Organic carbon saturation in soils refers to the theoretical maximum soil organic carbon (SOC) that can be associated with and stabilized on fine silt plus clay particles (F < 20 μm). We reviewed the literature dealing with SOC distribution between soil fractions to evaluate carbon saturation for tropical soils and estimate the C storage potential of cropland. We collected 258 data points on SOC distribution between soil fractions in tropical soils from 84 sites in 27 countries. We used boundary line analysis to estimate the maximum stabilized SOC depending on soil group, clay type and land use. SOC storage potential was calculated as the SOC saturation deficit, the difference between the actual SOC content and the maximum stabilized SOC content. We found that the maximum SOC in the fine fraction of tropical soils (53 g C kg− 1 fine fraction) was lower than previous assessments of global SOC storage scale based mainly on temperate soils. The F < 20 μm fractions were closer to SOC saturation in forest soils than in croplands. The cropland had a higher soil C storage potential, but changing agricultural management practices did not fill the deficit that is calculated using the whole dataset. The deficit was much lower when it was estimated with grassland or cropland data only: this provides a more realistic estimate for SOC storage potential for croplands. The SOC content in the coarser fraction (F > 50 μm) did not depend on soil texture and significantly contributed to the total SOC, especially in sandy soils (41.3%). This is affected by changes in agricultural management practices. We concluded that, although the aim of increasing SOC stabilization originally arose from climate change mitigation strategies, it must now be more viewed as being more relevant to food security and local adaptation to climate change.