What you get free
10 GB (250 MB per-file upload limit)
Taken from Box's own pricing page on 2026-07-29. Free tiers move, so check the source before you plan around the number.
How it changed
5Every entry below is dated and linked to the announcement it came from. This is the part worth reading before you commit: a free tier that has been cut once can be cut again.
| Date | Change | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| April 28, 2023 | Feature | After nearly four years in an unsupported-but-running state, Box's WebDAV server was shut off entirely on April 28, 2023. Recommended alternatives were Box Drive, the box.com web app, the Box APIs, the FTP/FTPS service, and email upload. This is the definitive end of WebDAV as a Box access protocol on any plan, free or paid. Announcing end of life for Box WebDAV support (Box Support) |
| October 25, 2019 | Feature | Box deprecated WebDAV access. The cutoff was originally announced for January 31, 2019, then extended to October 25, 2019 to give customers time to migrate. Box directed users to Box Drive, the Box web app, or its SDKs/APIs instead. Update on the End of Support for WebDAV (Box Support) |
| August 21, 2013 | Increase | Box doubled its free personal plan from 5 GB to 10 GB and simultaneously introduced a new "Starter" tier at $5 per seat/month with 100 GB storage and a 2 GB file size limit, aimed at small firms graduating off the free plan. This 10 GB figure is still Box's free tier as of 2026. Box Doubles Its Free Plan To 10GB, Creates New $5/Month, 100GB Storage Tier For Small Firms (TechCrunch) |
| November 30, 2011 | Feature | LG and Box announced that LG would be the first handset maker to bundle 50 GB of free Box cloud storage on all LG Android devices. Users who signed up for Box through an LG Android device between November 30, 2011 and March 31, 2012 kept the 50 GB for the lifetime of the account. Box ran comparable device-linked 50 GB promotions with Sony Ericsson Xperia and other Android handsets around the same period. LG-Box Partnership Brings 50GB of Free Lifetime Storage in the Cloud to All LG Android Mobile Devices (PR Newswire) |
| October 28, 2010 | Increase | Box.net quintupled free personal storage from 1 GB to 5 GB as part of a broader plan overhaul that also moved business plans from 15 GB per user to a flat 500 GB. Box attributed the increase to falling storage costs and the buildout of two enterprise-grade data centers. Box.net increases storage in its content-management cloud (Computerworld) |
What happens if you stop using it
Box does not publish an inactivity window clearly enough to quote. Treat that as a reason for caution rather than reassurance: an unstated policy is not the same as no policy.
Can a backup tool reach it?
| rclone | Supported via the box backend docs |
|---|---|
| WebDAV | Not publicly specified — being verified |
| API on the free tier | Not publicly specified — being verified |
Biggest operational gotcha is token expiry, quoted from Box's own docs: "Each refresh_token is valid for one use in 60 days."…
Should you rely on it?
Not on its own. A free tier is a reasonable third copy under the 3-2-1 rule and a poor only copy, for the reason this page documents: the allowance is a business decision the provider can revise, and several on the tracker already have.
If the data matters, pair it with something you control. The offsite backup guide covers the pattern, and cloud backup options compares paid tiers that come with a retention promise instead of a marketing page.
10 GB (250 MB per-file upload limit) Last verified 2026-07-29.
The tracked history holds 5 dated changes, the most recent being Feature on April 28, 2023. Each entry links the announcement it came from.
Box's inactivity terms are not publicly specified clearly enough to quote, so treat any free account as something that could be reclaimed and keep a second copy.
Yes, via the box backend. WebDAV: Not publicly specified — being verified. Free-tier API access: Not publicly specified — being verified.
No. One copy in one place is not a backup, whoever hosts it. A free tier is a useful third copy inside the 3-2-1 rule, never the only one — free tiers change, and this page exists because they have.