Microsoft increases OneDrive storage from 1TB to unlimited for Office 365 subscribers

Microsoft today announced it is increasing OneDrive storage from 1TB to unlimited for all its Office 365 customers, at no additional cost. In short, this means storage limits are becoming a thing of the past for both Office 365 business and consumer subscribers.

Microsoft says the gradual rollout will happen “over the coming months.” Users with Office 365 Home, Office 365 Personal, and Office 365 University plans will be upgraded first, followed by all other plans.

OneDrive for Business customers will see unlimited storage listed on the Office 365 roadmap “in the coming days.” First Release customers will be upgraded next year, a decision Microsoft says is aligned with the company’s promise to provide ample notification for significant service changes (though we don’t agree a storage upgrade should fall into this category).

If you’re not the patient type and want to get unlimited storage as soon as possible, you can put yourself at the front of the line by heading to preview.onedrive.com. Check the box to “receive promotional emails from OneDrive” and click the blue “Get on the list” button. Then go unsubscribe from whatever spam Microsoft wants to send you.

The news comes just a few months after Microsoft increased the limit for Office 365 users from 25GB to 1TB per user. It appears that bump was just a temporary one, to see if the company’s data centers could handle the additional strain.

It’s clear Microsoft’s move today is aimed at turning up the heat in its battle against Dropbox and Google Drive. The cheapest Office 365 subscription costs $7.00 per month.

Right now, Dropbox and Google charge $10 per month for 1TB of space. Microsoft’s deal is not only cheaper, but also it includes Office apps. This is a big squeeze from Redmond: Its competitors will be looking to sweeten their own offerings quickly.

As we always say, whenever there is real competition in the market, the biggest winner is the user.