Files.com vs. Box Business

Overview of Files.com

Files.com is a U.S.-based cloud-native Managed File Transfer (MFT), automation, and integration platform that enables organizations to securely store, transfer, and share files between users, teams, and organizations. MFT technology provides the secure transfer of data efficiently and reliably compared to insecure technologies such as FTP and HTTP. Files.com provides a cloud-centric approach to file-based automations and integrations while emphasizing security, compliance, and data residency for business-critical file transfers and exchanges.

Files.com is primarily designed for business-critical MFT workloads. And it has been providing these services to enterprise customers for over 10 years now, servicing 6500+ global customers across key industries like healthcare, finance, media, technology, and more. Files.com acts as both a client and a server for SFTP, FTP, and Applicability Statement 2 (AS2) protocols. This allows you to easily connect to any partner, customer, or system without compromising security.

Key features and capabilities include: 

• Full custom domains, with custom SSL certificates and dedicated IP address
• Real-time and scheduled sync integrations with third-party storage services such as Amazon S3, Azure, Google Cloud, SharePoint, Box, Dropbox, and more.
• Bi-directional FTP/SFTP—which means Files.com can act as an FTP/SFTP client in addition to a server, enabling complex workflows.
• Provides native apps for high-performance internal transfers.
• Advanced automation and workflows, including bi-directional webhooks, GPG encryption/decryption, click wraps, and watermarking
• Enterprise Single Sign On (SSO) services that support all major SSO providers
• Out-of-the-box integration support for various third-party services and technologies
• Encryption at-rest and in-transit protects the confidentiality of data during storage and transfers.

Files.com offers a free 7-day trial with full access to the entire platform, including all integrations, automations, protocols, and APIs. When you’re ready to buy, your trial environment will seamlessly convert into your paid environment.

Overview of Box Business

Box is a U.S.-based cloud storage and file-sharing service for individuals and businesses.  The business edition known as Box Business is a full-featured product designed primarily to suit the needs of small and mid-size businesses and even enterprise customers. It brings together file storage and sharing, content management, collaboration, e-signature, publishing, password policy enforcement, compliance features, and workflow automation onto a single, secure, easy-to-use platform that simplifies how you work. Supported use cases include cloud Storage and backup, collaboration, cloud content management, remote work, file sharing, project management, large file transfer, and more.

Box also uses a client application to synchronize files and bring them together in one central place on Box’s cloud servers where they can be accessed from any device with an internet connection, but it does not compel them to download this client applications like others do. Instead, it lets them work completely online as if they so wish. However, you are at liberty to download and install desktop apps for Windows or macOS, as well as mobile apps. Box Business has mobile apps for Android and iOS, and you can also access your account in a mobile browser.

Box offers a variety of features, including the ability to create shared folders, collaborate on documents in real-time, and version control.

Other features and capabilities include, but are not limited to:

• Box Content Cloud empowers your teams to safely collaborate with anyone, using any productivity tool.
• Box Relay for automating common business processes and accelerating workflows
• Box Canvas for collaborating through chat, sticky notes, voting, and more
• Box Shield for native data leak protection (DLP) and cyber threat detection.
• Box Notes for creating structured project plans and schedules
• Box Shuttle for migrating your content into Box
• Box Sign for facilitating digital signatures
• Lots of add-on products for different industries and situations

A free 14-day trial of Box Business is available on request with full access to the available features. However, Box requires your payment card details to start off the trial period. But won’t be charged until your free trial ends, and you can cancel anytime.

Files.com Vs Box Business: How They Compare

Installation and Setup

Files.com is a SaaS-based MFT application, which means there are no installation hassles other than the usual sign-up process using an internet-connected device with a supported browser. Once the sign-up process is completed, your account will be activated instantly, and you can dive in and start exploring.

The admin portal makes onboarding easy and allows you to email invitations to new users. During this process, you can add users to groups with global share settings or define individual share access permissions. Desktop apps are available for Windows and macOS, and after users log into their account, it creates a mapped drive for swift access to shared cloud folders. Desktop apps extend your Windows or Mac devices with a Files.com drive, so you can open and save files in any application. A personal web portal provides access to private and shared folders, with options to upload and download files and folders.

Similarly, Box is also a SaaS-based file hosting and sharing application, which means there are also no installation hassles other than the usual routine sign-up process. The sign-up process begins with a trial period which basically involves providing your contact, payment card information, and billing address and then confirming your email, and you’re good to go. However, having to enter payment card information to kick-start the trial period can be a turn-off for some.

When you log in for the first time, you go through a guided feature and setup tour, including how to customize branding, how to invite and add users to the platform, how to create folders and files, and more. For those who want to keep a copy of the files locally, you can download the Box Sync client application to synchronize with the cloud storage.

Cloud Storage and Backup

Files.com isn’t really designed for online storage and backup, but it performs this function indirectly. It is primarily a cloud-based MFT application, which means its focus is on secure transfer of files. This also implies that the huge amount of file data that passes through the Files.com network for file transfers are also securely stored on their cloud storage servers. Uploading files, copying files, creating, or updating new versions all contribute to an addition in storage usage. In addition, Files.com also allows you to schedule sync integrations with 3rd party storage services such as Amazon S3, Azure, Google Cloud, SharePoint, Box, Dropbox, and more.

On the other hand, Box is a cloud storage and file-sharing service, which means data storage and backup service is part of its primary function. Box’s cloud storage and backup ensures you always have an online backup handy and can access data from anywhere. Box Business users have access to unlimited storage capacity depending on your subscription plan. Box has servers across multiple geographical regions across the globe to support your data residency regulatory requirements.

Collaboration and Sharing

The real power of Files.com is made manifest when it comes to business-critical Managed File Transfer workloads, Content Collaboration, and File Sharing. Some Files.com customers deploy the service to their entire organization, unifying MFT and File Sharing.  Others leverage the built-in integrations with SharePoint, Box, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, and others to build workflows and automations around content stored in another platform.

Files.com allows you to share individual files, groups of files, or entire folders via a unique secure link that functions as a bearer key. Once the link is generated, you can send it to the chosen recipient via email, chat, or any other method. In addition to the “Share Links” capability, Files.com also comes with user history logs, custom branding, built-in web hosting mode for hosting entire static websites (including JavaScript and CSS files) with web hosting features, share permissions that allow you to password protect, preview-only, add an expiration date, and even watermark the files you share.

One unique feature that makes Files.com stand out among the rest is the share link inbox, which is designed for receiving files uploaded by anonymous users from anywhere in the world. Imagine the simplicity of providing a hyperlink in an email or on your organization’s website for anyone needing to upload documents such as invoices, receipts, legal documents, reports, and more. All these are designed and executed in a way that does not compromise the security of other files or your site as a whole.

Box also distinguishes itself in the area of collaboration. The in-built Box Notes supports real-time collaboration where you can securely share ideas, take live notes online, and create structured project plans and schedules with people outside your company. And native Google Workspace and Office 365 support, allows you to create and edit Word documents, spreadsheets, and presentations directly in Box. Box also allows you to send a request to an external collaborator to upload a file directly to your Box cloud storage.

Hosting your files with Box means you can also share them easily with others.  Just like most file-sharing applications, Box allows you to securely share folders and documents with users across the internet by using links and custom URLs. You can also share via email or directly from the document, or even embed the link into your website; including the ability to set permissions such as who can access it, what you can do with it (including Editor and Viewer privileges), and for how long (file expiration dates), as well as allow or block file download. When you share documents or folders by email, the invitee will have to sign up for a Box Business account if they don’t already have a login. If you want to share with external users, you can do that via a public link, and unless they log in, the user can only view the document.

Integrations and Extensions

Files.com does not intend to replace your existing cloud file-sharing and collaboration solutions, rather, it wants to work with them. This is why it comes with out-of-the-box integrations with all key cloud providers such as Microsoft (Azure, SharePoint, OneDrive, Active Directory & Office), AWS (S3 & SNS), Google (Cloud & Drive), Box, Dropbox, Zapier, and dozens of others. Developers can also leverage Files.com native SDKs, API, and CLI tools to build custom integrations and connect to any folder located almost anywhere. and extend the capabilities of the application.

Just like Files.com, Box also wants to ensure that you have direct access to your favorite productivity apps. Box Business provides out-of-the-box integrations with cloud applications that your teams use most such as Office 365, G Suite, Adobe Creative Cloud, Zoom, Oracle NetSuite, Salesforce, and more. Box also integrates natively with leading security solutions such Okta, Webex, Broadcom, Splunk, MobileIron, and Palo Alto Networks. For those that want to build custom integrations, Box provides a user-accessible API that can be used to extend its capabilities and functionalities.

Security and Privacy

Files.com is loaded with lots of security features to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of data. The security features include encryption for data-at-rest and data-in-transit, four types of two-factor authentication, nine enterprise identity (SSO) integrations, and support for customer-managed GPG keys, SSH keys, and SSL certificates, built-in integrations with Yubikey, FIDO/U2F, Google Authenticator, Duo, Authy, and SMS. Highly configurable security settings include password policies, session policies, 2FA policies, and brute force rules. Files.com has servers across the globe and provides the option to configure the geographic region (and by extension, political jurisdiction) where your files will be stored in order to meet regulatory requirements.

Similarly, when it comes to security, Box ticks most of the boxes, including implementing zero trust architecture (ZTA) as a strategy to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data. Box is fully compliant with ISO 27001, ISO 27018, SOC1, and PCI DSS security standards. It uses SSL/TLS encryption for data-in-transit, and 256-bit AES for encrypting data-at-rest. Box Shield leverages machine learning for native data leak protection (DLP) and cyber threat detection. Box manages your encryption keys by default, meaning it has access to the key that decrypts your data. That makes Box easy to use, but slightly less secure than other services. But you can get around this by using an add-on called Box KeySafe which allows you to gain complete, independent control over your encryption keys. The only challenge here is that it isn’t free.

Licensing and Price Plans

Files.com offers affordable pricing options for businesses of all sizes. Its pricing plans are broken into Starter, Power, and Premier price plans as shown in the table below. Plan pricing is partially based on user count, which means that you must commit to a minimum number of users. Charges are based on one total monthly number called “Usage,” representing your total billable usage of the Files.com service. This “Usage” number is the sum of your “Storage Usage” and your “Transfer Usage”.

Table 1.0 | Files.com Pricing Plans

Box Business offers four different price tiers, ranging from Business to Business Plus, and from Enterprise to Enterprise Plus. No matter what plan you choose, the prices are charged per user per month, billed annually. Box Business cloud storage services pricing seems relatively higher compared to Files.com and other similar services. However, the Business Plus tier happens to be the most popular among users who want more than what the core Business plan offers but don’t want to invest in the more expensive Enterprise and Enterprise Plus tiers. Nonetheless, Box provides a robust file-sharing and cloud storage service with unlimited storage features that most businesses will find difficult to resist.