Microsoft 365 Family Plans Drop From 6TB to 2TB of OneDrive Storage. What to Do
If your household or small team shares a Microsoft 365 Family subscription, your OneDrive storage is going to shrink. New subscriptions get the smaller allowance straight away, and existing ones switch at renewal from May 2027.
Microsoft has published a support page explaining that Microsoft 365 Family and Premium are moving from 1TB of OneDrive storage per person to one 2TB pool shared by everyone on the plan. Microsoft 365 Pro moves to a 5TB shared pool. The price is not changing.
Microsoft calls it "more flexibility". For a plan shared by six people, it is a cut from 6TB to 2TB.
Microsoft 365 Family subscribers will finally be able to share AI benefits. But OneDrive storage is being cut to a shared 2TB pool across all family members. Full details on Microsoft's changes 👇 theverge.com/news/1008581/m…
From 1TB each to one shared pool
Until now, Family, Premium and Pro gave each person on the plan (up to six) their own 1TB. The new model puts everyone into one bucket.
| Plan | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Basic | 100GB, one person | No change |
| Microsoft 365 Personal | 1TB, one person | No change |
| Microsoft 365 Family | 1TB each, up to 6 people | 2TB shared by up to 6 people |
| Microsoft 365 Premium | 1TB each, up to 6 people | 2TB shared by up to 6 people |
| Microsoft 365 Pro | 1TB each, up to 6 people | 5TB shared by up to 6 people |
On a plan with all six places filled, that is up to 4TB less combined storage on Family and Premium, and up to 1TB less on Pro.
Your files stay private. Shared storage only changes how much space everyone gets, not who can see what. Each person still only sees their own files unless they share them.
When your plan switches
The timing depends on when you subscribed, according to Microsoft's support page:
- New subscriptions started on or after 8 October 2026 get shared storage straight away.
- Existing subscribers keep their current storage until their first renewal on or after 2 May 2027. Nothing changes before then, and Microsoft says it will email you before your renewal.
- Upgrading (for example Family to Premium) before May 2027 moves you to shared storage immediately. If you upgrade from Family to Premium, you land on 2TB shared.
- Downgrading on its own does not trigger the change early.
So if you are on Family and thinking about upgrading to Premium, check your storage first. The upgrade could cost you space today.
What if you are over 2TB?
Microsoft says you will not lose access straight away:
- You get notifications as you approach the limit.
- If you go over, you can keep accessing your files for up to one year while you sort it out.
- You can buy extra storage, up to a total of 10TB, and it gets added to the shared pool.
- Some existing Family and Premium customers in "supported markets" may get temporary bonus storage during the transition. Microsoft has not said exactly who qualifies.
A year is a generous buffer, but "access" is not the same as "able to keep adding". Do not assume your phone will keep backing up photos happily while you are over the limit.
Big families and businesses on Family plans
Most people will be fine. If you are a couple using a few hundred gigabytes between you, 2TB shared is plenty, and the new model even helps if one person is the photo hoarder. Microsoft points out that if you do not share your plan at all, you now get the full 2TB to yourself.
Three groups should check their storage now:
- Big families where several people back up their phones to OneDrive.
- Small businesses and sole traders using a Family plan to give staff Office and storage. It is a common setup, and the one hit hardest. (If that is you, it is also worth knowing Microsoft 365 Business plans are a different product, and this support page only covers Family, Premium and Pro.)
- Anyone using OneDrive as their only backup. If OneDrive is the one copy of the business files or the kids' baby photos, a storage limit is a risk, not just an annoyance.
What to do before your renewal
Existing subscribers have months, so work through this calmly.
1. Check how much you are using. Sign in at account.microsoft.com, open your Microsoft 365 subscription and look at the storage dashboard. Add up everyone on the plan. Under 2TB? You can probably stop here.
2. Find what is taking the space. On onedrive.com, the storage page shows your largest files. It is usually video, old phone backups, or the same photos uploaded twice from two devices.
3. Empty the recycle bin. Deleted files in the OneDrive recycle bin still count toward your storage until they are permanently removed.
4. Do not upgrade without checking. As above, an upgrade before May 2027 moves you to shared storage straight away.
5. Look at your renewal date. Your change happens at the first renewal on or after 2 May 2027. If you renew in, say, April 2027, you get almost another full year at the old storage.
6. Get a second copy of anything important. This is the one we push hardest. Cloud sync is not the same as a backup. Keep important files in at least two places, one of them offline, like an external drive. Our guide to backing up business data covers the 3-2-1 rule.
7. If you are a business on a Family plan, use this as the nudge. Moving staff onto proper Microsoft 365 Business accounts gives each person their own storage, admin controls, and a clean way to remove someone's access when they leave.
If you would like a hand finding what is taking the space, or moving the business onto proper accounts, that is a quick job for us.
