Box vs SeedDMS

Box is a file storage and collaboration service available on Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows. Its listed capabilities include file versioning and business administration controls. Named plans range from Individual, with 10 GB of storage, 250 MB uploads, one file version, and five signature requests per month, to Personal Pro, with 100 GB, 5 GB uploads, 10 versions, and 15 monthly signature requests. Business Starter lists 100 GB, 2 GB uploads, 25 versions, and up to 10 users. Business, Business Plus, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus offer unlimited storage; their upload limits are 5 GB, 15 GB, 50 GB, and 150 GB, respectively. These business tiers require at least three users and list monthly API call allowances of 50K for the first two and 100K for the Enterprise tiers. Box was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.

SeedDMS is a free, open-source document management system with a web interface for small and medium-sized enterprises. It can handle uses from private document storage to enterprise workflow management, including invoices, documentation, learning materials, email, and photos. Document features include version storage, user and group management, access control lists, full-text search, and WebDAV. Workflows support document review, approval, and revision; version 6.0.x also adds role-based restrictions on operations. SeedDMS is based on PHP and supports MySQL, SQLite3, PostgreSQL, and MariaDB. It can be self-hosted on public or private servers, and Docker images are available. Listed extensions include Collabora Office, ONLYOFFICE, Tesseract OCR, Tika, Etherpad, HedgeDoc, and Paperless-ngx. The feature list also includes a REST API and Prometheus metrics. Extensions offer virus scanning and passkey authentication, though no security certification or compliance standard is stated. The download page lists 6.0.x and 5.1.x branches and recommends 6.0.x for new installations. SeedDMS costs nothing.