OneDrive Pricing (2026): Every Plan, Cost, and What's Changing

OneDrive pricing starts free with 5 GB and scales through Microsoft 365 bundles: Basic (100 GB) at $1.99/month, Personal (1 TB) at $9.99/month, and Family (6 TB) at $12.99/month, each cheaper if you pay yearly. Business plans run $5 to $12.50 per user per month.

There's no storage-only OneDrive plan, so paid storage is tied to a Microsoft 365 subscription. (Prices as of June 2026.)

Prices aren't the whole story this year, though. Microsoft is scrapping a couple of OneDrive plans and pushing through a price rise in July, so the timing of an annual plan matters more than usual. Everything below is current, with what each plan actually includes.

Table of contents

• How much does OneDrive cost in 2026?
• What's changing with OneDrive pricing in 2026?
• Is OneDrive free, and how much storage does it offer?
• What do the OneDrive personal plans cost?
• What do OneDrive for Business plans cost?
• Which OneDrive plan should you pick?
• Is OneDrive cheaper than Google Drive, iCloud, and Dropbox?
• Is OneDrive worth it, and what are you actually paying for?
• What's a more private alternative to OneDrive?

How much does OneDrive cost in 2026?

Every current OneDrive plan is in the table below. OneDrive isn't sold as standalone storage anymore; you're buying a Microsoft 365 subscription, and the storage comes bundled in.

Prices in USD, as listed on Microsoft's US pricing pages, June 2026.

The free tier is just 5 GB (more on that in a second). Paying yearly knocks roughly two months off versus paying monthly.

Personal is the one most people land on: 1 TB plus the Office apps for one person. Family is the best deal if you've got people to share cloud storage with, since 6 TB split across up to six accounts for $12.99 works out cheaper per person than Personal.

Worth pausing before you lock in an annual plan, though, because some of these prices and plans change later in 2026.

What's changing with OneDrive pricing in 2026?

Two things are shifting this year, and most of the older pricing roundups haven't caught up to either.

Microsoft is retiring its standalone OneDrive for Business plans. In early 2026, Microsoft confirmed it's discontinuing the standalone SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business plans, Plan 1 and Plan 2, as The Register reported.

The timeline it gave:

Microsoft's stated reasons were "low customer demand" and "higher operational costs." So if you were using the cheap $5/user OneDrive for Business Plan 1 just to give a team storage, that door is closing, and the alternatives Microsoft points to are the larger, pricier Microsoft 365 suites.

(Some of the named replacements, like capacity packs and pay-as-you-go storage, didn't even have published pricing months after the announcement.)

There's also a Microsoft 365 price increase landing in July 2026, reported in late 2025, that raises prices on parts of the lineup. So the numbers in the table above are a snapshot, and a few of them tick up mid-year.

Both moves point the same direction: Microsoft would rather sell you a bundle than cheap storage on its own. If you're about to commit to a year of OneDrive, check the live price at checkout. And remember, "storage only, paid once" isn't something Microsoft sells anymore.

Is OneDrive free, and how much storage does it offer?

Yes, there's a free tier. The catch is that it's only 5 GB.

Five gigabytes fills up fast. A few hundred phone photos, a couple of video clips, and you're done. Microsoft knows this, which is why the free plan exists mostly as entry-level storage.

Once OneDrive starts backing up your desktop and photos automatically, you hit the ceiling, and the upgrade prompt shows up. It works for trying the service out, but you wouldn't run your backups on it long term.

What do the OneDrive personal plans cost?

Here are the consumer plans one by one:

• Microsoft 365 Basic, $1.99/month (or $19.99/year), 100 GB. The cheapest paid step. You get 100 GB, ad-free Outlook email, and some added security features. No desktop Office apps, though.
• Microsoft 365 Personal, $9.99/month (or $99.99/year), 1 TB. The popular one. A full terabyte for one person, plus the desktop and web versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, and Microsoft Defender. If you want Office and storage together, this is the default pick.
• Microsoft 365 Family, $12.99/month (or $129.99/year), 6 TB. Same as Personal, but shareable with up to six people, each getting their own 1 TB. For three dollars more than Personal, it's the best value in the lineup if you have anyone to share with.
• Microsoft 365 Premium, $19.99/month (or $199.99/year), up to 6 TB. The top consumer tier: up to 6 TB shared across six people, plus Microsoft's full Copilot AI features.

Every paid plan bundles Office apps and email, whether you need them or not. If you live in Word and Excel, great. If you just wanted somewhere safe to put your files, you're paying for a lot of software you'll never open.

What do OneDrive for Business plans cost?

If you're buying for a team, the storage comes through Microsoft 365 Business plans:

Business Basic covers the web and mobile Office apps, custom email, and Teams. Business Standard adds the desktop Office apps. Both give each user 1 TB. The "no Teams" versions are a little cheaper, for regions where Microsoft now sells Teams separately.

That last line, OneDrive for Business Plan 1, is the standalone $5/user storage plan, and it's the one that's disappearing. If you're shopping for a team, don't build around it.

New sign-ups stop on 31 May 2026.

Which OneDrive plan should you pick?

Quick version, by what you actually need:

• You just want to back up photos and a few files. Start on the free 5 GB and see how fast you fill it. If you spill over, Basic at $1.99/month (100 GB) is the cheapest real plan. No Office apps, just storage and email. Plenty for one phone's worth of photos.
• You use Word, Excel, or Outlook regularly. Personal at $9.99/month (1 TB) is the obvious pick. You're getting the desktop Office apps and a terabyte for one person. This is the default for most individuals.
• You're covering a household. Family at $12.99/month (6 TB) is the value play, full stop. Three dollars more than Personal, but up to six people each get their own 1 TB and their own Office apps. If even two of you will use it, Family wins.
• You're buying for a team. Business Basic at $6/user if you only need web and mobile apps, Business Standard at $12.50/user if you need the desktop apps too. Skip the standalone OneDrive for Business plan. It's being retired (see above), so you'd be buying into something with an expiry date.

The yearly plans save you roughly two months versus monthly, but they lock you in right as the July 2026 price increase lands, so check the live rate at checkout. And if your honest answer to "do I need Office?" is no, then every one of these plans is charging you for software you won't open. Worth sitting with, especially since storage-only options can do the same job for less.

Is OneDrive cheaper than Google Drive, iCloud, and Dropbox?

Roughly, the big four cluster around the same price for a terabyte. They mostly compete on what's bundled, not on raw cost. OneDrive's edge is the Office apps thrown in. iCloud leans on tight Apple integration, and Google has its own app ecosystem. Dropbox tends to charge more for pure storage.

Rather than restate every competitor's price here (they change often), we've broken each matchup down separately:

• OneDrive vs iCloud
• Dropbox vs OneDrive
• OneDrive vs Google Drive

None of them really compete on privacy, though, and that's worth a closer look before you pay.

Is OneDrive worth it, and what are you actually paying for?

If you already live in Microsoft 365, OneDrive is a fair deal. The Office bundle is genuinely useful, Family at 6 TB is good value, and it's deeply baked into Windows. Credit where it's due.

But be clear about what your subscription does and doesn't buy you. OneDrive is not zero-knowledge. Microsoft holds the encryption keys, which means Microsoft, not just you, can technically access your files.

That's how features like online file preview and search work, and it's also why your data sits under US legal jurisdiction.

It also hasn't been the smoothest year for OneDrive's reputation. Users have complained about it quietly hijacking local folders, and there are reports of files going missing once an account is over its storage limit, plus a file-sharing security flaw.

Add the ongoing questions about how big tech uses customer data to train AI, and a pattern shows up. None of it is unique to Microsoft. It's the basic trade-off of trusting your files to a company that holds the keys.

It doesn't show up on the price tag, but it's part of what you're paying. Worth weighing before you hand over your files.

What's a more private alternative to OneDrive?

If your honest answer to "do I need Office?" was no, there's a cheaper way to get private storage. Internxt encrypts every file on your device before it's uploaded, using zero-knowledge AES-256 and Kyber-512 post-quantum encryption.

So unlike OneDrive, no one but you can read your data.

Below is a comparison for 1 terabyte of cloud storage, side by side:

Same ballpark on price, with two real differences: your files actually stay private, and you can buy storage with a one-time lifetime payment instead of renting it forever.

With the July 2026 increase coming, that's worth a second look. If you rely on Word and Excel, OneDrive's bundle still wins.

But if you just wanted somewhere safe for your files, Internxt is free to try, offering post-quantum and zero-knowledge encrypted file storage.

If you're interested in a paid plans, you can see the full list of Internxt's features below, and get an 85% discount on all monthly plans, starting at €1.99/month, or avoid subscriptions with an Internxt lifetime plan.

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FAQ

Is OneDrive free?

Yes. OneDrive includes 5 GB of free storage with a Microsoft account. It fills up quickly, so it works better as a trial than a permanent plan. Paid plans start at $1.99/month for 100 GB.

How much does 1 TB of OneDrive cost?

1 TB of OneDrive costs $9.99/month (or $99.99/year) through the Microsoft 365 Personal plan, which also includes the Office apps. There's no way to buy the 1 TB on its own.

Can you buy OneDrive storage without Microsoft 365?

Not really. OneDrive storage is bundled with Microsoft 365 subscriptions, and there's no standalone consumer storage-only plan. The standalone OneDrive for Business plans that did exist are being retired in 2026.

Is OneDrive being discontinued?

OneDrive itself isn't going away, but Microsoft is retiring its standalone SharePoint and OneDrive for Business plans: no new sales after May 2026, no renewals after January 2027, and full retirement by December 2029. Consumer plans aren't affected.

Is OneDrive cheaper than Google Drive?

They're priced similarly for a terabyte. The difference is what's bundled. OneDrive includes Office apps, Google includes its own apps. Neither is meaningfully cheaper on storage alone.

Is OneDrive private?

No, not in the zero-knowledge sense. Microsoft holds the encryption keys to your OneDrive files, so it can technically access them, and your data falls under US jurisdiction. Providers like Internxt use zero-knowledge encryption, so only you can read your files.

Is OneDrive worth paying for?

If you use Microsoft Office, yes. You're getting the apps and the storage together. If you only want cloud storage, you're paying for a bundle you may not need, and a more private, storage-focused alternative may cost the same or less.