Microsoft Doubles OneDrive’s Standard Storage Plan, Introduces New Options for Office 365 Customers

Microsoft is introducing some interesting changes to the OneDrive pricing and storage plans. It’s expanding storage options for OneDrive customers to give them more control over their cloud storage.

OneDrive is doubling the amount of storage available with the standard OneDrive plan. The $1.99 a month plan previously offered 50GB of storage, and it now comes with 100GB of storage. If you are a customer of the standard plan, you will automatically get the additional 50GB of storage for free.

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And for Office 365 customers, Microsoft is changing up how it offers storage to those with Office 365. Along with the 1TB of storage that comes with an Office 365 subscription, users can now get an additional 1TB (so 2TB total) for $9.99 a month. You can add storage in 200GB increments to your account, starting at $1.99 a month for the first 200GB of additional storage. Here’s the breakdown:

Microsoft plans to introduce the new additional storage plans for Office 365 in the coming months. The changes should be welcome for many, but may still be considered slightly expensive considering the fact that other services like Dropbox, iCloud, and Google Drive offer similar 2TB storage plans at cheaper prices — and without having to pay for Office 365.

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  • Ben Lee

    25 June, 2019 - 12:59 pm

    <p>Oh that's it, I was hoping for more from them. An additional 1TB is a good start but the price is high, 2TB is £7.99 with Google or £9.99 with Dropbox. I still can't move though as need minimum of 3TB to begin with, which will probably increase each year. Backing up 4K video and RAW photos takes up lots of space.</p>

    • evox81

      Premium Member
      25 June, 2019 - 1:26 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#437446">In reply to Ben Lee:</a></em></blockquote><p>I'm legitimately curious here, so don't read any judgement in to how I say this… But why do you feel online storage is the right solution for backing up this type of material? My backup strategy for this type of stuff has always been keeping critical things I might need close (quicker to access) while pushing less critical stuff (personal stuff) to the cloud.</p><p><br></p><p>If I had a data loss, I can't imagine waiting for a throttled download of some 4k source footage when I really need it.</p><p><br></p><p>Plus, a 3TB hard drive is dramatically cheaper. </p>

      • Ben Lee

        25 June, 2019 - 4:44 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#437462">In reply to evox81:</a></em></blockquote><p>It's part of a backup solution, having backups on one hard drive is a terrible backup solution. I have them backed up on hard drives locally and I keep them on two seperate cloud storage places. </p><p><br></p><p>Who would be throttling my download?</p>

        • ph-sth

          25 June, 2019 - 5:17 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#437541">In reply to Ben Lee:</a></em></blockquote><p>It's likely less that your download would be throttled, but that the upload from the other end may be subject to QoS. I'm not sure how OneDrive handles this.</p>

    • lvthunder

      Premium Member
      25 June, 2019 - 2:58 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#437446">In reply to Ben Lee:</a></em></blockquote><p>For just backup purposes use something like Backblaze instead.</p>

      • Ben Lee

        25 June, 2019 - 4:45 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#437514">In reply to lvthunder:</a></em></blockquote><p>I do as well.</p>

    • ndwilder

      26 June, 2019 - 4:16 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#437446">In reply to Ben Lee:</a></em></blockquote><p>Restoring a large amount of data from the cloud even from large providers is PAINFUL! TBs? You're talking MONTHS unless you have fiber in your house. BUT, most backup companies offer data shuttles, in which they'll send an encrypted chunk of your data for a fee per GB typically. A recent recovery of 1.5TB cost me around $400, and that was half price as a compromise from the provider. Relying on one single hard drive for backup or storage? Seriously bad idea if you truly care about your data. Have seen countless drives fail. Most people leave them connected and spinning. MTBF is a real thing. CDs and BDs degrade over time, flash drives can forget what's on them. True backup requires a proven strategy and well thought out plans to avoid pain and disaster, even on the personal level. </p>

  • rwtodd

    25 June, 2019 - 1:16 pm

    <p>I was expecting them to bump 1Tb -&gt; 2Tb to keep up with Google and Apple, or to let me share the total per-user storage on my Office 365 plan. This new plan where I'd have to pay $9.99 *extra* to reach the same storage levels I can get elsewhere for $9.99 *total* is going to fall flat with customers like me. I suppose their research says there aren't enough people like me to matter.</p>

    • dontbe evil

      25 June, 2019 - 2:37 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#437457">In reply to rwtodd:</a></em></blockquote><p>Didn't know that apple and google offer a full office offline suite and 60 minutes per months on landlines via skype</p>

      • rwtodd

        25 June, 2019 - 3:35 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#437493">In reply to dontbe_evil:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Think of it this way: I can keep my Office 365, and now my choice is: would I rather pay MS $9.99 for 1 additional Tb or Apple $9.99 for 2 additional Tb? I can deal with the aggravation of segregating my files if I get 3x storage rather than 2x. So even then, to me, this offer is as underwhelming as the Skype minutes I never use.</p><p><br></p>

        • xpxp2002

          26 June, 2019 - 4:56 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#437529">In reply to rwtodd:</a></em></blockquote><p>I agree with you on all counts. It's clear Microsoft has no respect for loyal, paying consumers anymore. Only businesses matter. First, they refused to upgrade months-old Windows Phone 7 devices to WP8, refused to upgrade Surface RT devices to Windows 10 (including Surface 2), promised unlimited OneDrive storage then rolled it back to a measly 1 GB with no price decrease to compensate for the loss, and to this day have never delivered 10 GB at any price (which was where you started under their old "unlimited" OneDrive/O365 plan).</p><p><br></p><p>Even Apple, who is notorious for overcharging, offers a free office suite, and 2 TB of iCloud storage for only $9.99. Ever since the abomination that is Windows 10 came out, I threw in the towel on Microsoft's consumer offerings that were dwindling <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">in quality and availability </span>by the day anyway, and I haven't looked back since. Got a MacBook and iPhone that have had Continuity for SMS/iMessage since the day I bought them. Microsoft promised "Messages Everywhere" three years ago, and still hasn't delivered it.</p><p><br></p><p>And the Skype minutes might as well be magic beans. Nobody's going to use those in 2019 when Skype internet calls, FaceTime calls, and Google Hangouts are all free, and domestic cellular calls are unlimited. Not to mention that FaceTime is end-to-end encrypted. God only knows what's going on with your Skype calls now that Microsoft "centralized" the old Skype P2P network so that everything flows through Redmond.</p><p><br></p><p>I'd rather they up the OneDrive storage to 1.5 GB before they give me a useless handout like Skype minutes that I've literally never had a reason to use. I have 800 GB of personal photos and videos, and music (from the Zune Music Pass, you know, before that was also abandoned) in OneDrive and it's looking like I'mg going to have to buy more space soon. The question is whether I want to give a company that couldn't care less about me as a consumer who spends money with them another $9.99 for 1 TB, or whether I should give Apple $9.99 for 2 TB that I can use for my personal files as well as device backups, messages, health data, and any other files I choose to store.</p><p><br></p><p>I'm sorry, but Office 365 consumer continues to look like a declining value as time goes on. Competitors are lowering their prices and offering more storage for the same price, while Microsoft sits on its laurels and ignores the industry they once dominated as they worship at the altar of business.</p>

  • David L. Berger

    25 June, 2019 - 1:30 pm

    <p>The pricing is not in line with existing Office 365 pricing. I can get another 6Tb of storage for $99/year with an additional Office 365 Home account. Sure I have to share it and it gets a little tricky to use, but $120/yr for another 1Tb is ridiculously expensive.</p><p>It would be nice if Microsoft allow administrators on an Office 365 Home account to allocate space amount the users as they saw fit. I know you would need a little dashboard, but would it really be that hard?</p>

  • yoshi

    Premium Member
    25 June, 2019 - 1:33 pm

    <p>So $16.98 per month for 2TB of OneDrive space with Office 365 Personal.</p><p><br></p><p>Or, $9.99 per month for 2TB of Google Drive or iCloud Drive.</p><p><br></p><p>They are putting way too much faith in Office apps.</p><p><br></p><p>Way. To. Go. </p>

    • bart

      Premium Member
      25 June, 2019 - 4:08 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#437466">In reply to yoshi:</a></em></blockquote><p>Don't forget, this also includes 1TB for 5 other people + Office apps.</p><p><br></p><p>Sure, you personally won't get that, but included in the price nonetheless</p>

      • yoshi

        Premium Member
        25 June, 2019 - 7:08 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#437533">In reply to Bart:</a></em></blockquote><p>Home does, sure. Not Personal. </p>

      • jsulliweb

        26 June, 2019 - 11:12 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#437533">In reply to Bart:</a></em></blockquote><p>Actually, you could create a dummy account. Create a few folders there, and share them with the main account. They would show up in OneDrive just like normal folders, and anything stored in them would count toward the secondary account's storage totals. So if you've got videos or something you'd like to backup without filling up that initial 1TB… something to think about.</p>

  • SvenJ

    25 June, 2019 - 2:10 pm

    <p>If the additional 365 storage came with additional Office licenses, that would be nice. </p>

  • Brazbit

    25 June, 2019 - 2:11 pm

    <p>Remember the days of "<em>unlimited</em>" OneDrive? "<em>Unlimited</em>" it was, until you tried to do something unexpected… such as use it. </p>

  • emanon2121

    25 June, 2019 - 2:14 pm

    <p>I was already bit by the low storage offered. I moved everything to Google drive. Sorry Microsoft too little too late.</p>

    • Stooks

      25 June, 2019 - 2:44 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#437476">In reply to emanon2121:</a></em></blockquote><p>"by the low storage offered"</p><p><br></p><p>Do you mean the free offering? If so Microsoft was not making any money off of you so no loss. Good luck with Google owning your data.</p><p><br></p><p>Otherwise the Office 365 Personal could be had for $69 a year or less (deals all the time) and you get 1TB plus Office 365.</p><p><br></p><p>If you need more than 1TB of cloud storage then you need a business account of some sort. I keep all of my photos/videos and documents in OneDrive and I am using just over 100gig. I have 20 years worth of photos up there, 70,000 plus and hours upon hours of video (3 kids).</p><p><br></p><p>I find the people that personally use more than 1TB are ripping movies/pirating software or using a personal account for a small business (multiple people storage) and trying to get by on the cheap.</p>

      • irfaanwahid

        26 June, 2019 - 1:35 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#437505">In reply to Stooks:</a></em></blockquote><p>I agree with you. </p><p>I have more than 20,000 photos, a lot of personal videos.</p><p>Important apps backed up and of course all my data for more than 7 years and yet I hit just over 100gigs.</p>

        • fbman

          26 June, 2019 - 1:56 am

          <blockquote><em><a href="#437661">In reply to irfaanwahid:</a></em></blockquote><p>speak for yourself, just because you dont use too much space, does not mean other people are storing rips and pirated software</p><p><br></p><p>I am using around 450Gig of my space. I store all my documents, photos and music on OneDrive.</p><p><br></p><p>What chews my space, is my photos (My hobby is photography).. I Shoot all my photos in RAW format with my DSLR camera.. I only save the JPEG created in Lightroom on OneDrive.. but I do save the high quality version.. so each photo around 15 Meg, some of my Pani's can be up to 50 Meg each. Since my son was born, the amount of photos is increasing..</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

          • chriscarstens

            26 June, 2019 - 9:42 am

            <blockquote><a href="#437662"><em>In reply to fbman:</em></a><em>Hey, fbman! Hope you can help me with this. My wife has taken thousands of pictures, and they have accumulated in multiple files. Then they get duplicated in Onedrive — some three or four times. Any clever strategy for unduplicating files in OneDrive. I’m looking at a compost pile of 180,000 images — at least 60% of which are dupes. </em></blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><blockquote><em>All suggestions warmly welcomed. </em></blockquote><p><br></p>

      • emanon2121

        26 June, 2019 - 10:42 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#437505">In reply to Stooks:</a></em></blockquote><p>I have Office 365. The the only storage offered was 1TB. I do not rip movies. I have close 500GB of raw photos, almost the same in home/travel videos. Also close to to 250GB of high resolution music files from HDTracks and vinyl rips. I was willing to pay for more storage but they didn't offer it which was baffeling.</p><p><br></p><p>So in other words F you! You pompous keyboard warrior.</p>

        • fedep

          26 June, 2019 - 5:04 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#437773">In reply to emanon2121:</a></em></blockquote><p>If you purchase OneDrive Family plan for about $99 you have use for up to 5-6 users each with a Terabyte apiece. Easily set up a Microsoft account just for your Raw etc on it's own Terabyte. You really have access to 5 terabytes just segmented across 5 login's.. seems like a no brainer to me Google Dropbox Apple are left in the dust.</p><p><br></p>

      • nordyj

        26 June, 2019 - 5:07 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#437505">In reply to Stooks:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Yeah, I'm only at 36GB, and I've had access for years. 1TB is WAY more than I'll ever need.</p>

  • Daekar

    25 June, 2019 - 2:45 pm

    <p>Well, the prices are disappointing. Hopefully by the time I need that extra space it will be cheaper.</p>

  • wbhite

    Premium Member
    25 June, 2019 - 2:47 pm

    <p>I'm still salty that they removed the unlimited storage a few years ago. I'm not likely to give them more money now for something they took away.</p>

  • red.radar

    Premium Member
    25 June, 2019 - 6:15 pm

    <p>I like the 1.99 option that satisfies my needs coupled with a HUP license of office 2019 </p>

  • Sarge

    26 June, 2019 - 11:37 am

    <p>I guess I could be missing something here, but understanding a little inconvenience to manage a couple of extra account/email addresses, it costs $8.33 a month for Office 365 Home and that gets you 5 separate 1 TB accounts worth of storage. Not sure how $9.99 a month for a single 1 TB addition storage is much of a decent price.</p>

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