Microsoft ends unlimited OneDrive storage

Microsoft has announced some major changes to its OneDrive plans. Office 365 users no longer have unlimited storage, users with the free version go from 15GB to 5GB and the number of subscriptions is significantly reduced.

Last year, Microsoft announced that all paying users of Office 365 Home, Personal and University would receive unlimited storage in online storage service OneDrive. Microsoft is now withdrawing that commitment, with the announcement of the new storage plans on the OneDrive blog. The OneDrive team writes that some users have more than 75TB of data online, while the average per user is about 5.5GB. The team says it doesn’t want to focus on such extreme backup scenarios. Office 365 users will have to make do with 1TB of storage from now on.

Microsoft is also making changes to the free OneDrive plan. Microsoft limits the storage space from 15GB to 5GB and the bonus of 15GB that users got to store photos will disappear. In addition, the plans with storage space of 100GB and 200GB will disappear, new members can only opt for a 50GB subscription, which costs $1.99 per month. These changes will come into effect in early 2016. For those who already have a subscription with 100GB or 200GB, nothing will change.

Users who have more data on their account than allowed under the new plans will receive a notification from Microsoft and can keep the extra data for at least another 12 months. Microsoft offers free users who have more than 5GB of data on their OneDrive a free annual subscription to Office 365 Personal. A credit card is required for registration. Paying members who feel that the service no longer meets their expectations can request a refund.