Dropbox is limiting cloud storage in its previously unlimited Advanced subscription. New users will now get up to 15 TB of storage based on three active licenses; existing users will have until November to clean up cloud storage.
According to the cloud storage provider, intervention in its Advanced business subscription was necessary. This was because of quite a bit of creative abuse of the service. The cloud storage subscription was being used for crypto mining, storage was being resold to third parties and individuals were using the business subscription for private use.
Abuse has increased
Abuse has increased significantly, especially in recent months. This led to individuals often using up to thousands of times more amounts of storage than normal business end users.
Only one percent of all Dropbox customers reportedly use more than 35 TB of storage per license. An Advanced subscription costs $24 per user, per month with a minimum of three end users. This makes it possible to use 35 TB or much more of storage for $72 per user, per month. By comparison, 35 TB of storage at AWS costs $805 per month.
New subscription terms
Instead of unlimited cloud storage, Dropbox now offers new customers a total of 15 TB of storage for three licenses (5 TB per license) within the Advanced formula. When users purchase additional licenses, they will receive 5 TB of cloud storage per license up to a maximum of 1,000 TB.
Existing end users will be transitioned to the new restrictions starting Nov. 1. Current Advanced customers using less than 35 TB of storage will see no change for the next five years. In addition, they will receive 5 TB as a bonus for “good behavior.
According to Dropbox, it is possible to store 100 million documents, 4 million photos or 7,500 hours of HD video in 15 TB of storage. This is sufficient for business team use and also has no impact on storage requirements for other end users.
Google restrictions as well
Dropbox is not the only provider that recently removed or limited unlimited subscriptions. In October 2022, Google limited storage in Workspaces for educational institutions and is now likely doing the same for business customers.
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