From up to 6TB of storage, you’ll now only get a shared storage space of 2TB.
Earlier this month, Microsoft announced an important update to its 365 Family plan that could change the way you use the service. A Family subscription now comes with 2TB of storage, spread across all the plan’s members; prior to October 8, the plan allocated 1TB per member — up to 6TB total. That’s a pretty sizeable reduction. And because that 2TB is shared across all members, you’ll know exactly who is eating up all your storage space.
What is Microsoft 365 Family plan anyway?
Microsoft 365 is the company’s cloud-based subscription service that gives you access to its suite of apps, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and OneDrive. Each Family plan can have up to six members, but its AI and CoPilot features are only accessible to the subscription owner.
Since the service is cloud-based, every file you create through its apps is saved on the company’s cloud and, thus, take up storage. That’s what makes the subscription plan’s storage allowance crucial for certain users. Despite reducing the Family plan’s storage allowance, Microsoft isn’t slashing dollars off its price: it will still set you back $13 a month or $130 a year.
The storage changes also apply to Microsoft 365 Premium subscriptions, which come with everything in the Family plan, plus some more advanced AI features that are still only available to the plan administrator.
When will the reduced storage space take effect?
If you’re an existing Family plan subscriber who signed up before October 8, then you will transition to shared storage the first time you renew your subscription on or after May 2, 2027. But if you switch plans before your supposed transition date, Microsoft may immediately apply the shared storage model to your account. If you switch to Premium, for instance, you may be transitioned to the new storage model earlier than you were supposed to be. But if you’re downgrading from Premium to Family, your subscription will continue under the current storage model until it renews on or after May 2.
Microsoft says it will send you a notification with more details about the storage changes before they’re applied to your plan. If you absolutely need more storage than what the new base Family configuration offers, you will have to buy it. You can add a total of 10TB to your plan, which you can buy in storage packs of 100GB, 500GB, 1TB or 6TB sizes. If you’re the plan owner, you can assign the additional storage packs to each member, depending on who needs them or who’s paying for them.
