Dropbox Limits Unlimited Option Due to Misuse; Introduces Storage Caps and Changes to Plans
Dropbox has announced changes to its storage offerings, citing misuse of its unlimited storage option. Some customers were exploiting this option for activities like crypto mining, personal storage pooling, and even reselling storage. As a result, the company is discontinuing the unlimited option and introducing storage caps.
The “all the space you need” plan, previously offering unlimited storage, will now have limitations. Customers who opt for the Dropbox Advanced plan with three active licenses will receive a shared 15TB storage space for the team. This is equivalent to storing approximately 100 million documents, 4 million photos, or 7,500 hours of HD video, according to Dropbox. Each additional active license will come with 5TB of storage.
Dropbox expressed its reasoning in a blog post, stating that a growing number of customers were using Advanced subscriptions for purposes unrelated to businesses, such as crypto mining and storage pooling. This behavior led to a significant consumption of storage resources, causing reliability issues for all users.
The change mirrors similar actions by Google, which removed the “as much storage as you need” branding for its highest-tier Workspace plan earlier this year.
Current Advanced customers using less than 35TB of storage per license (over 99% of customers) will retain their total storage amount plus an extra 5TB of pooled storage for up to five years at no additional charge. For the small fraction of customers using 35TB or more per license, they will maintain their current storage amount plus an extra 5TB of pooled storage for one year, up to a total of 1,000TB.
Dropbox will offer storage add-ons for customers who require more space. These add-ons will be available for purchase starting September 18. Existing customers will be gradually transitioned to the new policy, with notifications sent at least 30 days before their migration date.
