Box alternative for sharing files: TinyX vs Box
· TinyX · 7 min read
A client wants the final files by Friday, all 3 GB of them. Someone on your team says "just put it in Box", so you open Box's pricing page and find five business tiers, each with a three-user minimum, plus a free plan that stops at 250 MB per file.
That's usually the moment people start searching for a Box alternative. This post is for you if what you need is to send files to clients and know what happened to them afterwards, and not to run a company-wide content platform. We've compared TinyX with Box using the plans and limits both companies list today, and we've said where Box is the better product.
Which Box alternative you need depends on which Box plan you looked at
Box is two products under one name. There are single-user plans, and there are business plans for organisations.
On its pricing page, checked on 26 October 2026, Box lists a free Individual plan with 10 GB of storage and a 250 MB upload limit, and Personal Pro with 100 GB and a 5 GB upload limit. Business Starter is for up to 10 users, with 100 GB in total and a 2 GB upload limit.
From Business upwards, Box lists a minimum of three users on every plan. Business has unlimited storage and a 5 GB upload limit. Business Plus raises the upload limit to 15 GB, and Enterprise lists 50 GB.
So the real question is which of those you are comparing against. A free plan with a 250 MB ceiling won't carry a 3 GB delivery. Personal Pro will, as a single-user plan, and so will the business tiers, which are priced for teams.
What Box costs when you only want to share files
Box's pricing page leads with "from $5 per user/month". We haven't copied each plan's seat price into this post, because those are Box's numbers to state and they change. Check the current figure for the plan you'd need before you compare.
What we can say from the page is how the cost is built. Business and above are priced per user with a three-user floor, and on Business, external collaborators are paid accounts. Box does let you share a link with someone who has no Box account, and the page lists a monthly download allowance for open shared links: 10 GB per user on Individual plans and 2 TB per user on business plans.
TinyX lists flat monthly prices instead. Free is $0, Pro is $9 a month and Max is $29 a month, with no per-user figure on the pricing page.
Who can read the files you send
Box's pricing page lists SSL and at-rest encryption on its plans, along with SSO, two-factor authentication and an admin console. It doesn't list end-to-end encryption, so we won't claim anything about how Box handles keys beyond that.
When you turn on end-to-end encryption in TinyX, the file is encrypted in your browser with AES-256-GCM before upload. Your password and the key derived from it are never sent to us, so we store ciphertext and hold no key to open it. The features page shows the flow, and how TinyX encrypts your files goes into the detail.
There is one limit we state on our own security page and repeat here. The encryption runs in JavaScript that we serve, so it rules out us reading files we already hold, not a future change to the code we ship. If that matters for your threat model, encrypt files yourself before uploading.
File size and storage side by side
Upload limits are where a lot of Box comparisons go wrong, because Box's limit depends on the tier. Here are both sides as listed today.
| TinyX Free | TinyX Pro | TinyX Max | Box Individual (free) | Box Personal Pro | Box Business | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Largest single file | 150 MB | 1 GB | 5 GB | 250 MB | 5 GB | 5 GB |
| Storage | 10 GB | 100 GB | 300 GB | 10 GB | 100 GB | Unlimited |
Read the table by file size first. If your largest file is under 1 GB, TinyX Pro covers it. For anything up to 5 GB you are comparing TinyX Max with Box Personal Pro or Business. Past 5 GB, Box's higher tiers list 15 GB on Business Plus and 50 GB on Enterprise, and TinyX doesn't go there.
What Box does that TinyX doesn't
Box is the stronger product for running a company's documents, and it's worth being plain about that.
Box's pricing page lists SOC 1, SOC 2 and SOC 3 compliance support, FedRAMP Moderate, SSO, user management and an admin console, document watermarking, version history (50 versions on Business, unlimited on the top tiers), and built-in integrations with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Slack. It also lists Box Sign for e-signatures.
TinyX doesn't list any of that. It's built around individual accounts today, with white label for organisations that need several users. If your IT team needs SSO or audit reports, Box is the answer and you can stop reading here.
What you get for sending files to clients
TinyX is built for the other job: handing something to a person outside your organisation and keeping control of it afterwards.
You set a link to expire on a date or after a number of downloads, and when the limit hits, the file is deleted rather than archived. You can add a password, and the recipient needs no account. You attach a message that appears on the download page, and recipients can preview images and PDFs in the browser. Every short link records clicks by country, device and referrer in real time, and you can have a Slack or Discord webhook ping you when someone opens it.
Clients can also send files back through an upload link that is encrypted and password-protected. Box's pricing page doesn't list short links, QR codes or intake forms, and TinyX includes all three. If you're coming from Dropbox rather than Box, TinyX vs Dropbox covers the same ground, and our ShareFile alternative post does it for client portals.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good Box alternative for sharing files with clients?
It depends on what you send. If it's documents and deliverables for people outside your company, TinyX Pro is $9 a month with expiry, passwords and link tracking. If you need shared folders, SSO or compliance reports, stay with Box or look at another business platform, because TinyX doesn't offer those.
Is TinyX cheaper than Box?
TinyX lists flat prices of $0, $9 and $29 a month. Box prices its business plans per user with a three-user minimum, and its free single-user plan caps files at 250 MB. We haven't quoted Box's seat prices, so check the current figure for the plan you'd need. For a team that lives in shared folders, Box's pricing buys features TinyX doesn't have.
Does Box have a free plan?
Yes. Box's Individual plan is free for one user, with 10 GB of storage and a 250 MB upload limit. TinyX also has a free plan, and it includes password protection, upload links and 5 questionnaires, so you can try an expiring client link before paying for anything.
Does Box offer end-to-end encryption?
Box's pricing page lists SSL and at-rest encryption on its plans and doesn't list end-to-end encryption. TinyX encrypts in your browser when you turn on end-to-end encryption, and we hold no key for those files. Check Box's own documentation if key management is a requirement for you.
How big a file can I send with TinyX compared with Box?
The table above has both sets of limits. At the top end, TinyX Max and Box Business both list 5 GB per file, and above that Box lists 15 GB on Business Plus and 50 GB on Enterprise, so Box has the higher ceiling.
Can a team share one TinyX account?
TinyX is built around individual accounts today. Multiple internal users with separate credentials are available through white label, which you can ask us about. If several people need their own logins and permissions, Box's business plans are designed for that.
Where to start
Try TinyX Free with an expiry date set on your next client delivery. If your files are larger, compare Pro and Max on the pricing page, and see everything TinyX does on the features page.