Guides
TeraBox Free vs Premium: What Actually Changes
TeraBox's free plan is generous on storage and stingy on almost everything else. Here is what changes between free and Premium, drawn from TeraBox's own current app listings and web app text, plus independent testing, so you can decide whether paying is worth it for how you actually use it.
Storage
Free accounts get 1024 GB (1 TB) of storage, a figure TeraBox has called a limited-time offer without saying when or if that will change. Premium raises this to 2 TB. Higher tiers, including plans up to 16 TB, have also been mentioned by TeraBox, though availability varies.
Upload file size
This is one of the more confusing figures, because TeraBox's own marketing text and its in-app limits do not fully agree. The free plan's actual upload limit is 4 GB per file; the app shows an error above that. Premium raises the limit to 128 GB per file. Older TeraBox posts and some reviews still quote a 20 GB Premium limit; that figure is out of date.
Video playback quality
Free viewing is limited to standard definition, 480p; Premium unlocks 1080p and original-quality playback. See our full article on why TeraBox video quality looks low for detail.
Playback speed control
Changing the playback speed (0.75x to 2x) is a Premium-only feature; free viewers watch at normal speed.
Download speed
This is where the free plan is most noticeably limited. TeraBox slows download speed for free accounts. In one independent test using a 100 Mbps connection, a 5 GB download averaged about 41 minutes on a free account against about 7 minutes on Premium, over five times as long. Uploads were only slightly slower on free in the same test.
Ads
The free app shows ads, including video ads that cannot be skipped, according to both TeraBox's own reply to user reviews ("ads allow the app to remain free for all users") and independent reporting. Premium removes ads.
Recycle bin
Deleted files stay recoverable for 10 days on free, 30 days on Premium.
Other Premium features
TeraBox lists a faster dedicated download channel, parallel downloads, cloud decompression of archives, automatic video backup, and saving up to 50,000 files from a single share link in one go, all as Premium features.
Price
Pricing varies by country, platform and promotion and changes over time, so we will not quote one figure as "the price". Check the current price inside the TeraBox app or on TeraBox's own pricing page before subscribing.
The bottom line
If you mainly receive and view the occasional shared video, the free plan is generally enough, with the trade-off being lower playback quality and slower downloads on anything large. If you regularly move large files or want 1080p playback and faster downloads, Premium addresses exactly those two points.
