Is Box or VAST Data better?

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

Which is cheaper, Box or VAST Data?

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

Does Box or VAST Data run on more platforms?

Box runs on Web. VAST Data runs on Linux.

Can I use Box for free?

Yes. Box has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. VAST Data 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 VAST Data is typically brought in for.

What can Box do that VAST Data cannot?

VAST Data covers Disaggregated architecture, Similarity-based reduction, All-flash single tier, Multi-protocol access.

File Storage · head to head

Box vs VAST Data

Box

File Storage

Cloud content management for the enterprise

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

VAST Data

File Storage

All-flash storage designed to make hard disk tiers unnecessary

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; VAST Data data reduction ratios drive the economics, and datasets that are already compressed, such as media or encrypted files, reduce poorly and destroy the cost per terabyte case.
Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Box and VAST Data actually diverge.

Attributes where Box and VAST Data differ
Attribute	Box	VAST Data
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 VAST Data does not also cover.

Only in VAST Data

Disaggregated architecture
Similarity-based reduction
All-flash single tier
Multi-protocol access
Wide erasure coding
GPU-oriented throughput
Snapshots and replication

What people use each for

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

Box

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

VAST Data

A GPU training cluster where storage throughput, not compute, is the bottleneck on job completionnot Box
A genomics group holding petabytes of sequencing output that must stay immediately readable rather than archived to tapenot Box
A quantitative finance team running backtests over historical market data that a disk tier cannot serve fast enoughnot Box
An organisation consolidating a fast tier and an archive tier into one system to reduce rack space and power drawnot 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

VAST Data

Data reduction ratios drive the economics, and datasets that are already compressed, such as media or encrypted files, reduce poorly and destroy the cost per terabyte case.
There is a minimum viable cluster size, so the entry cost is high and the platform is not sensible for a small footprint however attractive the architecture is.
Pricing is quoted against effective capacity after reduction, which means the price you signed depends on an assumption about your own data that only becomes measurable after deployment.
The platform has expanded into database and data catalogue functions, which broadens the roadmap but means buyers evaluating it as a file system must be careful not to be sold an adjacent product they will not use.
As a relatively young vendor in a market of long-lived incumbents, buyers with ten year retention requirements should press on long term support commitments and hardware availability rather than assume them.

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

VAST Data

On request

VAST Data Platform$undefined/year
- Priced per usable capacity after data reduction
- Hardware and software sold together or via certified partners
- Subscription and capital purchase options

Which should you pick?

Choose Box if

You want to start without paying.

Box review

Choose VAST Data if

You need disaggregated architecture.
You work on Linux.
You also want similarity-based reduction.

VAST Data review

Questions people ask

Is Box or VAST Data better?: Neither clearly leads. Box starts at Free and VAST Data at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Box or VAST Data?: Box has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Box and On request for VAST Data.
Does Box or VAST Data run on more platforms?: Box runs on Web. VAST Data runs on Linux.
Can I use Box for free?: Yes. Box has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. VAST Data 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 VAST Data is typically brought in for.
What can Box do that VAST Data cannot?: VAST Data covers Disaggregated architecture, Similarity-based reduction, All-flash single tier, Multi-protocol access.

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

VAST Data: Do we still need an archive tier?

That is the central claim, and it holds when your data reduces well. Run a reduction assessment on your actual dataset before accepting the economics.

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

VAST Data: How is capacity priced?

On usable capacity after data reduction, quoted rather than published. That makes the reduction ratio assumption the most important number in the contract.

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

VAST Data: Is it suitable for a small deployment?

No. There is a minimum cluster size and the entry cost reflects it. Small footprints are better served elsewhere.

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 VAST Data

Box

VAST Data

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Box

Only in VAST Data

What people use each for

Box

VAST Data

Where each one falls short

Box

VAST Data

Pricing, plan by plan

Box

VAST Data

Which should you pick?

Choose Box if

Choose VAST Data if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Box

More on VAST Data

Keep looking

Other head to heads