Is Box or Cloudian better?

Neither clearly leads. Box starts at Free and Cloudian at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Box or Cloudian?

Box has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Box and On request for Cloudian.

Does Box or Cloudian run on more platforms?

Box runs on Web. Cloudian runs on Linux.

Can I use Box for free?

Yes. Box has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Cloudian starts at On request.

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 Cloudian is typically brought in for.

What can Box do that Cloudian cannot?

Cloudian covers S3 API compatibility, Object Lock, Erasure coding, Multi-tenancy.

File Storage · head to head

Box vs Cloudian

Box

File Storage

Cloud content management for the enterprise

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Cloudian

File Storage

S3-compatible on-premises object storage with object lock immutability

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Box has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Box pricing not disclosed for Personal Pro, Business Plus, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus tiers; Cloudian you operate the hardware, so capacity planning, firmware, node failures and a refresh cycle every five years return as costs that a public cloud bill hides.
Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Box and Cloudian actually diverge.

Attributes where Box and Cloudian differ
Attribute	Box	Cloudian
Starting price	Free	On request
Pricing model	subscription	quote
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	Web	Linux

Identical on both: 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 Cloudian does not also cover.

Only in Cloudian

S3 API compatibility
Object Lock
Erasure coding
Multi-tenancy
Hybrid tiering
HyperStore appliances

What people use each for

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

Box

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

Cloudian

A backup team needing an immutable target so a compromised administrator account cannot delete the backupsnot Box
An organisation restoring hundreds of terabytes regularly where public cloud egress charges make cloud storage untenablenot Box
A university or government body with data residency rules preventing use of public cloud object storagenot Box
A media archive holding petabytes of finished content where per-terabyte capital cost beats per-gigabyte monthly cloud feesnot 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

Cloudian

You operate the hardware, so capacity planning, firmware, node failures and a refresh cycle every five years return as costs that a public cloud bill hides.
Per-terabyte licensing plus servers means high upfront cost, and the crossover point against public cloud only arrives at meaningful scale, typically hundreds of terabytes and up.
S3 compatibility is high but not identical to Amazon, so occasional applications depending on newer or less common S3 features need testing rather than assumption.
Small deployments need a minimum node count for erasure coding to be meaningful, which sets a practical floor on entry cost regardless of how little data you have.
Performance is object storage performance, so it is not a substitute for block or high-throughput file storage and buyers occasionally deploy it for the wrong workload.

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

Cloudian

On request

Cloudian HyperStore$undefined/year
- Licensed per usable terabyte, subscription or perpetual
- Software-only on your hardware or as Cloudian appliances
- No egress or API request charges

Which should you pick?

Choose Box if

You want to start without paying.

Box review

Choose Cloudian if

You need s3 api compatibility.
You work on Linux.
You also want object lock.

Cloudian review

Questions people ask

Is Box or Cloudian better?: Neither clearly leads. Box starts at Free and Cloudian at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Box or Cloudian?: Box has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Box and On request for Cloudian.
Does Box or Cloudian run on more platforms?: Box runs on Web. Cloudian runs on Linux.
Can I use Box for free?: Yes. Box has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Cloudian starts at On request.
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 Cloudian is typically brought in for.
What can Box do that Cloudian cannot?: Cloudian covers S3 API compatibility, Object Lock, Erasure coding, Multi-tenancy.

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

Cloudian: Does object lock really stop ransomware deleting backups?

Within the retention period, yes, provided the lock is set in compliance mode. That is precisely why it is the common answer to backup-targeting ransomware.

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

Cloudian: Are there egress charges?

No. That is the central cost argument against public cloud object storage, and it only becomes visible when you have to restore at volume.

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

Cloudian: Can we use our own servers?

Yes, HyperStore is software-defined and runs on qualified commodity hardware, or you can buy Cloudian appliances if you would rather not certify your own.

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

Box vs Cloudian

Box

Cloudian

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Box

Only in Cloudian

What people use each for

Box

Cloudian

Where each one falls short

Box

Cloudian

Pricing, plan by plan

Box

Cloudian

Which should you pick?

Choose Box if

Choose Cloudian if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Box

More on Cloudian

Keep looking

Other head to heads