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Question

Paying for external collaborators

  • August 28, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 74 views
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I’m considering subscribing to the Box Business plan ($15/user/month) for my team of 9. I understand that with this plan, all external collaborators require a paid seat. 

How does the billing for this work? 
A couple of specific scenarios:

  1.  We have a temporary collaborator that ends after one month and then a new collaborator joins. Can I just pay for one extra seat that will cover both of these people?
  2. We have a temporary collaborator that is only on our account for 2 weeks. Can I pay for an extra seat and then delete it after these 2 weeks? How much will I get billed for?
DonHammons

3 replies

Rona Box
  • Rona Box
  • Community Manager
  • September 3, 2025

Hi ​@groovyk, 

Welcome to Box Community, and we’ll do our best to fill you in regarding external collaborators on a Box Business plan. 

 

For the Box Business plan ($15/user/month), external collaborators count as paid seats, so each collaborator requires a license.

Regarding billing and seat management:

  1. When you add seats (licenses), charges are prorated based on the purchase date to the end of your billing term—not charged for a full month or year upfront. 

  2. For a temporary collaborator who leaves after one month and is replaced by another, you cannot share one extra seat between two different people simultaneously; each active user/collaborator requires their own seat during their time of collaboration. You would need to have a seat allocated for each collaborator while they are active.

  3. If you add an extra seat for a temporary collaborator for 2 weeks and then remove it, you will be billed only a prorated amount for those 2 weeks until the end of your billing cycle. Seat decreases can only be processed at the end of the account’s term, so the reduction in seats takes effect at that time. 

  4. Note that removing or deleting users does not automatically adjust subscription charges immediately; you must submit a request to decrease seats, which is processed at the end of the billing term. 

 

For any clarifications, please contact our Billing team through billing@box.com or submit a case and contact support. 

 

Thanks for posting! 

G
  • groovyk
  • Author
  • Participating Frequently
  • September 3, 2025

​@Rona Box Thanks for this very helpful info!

Would like to clarify something. You said 

For a temporary collaborator who leaves after one month and is replaced by another, you cannot share one extra seat between two different people simultaneously;

The scenario I gave was that we have one person that we collaborate with for 2 weeks. Then we remove them. And then add another person. The extra seat that we buy for the first person will cover the second person as well right? 

S
  • shana598brush
  • New Member
  • September 4, 2025

I’m considering subscribing to the Box Business plan ($15/user/month) for my team of 9. I understand that with this plan, all external collaborators require a paid seat. 

How does the billing for this work? 
A couple of specific scenarios:

  1.  We have a temporary collaborator that ends after one month and then a new collaborator joins. Can I just pay for one extra seat that will cover both of these people?
  2. We have a temporary collaborator that is only on our account for 2 weeks. Can I pay for an extra seat and then delete it after these 2 weeks? How much will I get billed for?

Hello ​@groovyk,
With the Box Business plan, each external collaborator requires a paid user seat. You can reuse a single paid seat for different collaborators by removing one and adding another. However, billing is monthly per seat—so even if a collaborator is active for only 2 weeks, you'll be charged the full $15 for that seat for the month.

Best Regards,
Shana Brush

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