Google Workspace storage FAQ for admins

Here are common questions for admins about storage space for your organization's Gmail, Google Drive files, and Google Photos.

To review your own storage, go to Manage files in your Google Drive storage.

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What are Google Workspace storage and upload limits?

Google Workspace storage is shared between Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. Learn how storage use is calculated.

The amount of storage for each user depends on your Google Workspace edition. Most Google Workspace editions have pooled storage. Pooled storage is indicated in the following tables as total storage or a storage amount times the number of End User licenses.

Google Workspace Edition or Subscription	Storage Limits
G Suite Basic No longer available for new customers	30 GB per End User
G Suite Business G Suite Business - Archived Users No longer available for new customers	Unlimited storage 1 TB per Archived User
Google Workspace Business Starter	30 GB times the number of End Users, including Archived Users
Google Workspace Business Standard	2 TB times the number of End Users, including Archived Users
Google Workspace Business Plus	5 TB times the number of End Users, including Archived Users
Google Workspace Enterprise Starter	1 TB times the number of End Users
Google Workspace Enterprise Standard Google Workspace Enterprise Plus	5 TB times the number of End Users, including Archived Users For customers with 5 or more End Users, more storage may be available at Google's discretion upon reasonable request to Google Workspace support.

Google Workspace for Education

Google Workspace Edition or Subscription	Storage Limits
Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals Google Workspace for Education Standard	100 TB total for all End Users
Google Workspace for Education Teaching and Learning Upgrade	Additional 100 GB times the number of End User licenses
Google Workspace for Education Plus	Additional 20 GB times the number of End User licenses

Google Workspace Edition or Subscription

Storage Limits

Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals

Google Workspace for Education Standard

100 TB total for all End Users

Google Workspace for Education Teaching and Learning Upgrade

Additional 100 GB times the number of End User licenses

Google Workspace for Education Plus

Additional 20 GB times the number of End User licenses

For more information about storage for Google Workspace for Education storage, go to Understand storage availability and usage.

Google Workspace Essentials

Google Workspace Essentials editions do not include Gmail.

Google Workspace Edition or Subscription	Storage Limits
Google Workspace Essentials Starter	15 GB per End User
Google Workspace Essentials No longer available for new customers	100 GB times the number of End User, up to a maximum of 2 TB
Google Workspace Enterprise Essentials	1 TB times the number of End Users
Google Workspace Enterprise Essentials Plus	5 TB times the number of End Users

Google Workspace Frontline

Google Workspace Edition or Subscription

Storage Limits

Google Workspace Frontline Starter

Google Workspace Frontline Standard

5 GB per End User*

*This storage limit applies to all End Users using a Google Workspace Frontline edition, even if the Customer purchased another Google Workspace offering with different storage limits.

Google Workspace for Nonprofits

Google Workspace Edition or Subscription	Storage Limits
Google Workspace for Nonprofits	100 TB for all End Users

If you need more storage, review your storage options for non-Education Google Workspace editions or storage options for Education editions.

Upload limits

Individual users can only upload 750 GB each day between My Drive and all shared drives. Users who reach the 750-GB limit or upload a file larger than 750 GB cannot upload additional files that day. Uploads that are in progress will complete. The maximum individual file size that you can upload or synchronize is 5 TB.

How does pooled storage work?

Pooled storage is shared storage for all your users. This storage includes, but is not limited to, files from Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos.

Each user’s license adds to your organization’s pool. Because storage is pooled, users can use more than the storage included in their license. We recommend that you set storage limits to fairly share storage between users and shared drives.

What counts toward storage? What doesn't?

The following files count toward storage:

Google Drive

Items in Google Drive, which includes PDFs, images, videos, Meet recordings, and Sites project files.
Files created or edited after May 2, 2022 in collaborative content creation apps like Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, Recorder, and Jamboard.
Content in shared drives.
Content in Trash until it's permanently deleted.

Gmail

Messages and attachments, including items in your Spam and Trash folders.

Google Photos

Original quality photos and videos backed up to Google Photos.
High quality (now named Storage saver) and Express quality photos and videos backed up to Google Photos after June 1, 2021. Any photos or videos you backed up in High quality or Express quality before June 1, 2021 don't count toward your Google Account storage. Learn more about this change.

The following content doesn't count toward storage:

Drive shortcuts
Content created with My Maps
Files shared with users. Shared files are counted only for the file owner's storage, not for the users the file is shared with.
Version history for files created in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, unless the user explicitly decides to keep older versions.

How can I see how much storage my organization uses?

You can see your organization's storage use in your Admin console, including which users and shared drives use the most storage. For details, see Review storage use across your organization.

If you don't have access to the data on the Storage page, you might be able to review the Accounts report:

Go to the article View Apps reports for your organization.
Follow the steps on how to go to the Accounts report > Total storage used.

Review the storage status of a single user

Sign in to your Google Admin console.
Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).
In the Admin console, go to Menu DirectoryUsers.
Click a user to open their account page.
At the top of the page, you can see the percentages of mail and Drive storage utilized by the user.

What happens if a user or organization is over their storage limit?

If your organization exceeds its total storage limit, users can be blocked from creating Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, among other service degradations. If your organization goes over storage limits:

Users can’t add new files or images to Google Drive.
Users can’t create new files in collaborative content creation apps like Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, and Jamboard. Until they reduce storage use, nobody can edit or copy their affected files or submit forms owned by the user.
Users can't add any photos and videos to Google Photos.
Users’ ability to send and receive email in Gmail is impacted. Note: Education customers are exempt from this restriction.
Users can’t record new meetings in Google Meet.

Note: Users can still sign in to their Google Workspace account and view and download files.

The same limitations apply if you set storage limits on users in organizational units or groups and they exceed those limits.

If you need more storage, review your storage options for non-Education Google Workspace editions or storage options for Education editions.

Ultimately, you are limited to the amount of storage described in our terms of service, and we reserve the right to disable uploads to Drive if you exceed your limit.

How do I get more storage for my organization?

The ways you can get more storage for your organization’s email, files, and photos depend on your edition:

Google Workspace for Education: see Free up or get more storage for your institution.
All other editions: see Free up or get more storage.

What is the difference between Google Drive storage and Google Cloud Storage?

Google Workspace storage is best for files that users access and edit frequently or collaborate in through Drive, Gmail, or Photos. Cloud Storage is best for files that users access indirectly through a website or other system your organization’s developers set up.

Is my storage calculated in metric or binary units (GB or GiB)?

Google Workspace storage is sold and calculated in binary units. For example, each Enterprise Standard user license adds 5 TiB to your pooled storage, equal to ~5.5 TB.

What happened to legacy individual storage subscriptions?

Individual storage subscriptions are no longer available for purchase. When you upgrade to an edition that has pooled storage or your edition is updated to have pooled storage:

The legacy storage isn’t added to your organization’s pooled storage.
Any legacy storage subscriptions are automatically cancelled.

User-purchased storage

If users purchased additional storage, you may want to prepare ahead of the switch to make sure your organization has enough pooled storage for everyone. To identify which users might have a legacy user-purchased storage subscription:

Review the amount of storage included with your current Google Workspace subscription. On this page, go to What are Google Workspace storage and upload limits?
In your Admin console, use the storage management tools to identify high-storage users. If their storage use is larger than what is included with their license, they might have purchased a legacy storage subscription. For example, a user with a Business Starter is expected to have 30 GB of storage, but if they’re using 50 GB, they may have purchased additional storage.

Alternatively, users can cancel their subscription ahead of the switch. To cancel an individual storage subscription, the user:

Opens https://play.google.com/store/account/subscriptions with the account they use for work or school.
Finds the Google One subscription (user-managed individual storage subscriptions are now listed as Google One subscriptions).
Clicks ManageCancel subscription and follows the on-screen instructions.

Admin-purchased storage

If you purchased additional storage for your users with the legacy admin-managed storage subscription, you can review how much storage that added in your Admin console (go to BillingSubscriptions). On that page, you can cancel the subscription if you no longer need it. It will be canceled automatically after the switch to pooled storage.