Microsoft is cutting OneDrive storage for Family and Premium subscribers by up to two-thirds, calling the downgrade “greater flexibility.”
According to MobileSyrup, the company is replacing its allowance of 1TB per person with a single 2TB pool shared across the subscription. A fully populated six-person plan previously provided 6TB, meaning families could lose 4TB without anyone volunteering.
Divided equally among six people, the new allowance works out at roughly 333GB each, giving Microsoft’s generosity a distinctly homoeopathic flavour.
The shared pool offers one practical advantage: heavier users can use capacity other members leave unused. Microsoft could have offered that flexibility while keeping the total the same, but apparently generosity has exceeded its storage quota.
Microsoft’s support page explains its reasoning by claiming that “Shared storage provides greater flexibility for families.” The flexibility evidently includes giving customers considerably less space and letting them organise the resulting headache themselves.
New and upgraded subscriptions have used the shared model since 8 October 2026, so the reduction applies immediately to those customers.
Existing Family and Premium subscribers generally move across at their first renewal on or after 2 May 2027. Upgrading an existing subscription before that date can trigger the shared allowance earlier, adding an unpleasant surprise to the upgrade button.
Microsoft 365 Pro receives a larger shared pool of 5TB, while the individual Basic and Personal plans retain their existing allowances. Basic continues to provide 100GB, with Personal offering 1TB for its single account holder.
Sharing capacity does not expose everyone’s documents to the rest of the household, since individual files remain private unless explicitly shared.
Microsoft says eligible existing customers in supported markets might receive transitional bonus storage, although its support page offers no universal allocation. Customers will receive communications explaining the details before their subscriptions move to the new arrangement.
Families exceeding the allowance can continue accessing their files for up to one year while managing their storage. Microsoft offers paid additions that can increase the subscription’s total capacity to 10TB.
