This box vs dropbox vs sharepoint cost guide exists because most organisations end up paying for content storage more than once. SharePoint and OneDrive come bundled inside Microsoft 365. Box or Dropbox were often bought separately, sometimes years earlier, sometimes by a single department. The result is two or three platforms doing the same job, each with its own bill. The useful comparison is not which tool is best in the abstract, but which capability you already own and whether the separate contract still earns its keep.
As an independent, buyer side advisor with no relationship to any of these vendors and no commission, we have no stake in the answer. This guide feeds the wider digital workplace cost optimization effort, because duplicated content platforms are a textbook case of paying twice for the same thing.
What this box vs dropbox vs sharepoint cost guide compares
The useful comparison is not a feature scorecard. It is a cost view: the list price of each platform set against what you may already own. So this box vs dropbox vs sharepoint cost guide compares the per user pricing of Box and Dropbox with the SharePoint and OneDrive capability bundled into Microsoft 365, then asks the only question that saves money, which is whether the separately bought platform still earns its keep.
How do Box, Dropbox, and SharePoint price?
All three sell per user per month on annual terms, with storage and feature tiers stacked on top. As of June 2026, Box lists its Business plan around 15.00 US dollars per user per month and Dropbox lists Business Standard around 15.00 US dollars per user per month, both on annual billing (source: box.com and dropbox.com pricing pages, as of June 2026). SharePoint is included in Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise plans such as E3 and E5, so for organisations already on those plans there is no separate SharePoint licence to buy (source: microsoft.com Microsoft 365 plan pages, as of June 2026).
Pricing is from box.com, dropbox.com, and microsoft.com plan pages, as of June 2026, on annual billing. All three vendors revise pricing and packaging regularly and enterprise pricing is negotiated, so confirm against current quotes and your own agreements.
| Platform | Indicative list price | Already owned if |
|---|---|---|
| SharePoint and OneDrive | Included in Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 | You license Microsoft 365 |
| Box Business | Around 15.00 USD per user per month | Bought separately |
| Dropbox Business Standard | Around 15.00 USD per user per month | Bought separately |
Which one is cheapest?
For most organisations that license Microsoft 365, SharePoint and OneDrive are the cheapest option because they are already paid for. A separate Box or Dropbox contract is then an additional cost on top of capability you own. That does not automatically make Box or Dropbox wrong, but it does mean the separate contract has to justify itself against a tool that costs you nothing extra. The genuine cost question is rarely the list price. It is whether you are paying for two platforms when one would do.
When is a separate Box or Dropbox contract worth keeping?
There are real cases. External collaboration workflows, specific compliance or retention features, deep integration with a line of business application, or a large body of content and shared links that would be costly to migrate. Where one of these applies and adoption is genuine, keeping the separate platform can be the right call. The test is whether the capability is actually used and actually unavailable in what you already own, not whether the tool is liked.
How do you avoid paying twice for storage?
Start by confirming what you own. If you license Microsoft 365 E3 or E5, you already have SharePoint and OneDrive at enterprise scale. Then pull usage on the separate platform: how many people actively use Box or Dropbox, for what, and whether that work could move. Low usage plus full overlap with SharePoint points to retiring the separate contract at its next renewal. Genuine, heavy, distinct usage points to keeping it, ideally renegotiated. This is the same logic our Adobe Creative Cloud cost optimization work applies to creative licensing.
How should this feed the renewal?
Time any decision to the contract break. If you decide to consolidate onto SharePoint, retire Box or Dropbox at renewal rather than mid term, and plan the migration before the date. If you decide to keep the separate platform, use the overlap as leverage in the renewal conversation, because a vendor whose product duplicates something you already own has a weaker hand. Our Adobe vs Microsoft comparison for PDF and signing applies the same buyer side framing to documents and agreements.
Where to start
Start by listing what you pay for and what you already own. For most Microsoft 365 organisations the headline finding is that they hold a capable content platform inside a bundle they already buy, while also paying separately for Box or Dropbox. Confirm the overlap, pull the usage, and let the separate contract earn its place on evidence rather than inertia.