Microsoft folds 1TB-per-user storage on 365 Family, Premium and Pro into one 2TB pool

Today the quota belongs to the person. Each user on a Family, Premium or Pro plan has an assigned 1TB ^[1]. Space one user leaves empty stays on that seat ^[1]. After the switch, the account has a single 2TB allowance that every user draws from ^[1]. Microsoft says storage will then go where it is needed automatically, and that individual users will be less likely to hit their own limits ^[4].

Pooling is the better design for a household with one heavy user and several light ones, which is the case Tom's Hardware calls advantageous ^[13]. A shared allowance means capacity no longer sits idle on seats that never use it. Groups with several heavy users pay for that efficiency ^[14]. For six users the combined ceiling falls from 6TB to 2TB, a cut of two-thirds ^[15]. Tom's Hardware puts it at 66.6% ^[12].

The point where a plan runs out of space moves as well. With per-user quotas, a plan ran short when its largest user passed 1TB. With the pool, it runs short when the total passes 2TB. Spread evenly over six seats, 2TB comes to about 333GB each ^[16]. Tom's Hardware's example of four users at 500GB each adds up to the entire pool ^[17]. The publication says that account would be forced to buy more capacity, starting at $1.99 a month for 200GB ^[8]. That smallest step costs $23.88 a year ^[19].

Changing plan before the cutover brings the pool in early ^[2]. For that reason I would leave these subscriptions alone until renewal unless the group already fits inside 2TB. Waiting keeps the 1TB-per-user allowance in place until the first renewal after May 2, 2027 ^[2].

Microsoft has not raised subscription prices ^[9]. Tom's Hardware links the change to the industry's storage shortage. It cites hard drive prices up 46% from September 2025 to January 2026 ^[21], and 30TB enterprise SSDs at $22,600 with supply sold out until 2027 ^[22]. In its view the move takes load off Microsoft's storage servers while pushing accounts with several large users to buy storage separately ^[14]. Microsoft's own stated reasons are about allocation ^[4]. Moving the data to another provider runs into similar limits. Backblaze, which sells "unlimited" backups, has changed its terms so it can throttle or terminate accounts that exceed "typical usage patterns" ^[11].