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.
To manage your organization's storage plan, review available storage options.
Expand section | Collapse all & go to top
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.
Pooled storage is granted in stages:
- At the time of purchase, you get part of your storage.
- Your storage increases to your total storage limit after you make a $30 USD payment for your subscription.
- You may make a manual payment or pay early to be granted all storage faster. It can take up to 72 hours after a payment for your storage to increase.
| 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. Learn how to request storage. |
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 |
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 Google Workspace Frontline Plus |
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.
Additional limits
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, and Recorder.
- 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
- Google Chat messages and attachments
- 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.
- WhatsApp backups from Android devices
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 with an administrator account to the Google Admin console.
If you aren’t using an administrator account, you can’t access the Admin console.
- 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.
If a user exceeds the storage limit set by their admin or by their license, their Google services are immediately impacted.
As soon as your organization exceeds its storage limit, users can’t add or back up photos to Google Photos.
If your organization exceeds its storage limit by 25% or for 14 days (whichever comes first), the following services are impacted:
- 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, and Forms. Until they reduce storage use, nobody can edit or copy their affected files or submit forms owned by the user.
- Users can’t record new meetings in Google Meet.
When your organization’s limit is exceeded, users can still sign in to their Google Workspace account, send and receive emails, and view and download files.
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 if you exceed your limit, we reserve the right to disable uploads to Drive, suspend your domain, or delete your domain along with all its data.
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.
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.
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.
