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Forum Discussion
Why have there been changes to Dropbox Advanced / Business Plus subscriptions?
Dear Dropbox Team,
I hope this message finds you well. I am writing as a long-term subscriber to the Dropbox Advanced / Business Plus plan, which my organization has used since 2017 primarily for file storage (completed projects, library, work hour records, etc.) and file sharing among 2–3 users working on active projects.
Over the years, we have observed significant changes to the plan's conditions and pricing, which I would like to bring to your attention:
Subscription History:
• 2017–2021: €540/year, with unlimited storage included.
• 2022: Updated to €648/year (+€108/year), still with unlimited storage.
• 2023 onward: Maintained at €648/year, but unlimited storage was replaced by a fixed limit:
15 TB of paid storage (covering 3 licenses and all add-ons).
An additional 11 TB valid only until October 31, 2028.
Cost Analysis:
If we compare these costs with external hard drive solutions:
• An 8 TB Seagate Barracuda external drive currently costs less than €150.
• 16 TB = 2 drives (€300), 24 TB = 3 drives (€450), 32 TB = 4 drives (€600).
Over the years, our total Dropbox expenses are as follows:
• 2017–2023: €4,644 (5 × €540 + 3 × €648). Equivalent to 240 TB in external storage (30 drives).
• 2017–2028: Projected total €6,588 (5 × €540 + 6 × €648). Equivalent to 344 TB in external storage (43 drives).
This raises the question: by 2028, after paying €6,588, we will only have access to 15 TB of permanent storage on the Business Plus plan, which is less competitive compared to other cloud / storage solutions.
Policy Impact on Loyal Customers:
We understand that some users have misused unlimited storage plans.
However, the response to restrict storage capacity significantly impacts regular users who have adhered to fair usage practices. It feels unjust for loyal subscribers of 8+ years to bear the brunt of these policy changes.
Request for Consideration:
I kindly ask Dropbox to internally escalate this concern and reconsider its storage policy for Business Plus customers. Long-term subscribers deserve a fair and competitive offering that acknowledges their loyalty and business needs with the following adjustments:
• Revise the storage limit by gradually increasing the storage for Business Plus subscribers according to their needs.
• Evaluate individual cases to ensure that customers like us, who have used the service responsibly, are not unfairly penalized.
I am confident that Dropbox values its long-term customers and will take steps to ensure we receive a fair and competitive offering that aligns with our ongoing needs.
Thank you for your attention and support in resolving this matter.
I look forward to hearing from your team.
Best regards,
Leandro Silva
Thank you Jay for your response.
I hope this detailed issue regarding Dropbox costs/storage for Business users isn't just another one or gets lost among others in the forum... I have also submitted a ticket through our Dropbox account to escalate and bring attention to this important matter.- Jay
Dropbox Staff
Hi leandrosilva, thank you for posting on our Community.
Our teams are always looking to gather feedback on how we can develop our tools, products and services, so user input is invaluable to us.
Over the years, the Dropbox team plans have been enhanced with new capabilities, tools and features, in order to accommodate more efficient collaboration and workflow.
That said, I do understand where you're coming from, and I will make sure to pass your feedback on internally.
I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us here, and I would encourage you to reach back out if there's something else we can look into in the meantime.
Hello,
I would like to confirm whether the storage subject detailed previously has been reported internally to the Dropbox development team?
Based on the calculations presented, purchasing external storage drives would have been far more cost-effective within just 1–2 years.
We chose Dropbox in 2017 not because it was the cheapest solution.
We chose Dropbox because it was a simple and secure platform for storing our work files, with the premise that we wouldn’t need to worry about space limitations in the future.In 2023, when we were informed that, in addition to the cost increase, this initial premise had changed, I must admit it was a bit disappointing for us - especially for a small organization like ours, where substantial cost changes have a significant impact.
As Business plan users, it’s challenging to have invested so much money in Dropbox over the years and then to find ourselves worrying about deleting/transferring files to external drives in the upcoming months, to fullfil an expiration date (October 31, 2028) and stay under the 15 TB limit included in the plan.
If we currently have 18 TB, how will we manage with only 15 TB in 2028, knowing that adding projects will inevitably increase storage needs?
In other words, as Business plan users, we are doubly disadvantaged: paying for Dropbox Business and simultaneously needing to purchase additional storage to transfer files and ensure compliance with the 15 TB limit.Why did we invest in Dropbox, then?
To end up paying €648/year for 15 TB of storage, having access to a vast range of additional features that our organization don’t use, and still needing to buy external drives or more space to store our files?The most important thing for us would be to obtain a simple storage solution tailored to our business needs (since, we don’t require most of Dropbox’s additional features) at a cost that’s fair for all parties. Even if that means a more “light” version of Dropbox (with fewer features), it should ensure that we won’t need to worry about storage space in the future or incur additional costs for it.
The solution currently presented by Dropbox not only fails to meet our company's needs but also results in a lack of predictability for its users. The change made in 2023 to the storage policy represents a breach of the commitment that led us to choose Dropbox as a partner. This unilateral change directly impacts our productivity and jeopardizes the continuity of how we organize and store our work files.
Moreover, the storage policy is incompatible with the expectations the service promised to deliver to its business clients, as it is not the clients’ responsibility to address harmful usage by others.
We look forward to a business solution that effectively meets the needs of those who have invested in and trusted Dropbox over the years.
Once again, we kindly ask you to please escalate the reported situation internally to the responsible department. We cannot continue like this.Best regards,
Leandro Silva- Mark
Super User II
It will have been passed on - the team also do look on these forums and read lots of the posts.
Unfortunately, what I would say (and note I dont work for Dropbox, but, do see lots of posts on here) is that the pricing is the pricing. They dont do different models or pricing for different people. So, if the pricing isn't what you need/want/can afford you would need to look at another solution unfortunately. Thankfully, however, that is the beauty of a free market - there are plenty of others out there.
Hello Mark,
Thank you for your feedback.
If this report doesn’t lead to any significant changes in addressing our business storage needs, could you recommend any alternative cloud solutions you currently use or have used in the past?
- Hannah
Hey leandrosilva, while there's no update on this, we've made sure to pass your feedback along to our team.
Thanks for sharing!
