum storage duration, so data that is deleted or re-read sooner ends up more expensive than if it had stayed on Standard.
  • You choose a location hint rather than a region, so you cannot prove to an auditor which datacentre holds an object unless you use a jurisdiction restricted bucket, and jurisdictions are limited.
  • Support level follows your Cloudflare account plan rather than the storage spend, so a team on a low tier account gets ticket support with no storage specific SLA, and an R2 incident is a Cloudflare incident you cannot fail over from because the free egress only exists inside Cloudflare.

Pricing, plan by plan

Box

Free
  • IndividualFree
    • 10 GB storage
    • 250 MB file upload limit
    • 1 file version
  • Business$5/month
    • Unlimited storage
    • 5 GB file upload
    • 25 file versions
  • Enterprise$null/month
    • Unlimited storage
    • 50 GB file upload
    • 1,000 AI Units per month
  • Enterprise Plus$null/month
    • Unlimited storage
    • 150 GB file upload
    • 2,000 AI Units per month

Cloudflare R2

Free
  • Free tierFree
    • 10 GB stored per month
    • 1 million Class A operations
    • 10 million Class B operations
  • Standard$0.015/month
    • Per gigabyte stored per month
    • 4.50 USD per million Class A operations
    • 0.36 USD per million Class B operations
  • Infrequent Access$0.01/month
    • Per gigabyte stored per month
    • Per gigabyte data retrieval fee
    • Thirty day minimum storage duration

Which should you pick?

Choose Box if

  • You want to start without paying.
Box review

Choose Cloudflare R2 if

  • You need zero egress billing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want s3 api compatibility.
Cloudflare R2 review

Questions people ask

Is Box or Cloudflare R2 better?
Neither clearly leads. Box starts at Free and Cloudflare R2 at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Box or Cloudflare R2?
Box starts at Free and Cloudflare R2 at Free.
Does Box or Cloudflare R2 run on more platforms?
Box runs on Web. Cloudflare R2 runs on Web, API.
Can I use Box for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Box best used for?
Box is most often used for enterprise cloud file storage and collaboration, document management with ai capabilities, api integration for business automation. Of those, enterprise cloud file storage and collaboration and document management with ai capabilities are not what Cloudflare R2 is typically brought in for.
What can Box do that Cloudflare R2 cannot?
Cloudflare R2 covers Zero egress billing, S3 API compatibility, Worker binding, Jurisdictional restriction.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Box: What is the starting price for Box Business plan?

Business plan starts at $5 per user per month with unlimited storage, 5 GB file uploads, and Box AI included.

Source
Cloudflare R2: Is egress really free, with no hidden transfer charge?

Yes for data served out of R2 to the internet. You still pay per operation for the requests that serve it, and if you pull data into R2 from another provider you pay that provider the egress on the way in.

Box: Does the free plan support file sharing?

Yes, Individual free plan includes 10 GB storage, 250 MB file uploads, and 5 Box Sign signature requests per month.

Source
Cloudflare R2: How does the total cost compare with S3 for a public download bucket?

Storage is more expensive per terabyte than S3 Infrequent Access, but S3 charges roughly 90 USD per terabyte served. Any bucket that serves more than about a fifth of its stored volume each month is cheaper on R2.

Box: What are the file upload limits by tier?

File upload limits are 250 MB (Individual), 5 GB (Business), 50 GB (Enterprise), 150 GB (Enterprise Plus), and 500 GB (Enterprise Advanced).

Source
Cloudflare R2: Can I use R2 without using the rest of Cloudflare?

Yes, it works through the plain S3 API from anywhere. You lose the Worker binding and the free CDN caching in front of it, which is where a lot of the practical benefit sits.

Box: How is AI priced in Box?

Business plan includes Box AI at no extra cost; Enterprise tiers include 1,000-20,000 AI Units per month depending on plan level.

Source
Cloudflare R2: Does R2 have a cold archive class like Glacier?

No. Infrequent Access is the coldest tier, at two thirds of the Standard rate plus retrieval fees.

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