Dropbox vs Box pricing in 2026, and how to cut file storage costs

File storage is a classic source of duplicate spend. A company signs up for Dropbox or Box early on, then moves to Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, which come with Drive or OneDrive. Years later it's still paying for both. Here's what Dropbox and Box cost today, where each one's price jumps, and how to decide whether you need a separate storage tool.

All prices below were checked on the vendors' own pricing pages on 22 October 2026. Both pages have a monthly and yearly billing toggle, so confirm which price applies to you before you negotiate.

Dropbox team plans

From Dropbox's business pricing page:

Standard includes 180 days of file version and restore history and 100 GB file transfers.

Advanced extends history to 1 year and adds tiered admin roles, single sign-on, end-to-end encryption, advanced key management and compliance tracking.

Enterprise adds larger file transfers (250 GB), integrations with security tools and live support from dedicated experts.

The big jump is Standard to Advanced, from $15 to $24 per user, and SSO is one of the main reasons companies make it.

Box business plans

From Box's pricing page. Box shows a current price with a higher price struck through:

Every plan has a minimum of 3 users, and Business Starter is for up to 10 users.

The tiers differ mostly in collaboration and security. Business charges per seat for external collaborators. Business Plus adds unlimited external collaborators and advanced admin controls. Enterprise adds advanced workflows and security, HIPAA support and FedRAMP Moderate, plus 1,000 Box AI units a month. Enterprise Plus adds 2,000 AI units and unlimited version history.

How they compare

Prices are per user per month, as listed on each vendor's pricing page.

Do you need either one?

Before comparing Dropbox and Box, check whether you need a separate storage tool at all. If your company pays for Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, every employee already has Drive or OneDrive. Pull a usage report from your Dropbox or Box admin console and sort users into three groups:

• Inactive users. No file activity in 90 days. Remove their seats.
• Internal-only users. They store and share files with coworkers. The storage that comes with your suite usually covers them.
• Heavy external users. Agencies, legal, finance or anyone exchanging large files with clients. These are the people a dedicated tool is often worth keeping for.

Often the answer is to keep a small number of seats for the third group, not the whole company.

Cut without losing files

1. Pick a cutover date and announce it early
2. Move shared team folders first, since they're what people rely on most
3. Keep the old tool in read-only use for a short overlap
4. Reduce seats at renewal, not mid-term, unless your contract allows it
5. Before your notice date, ask for a price that reflects the smaller seat count

If you stay on your current tool, the bundled storage you already pay for is leverage. "We already have storage in our suite" is a credible reason to ask for a discount. For the full playbook, see how to negotiate a SaaS renewal, and for finding other duplicates, how to run a SaaS audit.

Get a competing bid

You can see what companies post for Dropbox on the Dropbox vendor page and for Box on the Box vendor page. To get bids from sellers, post an RFP with what you pay and the features your team uses. It's free, and you can post anonymously.