Microsoft subscribers will soon have way less OneDrive storage

Microsoft is cutting the amount of OneDrive storage people get with a Microsoft 365 subscription.

Per an email that went out to customers, the company is changing OneDrive cloud storage allowances from 1TB per person to 2TB of shared storage:

“More flexible cloud storage: Your cloud storage allowance will change from 1 TB per person to 2 TB of shared storage so everyone on the plan can use the free space while keeping their own accounts and files private.”

But while Microsoft’s cheery language frames the change as a benefit, the reality is it’s a huge cut to cloud storage. Under the old system, Microsoft 365 subscribers on the Family or Premium plan tiers got 1TB per person. That means if you have all six spots on the plan full, that’s a total of 6TB of cloud storage.

Under the new change, all six people instead have to share 2TB. Split evenly between six users, that’s about 333GB each. Yikes.

A Microsoft support page about the change notes that Microsoft 365 Pro subscriptions will move to 5TB of shared storage across all members. However, individual plans like Basic and Personal, which only have one member, aren’t seeing reductions.

Thankfully, the change isn’t happening right away. Microsoft says the new storage model goes into effect on May 2, 2027, and will apply to existing subscribers on their first renewal after that date.

Still, such a significant reduction in storage hurts and really kills the value of the Microsoft 365 subscription. I know I’ll be spending the next several months exploring alternative cloud storage options to replace OneDrive.

Notably, this isn’t the first time Microsoft has hurt the value of Microsoft 365. Just last year, Microsoft jacked up the price of Microsoft 365 subscriptions because it added AI features no one asked for to the service.