Examined Oct 3, 2026 Paid in storage, not cash Desktop install required A Dropbox referral adds 500 MB to your free 2 GB, and only after you install the desktop app and verify your email.
Dropbox Basic, the free plan, includes 2 GB. A completed referral adds 500 MB, so 2 GB plus 500 MB is 2.5 GB. There is no cash and no card is asked for in any step Dropbox lists. The new user always gets 500 MB.
What pays what
| You, a new account opened through a referral link, all four steps done | 500 MB |
|---|---|
| Signed up through the link, desktop app never installed | Nothing yet |
| Already have a Dropbox account, or registering on the sender's computer | Ineligible |
| Being added to a shared folder | Does not count |
Friends who sign up to Dropbox through your referral earn 500 MB of additional free storage.
Users on Dropbox team accounts cannot send referrals, and referring from the mobile app is open to Basic users only.
Do this, in this order
- Take one link, from one person, and use your own computer. Dropbox says a referral can be marked Ineligible when “the recipient is attempting to register with the same computer as you”, so do not sign up on the sender's laptop.
- Create a new account through that link. You can sign up with a different email address from the one the invitation went to; the link is what counts. If you already have a Dropbox account, the referral is ineligible and a second account is not the answer.
- Download and install the desktop app, and log in to it. This is the step the referral page leaves out. The help article's install step now also names the mobile app, but its login step names only the desktop app, and until that is done the referral status reads “Waiting for install”.
- Verify your email address, then ask the sender to check. Dropbox gives no number of days for any of this.
- Stay under your quota, and think before starting a paid trial. Over the limit, a Basic account may stop syncing, and the trial article warns: “Dropbox may delete files you own to bring your account below the storage limit.” A free trial of a paid plan charges the billing details you gave unless you cancel before it ends, and the same trial cannot be restarted for one year after you cancel it.
Where Dropbox's two pages disagree, and what neither publishes
What it takes. The referral page says: “Once a referral creates a new account, you both get extra storage: 500 MB for Basic users and 1 GB for Plus.” It also carries the line “Free storage space, no strings attached”. The help article adds the desktop install, the desktop login and the email verification. The status list in the help article has a Waiting for install stage of its own, so that is the page to go by.
Whether you can get 1 GB. The referral page's sentence above can be read as 1 GB for a new user whose link comes from a Plus account; the help article says friends earn 500 MB, with no exception. Count on 500 MB.
No deadline, no end date, no word on permanence. Neither page gives a time limit for finishing the steps, a closing date for the program, or a statement on whether bonus space can later be withdrawn. We found no separate referral terms document; the rules live on these two pages.
A free account left alone can be closed. The Terms of Service let Dropbox suspend or terminate access, with advance notice by email, when a user without a paid account has not accessed the services for 12 consecutive months. You must be at least 13 to use Dropbox in the United States. United States residents agree to individual arbitration with no class actions, and can opt out through a form within 30 days of first registering.
The contract itself is about to change. The Terms of Service are marked posted and effective January 7, 2025, and the same page carries this notice: “Dropbox's Terms of Service will be changing effective January 1, 2027.” Anything we say here about the contract is about the version in force on September 18, 2026.
Is it worth your time?
If you were opening a Dropbox account anyway and you know someone who uses it, yes. Ask for their link, do the four steps in one sitting, and you start with 2.5 GB instead of 2 GB. It costs no money. It does cost a desktop install, so it suits someone who will run Dropbox on a computer and does little for someone who wanted it on a phone only.
Do not open an account for the 500 MB alone. Set against 2 GB it is a quarter of the free allowance, not a reason to choose a storage service. And keep the bonus separate from any decision to pay. Dropbox's refund article says: “In most cases, payments for Dropbox and Dropbox Dash subscriptions and team member licenses aren’t refundable.” Its 14-day refund right is written for people living in the EU, the UK or Turkey, a chargeback through your bank drops the account to the free Basic plan, and fees can change at renewal on no less than 30 days' notice by email. If you do pay, Dropbox's plans page lists Plus, for 1 person with “2 TB of storage”, at “$9.99 / month” billed yearly or “$11.99 / month” billed monthly. On the yearly plan that is 12 times $9.99, which is $119.88 a year.
