Dropbox removes unlimited storage from Advanced plan.
Dropbox removes unlimited storage from Advanced plan.
Dropbox Ends Unlimited Storage: The End of an Era
Dropbox, the cloud-based file storage service, has announced that it is putting an end to its unlimited storage offering for its business-oriented Advanced plan. The decision comes as a result of some users taking advantage of the service for purposes unrelated to running a legitimate business or organization.
In a blog post, Dropbox explained that it has observed a growing number of customers using their Advanced subscriptions for activities such as crypto and Chia mining, pooling storage for personal use cases, or even reselling storage. This behavior has surged in recent months, in part due to similar policy changes by rival services. Dropbox has expressed concern that these customers consume exponentially more storage than legitimate business customers, risking an unreliable experience for all users.
Constantly monitoring and differentiating between acceptable and unacceptable use cases was deemed unsustainable by Dropbox. As a result, the company has decided to transition from the “as much space as you need” policy to a metered model.
The New System: Metered Storage
Under the new system, customers who purchase a Dropbox Advanced plan with three active licenses will receive 15TB of storage space shareable by a team. Dropbox describes this as “enough space to store about 100 million documents, 4 million photos, or 7500 hours of HD video.” Each additional active license will offer an additional 5TB of storage.
Fortunately, more than 99% of Advanced customers currently use less than 35TB of storage per license. These customers will be able to keep the total amount of storage their team is using at the time of the policy change. Additionally, they will receive a 5TB credit of pooled storage for five years, with no extra fees charged to their current plan.
For the small number of customers using 35TB or more of storage per license, they will be able to continue using their current storage amount, up to a total of 1,000TB, at no additional cost to their existing plan. Dropbox will be in contact with these users to discuss limited-storage plan options that suit their needs.
Storage Add-Ons and Migration
From September 18, new customers in need of additional storage space can purchase storage add-ons. Existing customers will have the option to buy storage add-ons starting from November 1. These add-ons will offer 1TB of storage for $10 per month or $96 per year.
Dropbox has reassured its users that it will gradually migrate existing customers to the new policy on November 1. The company has pledged to notify every user at least 30 days before their planned migration date.
Discouraging Unlimited Storage Trend
It is worth noting that Google, a major competitor in the cloud storage market, also put an end to unlimited storage for its Workspace plan in May. It is possible that some disgruntled Google users switched to Dropbox due to its more generous offering. However, with Dropbox now following suit, these users will once again have to explore alternative services that meet their storage needs.
While the decision to end unlimited storage may disappoint some users, it is a necessary step to ensure fairness and sustainability for all Dropbox customers. By implementing a metered model, Dropbox aims to strike a balance between providing generous storage options for legitimate businesses and preventing abuse by users with unrelated purposes. This move reflects a broader industry trend of reevaluating unlimited storage policies and finding more sustainable alternatives.
Dropbox remains a leading player in the cloud storage market, and with this change, it will continue to adapt its services to meet the evolving needs of its business customers.
