While I would like to have the ability for my wife and I to share a combined account with our own individual logins - it's not worth the extra $80/year, almost doubling the cost for only a limited increase in features. If it came with double the storage I might consider it, but even then I'm not sure I need that much more storage at the moment. Please reconsider the pricing on the family plan as I will never upgrade at anywhere near that price. It makes more sense to just have 2 Plus accounts since it comes with the extra storage. With the amount of competition out there for similar cloud storage, it's getting more difficult to justify the cost of dropbox, so I was really expecting a minimal increase in price, if any at all versus the Plus plan I am currently paying for.

As a Dropbox customer, I would not choose to change to the Dropbox Family plan. Hopefully, if enough loyal customers write in, Dropbox will re-evaluate the pricing model which makes little logical sense. I really like the Dropbox Family concept, but I can't see the justification for an $8 a month increase. If Dropbox took my combined family storage limit from 2 TB to 4 TB, I could justify the increased cost. An additional $8 a month just for the ability to share access to a 2 TB Dropbox account makes no logical sense. That's a 60% increase in cost. Let's compare Dropbox Family to other "family" subscriptions I use. 1Password is $3 a month for a single user and $5 a month for a family plan. With that increased cost, my family members get full use of their own password vaults. In comparison to Dropbox, my family members get no additional benefit in space with my family plan monthly increated costs (Dropbox sells space, not password vaults). Apple Music has a very similar scenario: $10 a month for an individual compared with $15 a month for a family. Again, each family member gets their own music = added benefit. To repeat, my family members on the Dropbox Family plan get no additional benefit with the increased monthly cost.

I completely agree with this statement. The family plan is Plus but much more expensive. If it's going to have same storage as Plus it should be cheaper, as only add is family share features, where as if it's going to be this much money it should have more storage? I really support Dropbox as a business but it feels like the pricing is out of touch. Super expensive already compared to competition (drive, MS 365) for fewer features, and new features (which are great to see) are again more expensive.

I have used Dropbox for over a decade. I love it! My wife and I share my personal account, use it extensively, and plan to keep using it for so long as Dropbox continues to be as fantastic as it is. I've experimented with Box, iCloud, Onedrive, and Google Drive and I like Dropbox much better than any of these 4. Price is the only barrier. But . . . I have rarely paid anything to Dropbox because it is so expensive. Perhaps this more detailed feedback of our situation will give you some ideas for how you could survey your customers to see if it is worth your while to come down on pricing and make up for it with volume. In detail: In December 2009 I signed up for a $50/year 20GB plan. Dropbox discontinued that plan in July 2012. For being such an early, loyal, paying customer, they gave me 19GB free to keep forever in addition to various bonuses I earned. This probably paid off for Dropbox in the long run as I referred a few other customers over the years and I also got a small business to sign up for Dropbox in 2019. The pricing on Dropbox for business is very reasonable and it felt like a minor cost that happened to provide huge value to that business as everyone worked at a different location. They are still using Dropbox. IMHO, the pricing on the personal side remains high relative to the value received, the competition, and what a typical family is able/willing to pay. We would jump into a family plan for $10/month in a heartbeat. It would replace the cumbersome shared Dropbox account with my wife which is chronically on the verge of running out of space. But more importantly, we have a pressing need to backup photos/videos from our teen son's iPhone and we are having discussions between 3 options: 1) backup to one of our Macs - free but time consuming and cumbersome because of how Apple lets you (or doesn't let you) do it. 2) get iCloud for $3/month which will be enough storage for him for at least a year but probably within 2 years he'll go over the 200GB and require the $10/month plan for 2TB. All iCloud plans include family sharing. 3) Get Dropbox at $17/month. If Dropbox for family were $10/month, my wife and I would not be discussing this. We'd already have it. Instead, we are having a hard time figuring out what to do. My wife argues we should avoid iCloud since Apple has a habit of doing funny things with your data (like getting rid of meta data on music from CDs you purchased and imported into iTunes, or making it difficult to get to outside Apple's eco-system. She thinks we should just backup onto iPhotos on a Mac until Dropbox lowers its price on the family plan which she thinks will inevitably happen as that price just seems too high for most families. I have no idea if or when Dropbox will drop their family plan price and I don't like how Apple makes it so complicated to backup photos/videos from an iPhone, so I've been arguing for the simple iCloud route at $3/month (Apple makes everything complicated unless you just use their iCloud). If someone from Dropbox is listening - please just change your price to $10/month on family or at most $12/month. At $17/month, you make this a tough decision for people - and people like us are probably going to pass. At $10/month, it's a no-brainer because it would be the same storage and family sharing as iCloud but a much better product that works seamlessly on many different systems. We are only a data point of 1, but . . . If Dropbox dropped it's price to $120/year or $12/month if you don't pay the whole year in advance, I can tell you for sure that we'd sign up. We'd stop being a free 22.8GB customer and become a paying $10/month customer for many years to come.

I'm completely confused about what this plan offers besides a shared folder.What exactly are we paying for if it's not more storage?Dropbox Support told me on Twitter that a single account can pay for everyone else but why does that cost almost double? If I'm going to pay double, I'll upgrade each account separately and each will get their own 2TB instead of sharing the same space for more money.

Just replying to this to say totally doesn't address the complaints of 75% price increase for no storage increase.

Family plan is too expensive for what it offers

32 Replies

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Lusil
Dropbox Staff
6 years ago
Hey Username_1, thanks for dropping by.

I understand how important this is for you, and thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us about our Family plan.

You can also check out this thread, where other users have expressed an interest in having smaller plans.

In the meantime, if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to give us another nudge.

Thanks again!
onewil
Collaborator | Level 8
6 years ago
I completely agree with this statement. The family plan is Plus but much more expensive. If it's going to have same storage as Plus it should be cheaper, as only add is family share features, where as if it's going to be this much money it should have more storage?

I really support Dropbox as a business but it feels like the pricing is out of touch. Super expensive already compared to competition (drive, MS 365) for fewer features, and new features (which are great to see) are again more expensive.
taricco
Helpful | Level 6
6 years ago
As a Dropbox customer, I would not choose to change to the Dropbox Family plan. Hopefully, if enough loyal customers write in, Dropbox will re-evaluate the pricing model which makes little logical sense. I really like the Dropbox Family concept, but I can't see the justification for an $8 a month increase. If Dropbox took my combined family storage limit from 2 TB to 4 TB, I could justify the increased cost. An additional $8 a month just for the ability to share access to a 2 TB Dropbox account makes no logical sense. That's a 60% increase in cost. Let's compare Dropbox Family to other "family" subscriptions I use. 1Password is $3 a month for a single user and $5 a month for a family plan. With that increased cost, my family members get full use of their own password vaults. In comparison to Dropbox, my family members get no additional benefit in space with my family plan monthly increated costs (Dropbox sells space, not password vaults). Apple Music has a very similar scenario: $10 a month for an individual compared with $15 a month for a family. Again, each family member gets their own music = added benefit. To repeat, my family members on the Dropbox Family plan get no additional benefit with the increased monthly cost.
yar1vn
Helpful | Level 5
6 years ago
I'm completely confused about what this plan offers besides a shared folder.
What exactly are we paying for if it's not more storage?
Dropbox Support told me on Twitter that a single account can pay for everyone else but why does that cost almost double?

If I'm going to pay double, I'll upgrade each account separately and each will get their own 2TB instead of sharing the same space for more money.
Jay
Dropbox Community Moderator
6 years ago
Hi taricco, yar1vn, the Family plan offers 2 TB shared for up to 6 family members, with a shared family folder, and would cost the equivalent of 2 Dropbox Plus plans under one bill.

Upgrading 6 separate accounts to Plus would cost more than one Family plan, although they each would have full access to their own 2 TB of quota, separate from one another.

For families that might not require full usage of the quota, then the Family plan would be useful in this instance to share quota without purchasing individual plans.

We appreciate your feedback on the Dropbox Family plan!
taricco
Helpful | Level 6
6 years ago
Jay, I don’t believe you addressed any of the points I made. An $8 premium is way too high for a family plan without additional benefit (benefit = storage) when comparing “family subscription” services like 1Password and Apple Music.
yar1vn
Helpful | Level 5
6 years ago
That doesn't explain the price difference.
Being able to share storage isn't worth double the price.
footy
Explorer | Level 4
6 years ago
I love dropbox but get the family people in to look at the price, it is way too expensive for a family, who are just trying to pull thing together in a simple file structure and share some photos and videos.
onewil
Collaborator | Level 8
6 years ago
Just replying to this to say totally doesn't address the complaints of 75% price increase for no storage increase.
dimcguy
Helpful | Level 5
6 years ago
I agree. Price is very expensive for individual already, and there are files I can't even open. Moving files is cumbersome. With the amount of space I have, I should have the option to grant some to a family member. Looking for better options from this company as other places are competitive and cheaper.