Updated

Updated · ZDNet · Oct 9

Microsoft Cuts Microsoft 365 Family OneDrive to 2 TB From 6 TB, Raising Upgrade Costs

Updated

Updated · ZDNet · Oct 9

Microsoft Cuts Microsoft 365 Family OneDrive to 2 TB From 6 TB, Raising Upgrade Costs

Q: With storage shrinking from six terabytes to two, how much extra will families really pay to keep their digital lives intact?

Families that actually used the full 6TB included in Microsoft 365 Family stand to pay substantially more if they want to keep the same amount of cloud space. Under the new model, the plan drops from as much as 6TB total across six users to a shared 2TB pool, creating a 4TB shortfall for heavy users. Using the pricing widely cited for consumer OneDrive add-ons, extra storage is about $10 per month for each additional 1TB. That means a family needing to restore the lost 4TB would likely pay about $40 more per month, or roughly $480 more per year, on top of the base Microsoft 365 Family subscription. If the annual Family plan is around $130, the total bill could rise to roughly $610 a year to preserve the old 6TB capacity. Even families using less than the maximum may still feel a sharp increase. A household currently storing 3TB would exceed the new 2TB cap by 1TB, implying about $10 more per month, or $120 a year. At 4TB used, the added cost would be about $20 monthly, or $240 yearly. At 5TB, about $30 monthly, or $360 yearly. Microsoft says some existing subscribers may receive temporary bonus storage in eligible markets, and the company has said it plans support options for storage-heavy families. But based on current pricing signals, the practical effect is that many larger households will either have to delete data, spread it elsewhere, or pay double to several times more than before to maintain the same digital footprint.

3 articles · Updated · ZDNet · Oct 9

Microsoft said new and upgraded Microsoft 365 Family and Premium subscriptions from Oct. 8 will use a shared 2 TB OneDrive pool instead of the current 6 TB spread across six 1 TB accounts.
Existing subscribers keep the old setup until their first renewal on or after May 2, 2027, but households already using more than 2 TB may have to delete files or buy extra storage.
At current pricing, the $130-a-year Family plan can become far more expensive because each additional 1 TB of OneDrive storage costs $10 a month, potentially doubling or tripling bills.
The same overhaul also turns Copilot into a shared family benefit rather than an owner-only perk, while Microsoft 365 Pro gets 5 TB and higher AI limits for $100 a month.
Microsoft appears to be targeting heavy users who exploited the old per-person allotments, while also bringing its storage-and-AI bundles closer to Google One and Apple iCloud+.