OneDrive for Business Kills Unlimited Storage Option for Commercial Customers

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Key takeaways:

  • Microsoft’s OneDrive for Business service no longer offers the unlimited cloud storage option.
  • New commercial customers will need to sign up for OneDrive for Business (Plan 1) with 1 TB of storage for $5 per user/month.
  • However, existing subscribers of OneDrive for Business (Plan 2) would remain unaffected by the change.

Microsoft has quietly discontinued its once-generous unlimited cloud storage option for the OneDrive for Business service. Indeed, all new commercial customers are now limited to OneDrive for Business (Plan 1), which offers 1 TB of storage for $5 per user per month.

Up until now, Microsoft used to offer OneDrive for Business (Plan 2) with 1 TB of default storage for around $10 per user per month. It was possible for IT administrators to increase the storage limit to 5 TB per user. However, organizations were required to contact Microsoft’s support team to claim an additional 25 TB of storage per user and a 25 TB SharePoint team site. This was intended to free large organizations from needing to worry about storage quotas.

According to a new report from TechRadar Pro, Microsoft has ditched its OneDrive for Business (Plan 2) offering sometime in July. This means that new commercial customers can only sign up for OneDrive for Business (Plan 1) with 1 TB of storage for $5 per user/month. It’s also possible for IT admins to increase the storage limit to 5 TB per user. However, this capability is only available for organizations with five or more users.

“In response to customer demand, Microsoft has streamlined the purchasing process for customers who use OneDrive for Business standalone plans,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement to TechRadar Pro. “Customers currently on these plans will still be able to add seats and renew their license.”

Unlimited OneDrive for Business storage will continue to be available for existing subscribers

It’s important to note that the policy change will only affect new enterprise customers. This means that existing OneDrive for Business (Plan 2) subscribers will still be able to add users and renew their licenses.

Microsoft’s decision to ditch OneDrive for Business (Plan 2) comes a few days after Dropbox announced that it would limit its unlimited Advanced plan. The company explained that some users were abusing its unlimited storage plan for purposes like resale of Dropbox storage to third parties and cryptocurrency mining. Dropbox said that only one percent of customers consume more than 35 terabytes per license.