Microsoft 365 Family just lost two thirds of its OneDrive space

Microsoft 365 Family used to mean six people with a terabyte of OneDrive each. It now means 2 TB shared between the lot of them.

The change went live for new and upgraded subscriptions on 8 October 2026, and Microsoft's own support page spells out the rest: existing Family and Premium subscribers move over after their first renewal on or after 2 May 2027. Switching plans before then pulls that date forward, which is worth knowing before you click anything. Microsoft 365 Personal keeps its 1 TB, Basic keeps its 100 GB, and the business-leaning Pro tier gets 5 TB shared. If your household is sitting above the new ceiling when the switch happens you keep access to everything for up to a year while you sort it out, and add-on storage can take you to 10 TB.

Microsoft's pitch is that a pool is more flexible, since one heavy user can take the whole 2 TB if nobody else needs it. True enough, and beside the point for a family of four where every phone is backing up photos. Family went from $99.99 to $129.99 a year in 2025, so the arithmetic for a lot of subscribers is more money for a third of the space, and the reaction has been about what you would expect.

If this is you, the useful question is not which plan to buy. It is whether any photo you would be upset to lose exists in only one place. Cloud storage you rent can shrink, lapse, or lock you out; a drive on your desk cannot. Tendvane's one-click backup copies Documents, Pictures and Desktop to a drive you choose, which is a sensible second copy to have before that renewal notice turns up.