The days of unlimited free storage of Google Docs, Sheets and photos appear to be numbered, after the tech giant announced plans for a new 15GB limit starting next year.
Google has long provided free storage for users across Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos. But with 4.3 million GB of data being added across Gmail, Drive and Photos every day, the tech giant has decided to update its policy.
In a blogpost, Google Workspace VP Jose Pastor and Google Photos VP Shimrit Ben-Yair revealed that as of June 1 2021, new storage policies would be introduced which limit free storage to 15GB.
Only new Docs, Sheets, Slides and Photos will begin counting towards the 15GB from June 2021.
“To continue providing everyone with a great storage experience and to keep pace with the growing demand, we’re announcing important upcoming storage changes to your Google Account,” Google said.
“These changes will apply to Photos and Drive (specifically Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms and Jamboard files) and will enable us to continue investing in these products for the future.
“We’re also introducing new policies for consumer Google Accounts that are either inactive or over their storage limit across Gmail, Drive (including Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms and Jamboard files) and Photos, to bring our policies more in line with industry standards.”
Google added that the content stored in these apps is not used for advertising.
So how much storage is 15GB?
According to Google, for the majority of users, 15GB should be enough to last at least three years.
The changes come as Google continues to revamp its Workspace offering in response to the shift to remote work.
Last month, the tech giant revealed it was updating the Gmail logo as part of the brand refresh.
