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Software · head to head

Box vs Vagrant

Box logo

Box

Software

Cloud content management for the enterprise

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Vagrant logo

Vagrant

Software

Development environments made easy

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Vagrant has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Box all Business and Enterprise plans require a minimum of 3 users; Vagrant vagrant 2.4.3 and later is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1 with IBM Corporation as licensor, not an OSI open source licence

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Box and Vagrant actually diverge.

Attributes where Box and Vagrant differ
AttributeBoxVagrant
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionopen-source
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebLinux, Windows, Mac
FoundedUnknown2010

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

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 Vagrant does not also cover.

Only in Vagrant

  • Box management
  • Provider support
  • Multi-machine setups
  • Provisioners
  • Networking
  • Synced folders
  • Snapshots
  • Plugins

What people use each for

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

Box

No use cases recorded yet. See the Box review.

Vagrant

  • Reproducible local development environments defined in a Vagrantfilenot Box
  • Provisioning identical VMs across VirtualBox, VMware and Hyper-V for a teamnot Box
  • Sandboxing multi-machine setups on a developer laptopnot Box

Where each one falls short

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

Box

  • All Business and Enterprise plans require a minimum of 3 users
  • Business Starter ($5/user/month) caps at 100 GB of shared storage across the whole account and a 2 GB per file upload limit
  • Enterprise Plus requires annual billing, and Enterprise Advanced's exact price is not published on the pricing page

Vagrant

  • Vagrant 2.4.3 and later is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1 with IBM Corporation as licensor, not an OSI open source licence
  • The Additional Use Grant forbids offering Vagrant to third parties on a hosted or embedded basis in a paid product that competes with IBM's paid versions of Vagrant
  • Each version converts to the MPL 2.0 Change License only four years after that version is first published
  • Uses that fall outside the Additional Use Grant require a separately negotiated licence from the licensor

Pricing, plan by plan

Box

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Box review.

Vagrant

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Development environment provisioning
    • Multiple providers
    • Provisioner support

Which should you pick?

Choose Box if

Nothing in the data separates Box from Vagrant on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Box review

Choose Vagrant if

  • You need box management.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, Mac.
  • You also want provider support.
Vagrant review

Questions people ask

Is Box or Vagrant better?
Neither clearly leads. Box starts at On request and Vagrant at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Box or Vagrant?
Vagrant has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Box and Free for Vagrant.
Does Box or Vagrant run on more platforms?
Box runs on Web. Vagrant runs on Linux, Windows, Mac.
Can I use Vagrant for free?
Yes. Vagrant has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Box starts at On request.
What can Box do that Vagrant cannot?
Vagrant covers Box management, Provider support, Multi-machine setups, Provisioners.
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