Dropbox is a leading cloud file hosting service.
Launched in 2008, the platform hit the milestone of 100 million registered users 4 years later.
Today, Dropbox has 700 million registered users and generates $1.91 billion in annual revenue.
Here’s a summary of what you’ll find on this page:
- Dropbox Usage Statistics (Highlights)
- Dropbox users
- Dropbox paying users
- Dropbox revenue
- Dropbox revenue in the US
- Dropbox international revenue
- Dropbox average revenue per paying user
- Dropbox operating expenses
- How many teams use Dropbox Business?
- Dropbox for personal use
- How many API calls does Dropbox receive?
- How many developers build applications on the Dropbox platform?
- How many apps are available in the Dropbox App Center?
- How many people work at Dropbox?
Dropbox Usage Statistics (Highlights)
- Dropbox has more than 700 million registered users.
- Dropbox has 15.48 million paying users.
- Dropbox generated $1.91 billion in revenue in 2020.
- Dropbox employs 2,760 people.
Dropbox users
Dropbox has more than 700 million registered users. The service has received 100 million new registrations per year since 2018.
We’ve charted the number of registered Dropbox users since 2018:
| Year | Registered users |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 500 million |
| 2019 | 600 million |
| 2020 | 700 million |
Source: Dropbox.
Dropbox paying users
Dropbox has 15.48 million paying users. That’s an increase of 8.18% over last year, amounting to 1.17 million new paying users.
Dropbox has increased its paying user base 2.38x since 2015.
Here’s a table with the number of Dropbox paying users since 2015:
| Year | Paying users |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 6.5 million |
| 2016 | 8.8 million |
| 2017 | 11 million |
| 2018 | 12.7 million |
| 2019 | 14.31 million |
| 2020 | 15.48 million |
Source: Dropbox.
Dropbox revenue
Dropbox has an annual revenue of $1.91 billion. That’s an increase of 15.06% over 2019.
Dropbox revenue has grown at a CAGR of 25.9% over the past 5 years.
Here’s a table showing Dropbox revenue since 2015:
| Year | Revenue |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $603.8 million |
| 2016 | $844.8 million |
| 2017 | $1.1 billion |
| 2018 | $1.39 billion |
| 2019 | $1.66 billion |
| 2020 | $1.91 billion |
Source: Dropbox.
Dropbox revenue in the US
Dropbox generates $999.3 million per year from clients based in the United States. That’s 52.32% of total revenue.
The US market has consistently contributed more than half of the company’s total revenue since at least 2015:
| Year | Revenue |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $326.1 million (54%) |
| 2016 | $455.9 million (53.96%) |
| 2017 | $575.7 million (52.34%) |
| 2018 | $706.5 million (50.83%) |
| 2019 | $854.1 million (51.45%) |
| 2020 | $999.3 million (52.32%) |
Source: Dropbox.
Dropbox international revenue
Dropbox brought in $941.6 million from clients outside of the US in 2020. That accounts for 47.68% of the company’s total revenue.
Dropbox’s international revenue has grown by 33.48% since 2018. That’s less growth than in the US, where revenue has increased by 41.44% in the same period.
Here’s a table showing Dropbox’s international (non-US) revenue since 2015:
| Year | Revenue |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $277.7 million (46%) |
| 2016 | $388.9 million (46.04%) |
| 2017 | $531.1 million (47.66%) |
| 2018 | $685.2 million (49.17%) |
| 2019 | $807.2 million (48.55%) |
| 2020 | $914.6 million (47.68%) |
Source: Dropbox.
Dropbox average revenue per paying user
The average paying Dropbox customer spent $128.50 in 2020. The average revenue per paying user (ARPU) has increased by 4.41% since 2019.
Dropbox has grown its ARPU by 16.25% since 2016.
Here’s a table with complete data on Dropbox’s average revenue per paying user since 2015:
| Year | ARPU |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $113.54 |
| 2016 | $110.54 |
| 2017 | $111.91 |
| 2018 | $117.64 |
| 2019 | $123.07 |
| 2020 | $128.50 |
Source: Dropbox.
Dropbox operating expenses
Dropbox’s operating expenses (excluding impairment related to real estate assets) reached $1.38 billion in 2020. That’s an increase of 3.55% over the previous year.
Research and development was the single biggest expense, totaling $727.5 million. Dropbox’s next biggest outlay was on sales and marketing ($422.8 million).
Here’s a complete breakdown of Dropbox operating expenses by category:
| Category | Operating expenses |
|---|---|
| Research and development | $727.5 million |
| Sales and marketing | $422.8 million |
| General and administrative | $227.8 million |
Source: Dropbox.
How many teams use Dropbox Business?
Dropbox Business is defined by the company as a billed account with at least 3 users managed via a single administrative dashboard.
Dropbox has over 500 thousand paying Dropbox Business teams. The company has added 50 thousand paying teams since 2019, an increase of 11.11%.
Here’s a table with the number of paying Dropbox Business teams since 2017:
| Year | Dropbox Business Teams |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 300 thousand |
| 2018 | 400 thousand |
| 2019 | 450 thousand |
| 2020 | 500 thousand |
Source: Dropbox.
Dropbox for personal use
18% of American survey respondents claim to use Dropbox as a personal cloud storage solution. That makes Dropbox the 4th most popular solution, after Google Drive, Apple iCloud, and Microsoft OneDrive.
Here’s a table showing the 6 most popular personal cloud storage solutions:
| Cloud storage solution | Share |
|---|---|
| Google Drive | 40% |
| Apple iCloud | 33% |
| Microsoft OneDrive | 20% |
| Dropbox | 18% |
| Amazon Drive Cloud | 9% |
| Box | 3% |
Source: Statista.
How many API calls does Dropbox receive?
Dropbox makes an Application Programming Interface (API) available for developers to integrate their apps with the company’s system.
Dropbox receives 60 billion API calls per month. Use of the company’s API has increased by 20% over the past year.
Here’s a table with complete data on Dropbox monthly API calls since 2017:
| Year | Monthly API calls |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 50 billion |
| 2018 | 50 billion |
| 2019 | 50 billion |
| 2020 | 60 billion |
Source: Dropbox.
How many developers build applications on the Dropbox platform?
Over 750 thousand developers have built applications on the Dropbox platform.
Here’s a table charting the number of registered developers building applications on the Dropbox platform since 2017:
| Year | Developers |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 500 thousand |
| 2018 | 500 thousand |
| 2019 | 750 thousand |
| 2020 | 750 thousand |
Source: Dropbox.
How many apps are available in the Dropbox App Center?
The Dropbox App Center includes 92 apps that can be used to extend product functionality.
Source: Dropbox.
How many people work at Dropbox?
2,760 full-time employees work at Dropbox. That’s a decline of 1.48% over the previous year.
Here’s a table showing employee count since 2018:
| Year | Employees |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 2,323 |
| 2019 | 2,801 |
| 2020 | 2,760 |
Dropbox announced in January 2021 that it plans to reduce the workforce by a further 11%.
2,346 Dropbox employees (85%) are based in the United States.
Comparably data shows that the median compensation at Dropbox is $137,940. US employees on an H-1B visa (work-based residency) received a median salary of $144,664 in 2020.
Sources: Dropbox, Comparably, H1B Salary Database.
Conclusion
That’s all for my roundup of Dropbox stats in 2021.
Dropbox is one of the industry leaders in the cloud file hosting space. The platform hosts over 550 billion pieces of content in total, serving over 700 million registered users.
Now I want to hear from you:
Can Dropbox continue to grow? Or will the continued expansion of competitors like iCloud and Google Drive prove damaging?
If you have any other thoughts, I’d love to hear them too. And I’m available to answer any questions about the facts and figures included in this roundup.
You can leave your comment in the section below, and I’ll respond shortly.
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