The Dropbox Services Agreement (DSA) is the contract for organisations that buy Dropbox services for teams, including free access subscriptions; it does not apply to consumers or individuals, and a separately signed agreement takes precedence over it.[1] The DSA, the Service-Specific Terms, each Order Form, the data processing agreement and, where signed, the HIPAA Business Associate Agreement together form “the Agreement”.[1] Every user, including members of a team, is also bound by the Dropbox Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy.[4][7] The current DSA was posted and took effect on 2024-12-05; a revised DSA posted on 2026-09-01 takes effect on 2027-01-01, and the Terms of Service also change on that date.[1][2][4]
Editions
Document hierarchy
| Document | Scope | Version |
|---|---|---|
| Order Form | Services, quantities, term, price | Per purchase (an order page or user interface counts) |
| Dropbox Services Agreement | All team services | 2024-12-05; revised 2027-01-01 |
| Service Specific Terms | Business and Business Plus; Standard, Standard Classic, Advanced, Enterprise, Education and Replay; Dash; Dropbox Sign; Forms; Fax; DocSend; Protect | 2026-06-30 |
| Terms of Service | Every user | 2025-01-07 |
The Service-Specific Terms add product rules such as security resources, sub-processor lists, Dropbox Sign API limits and the DocSend true-up, and control over the DSA for their products.[3] Where documents conflict, the DSA ranks them in this order: the invoice, the Service-Specific Terms, the Order Form, then the DSA. Terms printed on a customer purchase order are void, and click-through terms that End Users accept are subordinate to the Agreement.[1] The DSA terms themselves are deemed Dropbox Confidential Information.[1]
Metrics
The DSA’s licensing unit is the End User License. For services sold on End User Licenses, the customer may provision accounts up to the number bought; each account needs a paid licence, may be used by only one End User and may not be shared; suspended accounts still need a licence; deleting an account frees its licence (rule).[1] End Users may include the customer’s and its Affiliates’ employees, consultants, agents, representatives or students.[1] The DSA also allows usage-based subscriptions, charged on “the usage calculated by Dropbox”.[1]
The client software is licensed only “solely in connection with the Services” during the Term, non-transferably and non-sublicensably.[1] Add-ons cannot be bought standalone and must be attached to a subscription to the service they extend; third-party add-ons are not part of the Services.[1]
Counting / floors
Term, quantities and renewal
Services are sold on subscription for the Services Term. Quantities added during a term have a prorated term ending with the existing term, and Dropbox charges the prorated amount at the customer’s then-current price (rule).[1] Unless the Order Form says otherwise, the subscription renews automatically “at the then-current quantity or subscription tier” unless either party gives written notice of termination, “including any partial termination to reduce quantities”, at least thirty days before the term ends (rule).[1] Administrators, or End Users where the settings allow it, can buy extra subscriptions and add-ons; the customer is responsible for understanding those purchase settings.[1]
The DSA effective 2027-01-01 tightens renewal. Subscriptions renew at the then-current quantity or tier “including any increases purchased, provisioned, or otherwise added during the then-current Services Term”, and “Customer’s actual usage during a Services Term will not reduce the amount renewed” unless notice is given 30 days before expiry (rule).[2] Dropbox may also revise services before renewal on 30 days’ notice, “including updating Fees, quantities, usage, or the subscription tier”, with changes for annual terms applying only from renewal.[2]
Fees, refunds and cancellation
Fees are paid to Dropbox or the customer’s reseller as stated on the Order Form, and Dropbox may revise rates with at least thirty days’ notice before renewal.[1] “Subscription and usage or overage Fees are non-refundable and non-creditable, except where required by law”, and cancellations take effect at the end of the current term (rule).[1] The 2027 DSA adds that “Non-use, partial use, downgrades, deprovisioned users, unused storage, unused credits, or service configuration changes do not create credits or refunds” unless the Order Form says so.[2] When a team plan is cancelled, the account becomes Dropbox Basic at the end of the billing period and the team is placed in a locked state that removes most team viewing, syncing and sharing (rule).[5] A bank chargeback also changes the subscription to Dropbox Basic and places the team in locked state.[6]
Restrictions and suspension
The customer will not sell, resell or lease the Services, Software or End User Licenses; reverse engineer them unless the restriction is prohibited by law; violate or circumvent Service Limits; access the Services to build a competing product; publish benchmarks without consent; or open an account “as an individual for personal, family, or household purposes” (rule).[1] Service Limits are the “rate, storage, End User or other limits” in the Order Form or product description page, and Dropbox may suspend access if the customer exceeds any of them or is overdue, with fees still payable during suspension (rule).[1] Protected health information requires a signed HIPAA Business Associate Agreement first (rule).[1]
The DSA has no clause allowing Dropbox to audit licence use; licence counts are enforced through the service itself and Service Limits. In the other direction, Dropbox gives customers a copy of its most recent security Audit Reports on written request no more than once a year (under the 2027 DSA, where required by law or regulation).[1][2]
Virtualization & partitioning
Not applicable: the DSA licenses End User Accounts, not devices or processors.[1]
Cloud / BYOL
Not applicable: Dropbox is a hosted service. Customer Data may be transferred to and stored in locations other than the customer’s country.[1] Before termination the customer may request reasonable additional time to export Stored Data, for which Dropbox may charge its standard fees.[1]
Programs
Resellers and administrators
Customers buying through a reseller pay the reseller, and any reseller purchase-order terms that conflict with the Agreement are void. If reseller personnel are designated as Administrators, the reseller may control account information and Customer Data.[1] Administrators can purchase additional licences or capacity and provision, monitor, restrict or terminate End Users’ access.[1]
Liability, disputes and changes
Dropbox’s aggregate liability is capped at the lesser of USD 100,000 or the fees paid in the twelve months before the event, and at USD 50 for free access subscriptions, trials and beta services (rule).[1] Disputes go to AAA arbitration in San Francisco under California law, without class actions, except that either party may seek an injunction in San Francisco courts against unauthorised use or intellectual property infringement.[1] Dropbox may revise the DSA; for material revisions it notifies the customer, who may terminate within thirty days of the notice.[1] Under the 2027 DSA, a customer that does not terminate within thirty days of a notice that services were materially reduced is deemed to accept the change.[2]
Terms of Service for team members
The Terms of Service say that a member of a paid multi-user team (or its trial) “where an admin has control of your account” is bound by the team’s agreement as well as the Terms (rule). Administrators may access, disclose, restrict or remove information in team accounts and may stop a converted personal account leaving the team; organisations can block personal accounts created with their email domain until the user joins the team or changes email.[4] The Terms grant a “limited, nonexclusive, nontransferable, revocable license” to the client software solely to access the Services.[4]
Out of scope
The data processing agreement, security measures and HIPAA Business Associate Agreement are referenced but not analysed here. Product-specific terms for Dropbox Sign, DocSend and Replay are summarised in Dropbox Sign, DocSend, Replay and add-ons.