How to Increase Storage Limit in Google Workspace?
Short Summary: To increase storage limit in Google Workspace, sign in to the Google Admin console. Review your organization’s storage use. If there is insufficient available space, view your current subscription under Billing >> Subscriptions and upgrade your plan or buy more storage if supported. As an individual user, verify the organization’s pooled storage and storage-limit policies. You can also free up some space by deleting unnecessary Gmail messages, Drive files and other space-consuming content.
What is Google Workspace Storage Limit?
Google Workspace storage limit is the amount of storage available to users in an organization across supported Google services. Most editions of Workspace don’t assign storage as a separate quota for each user. Instead, storage is pooled across the organization.
Total storage available is dependent on your Workspace edition, number of eligible user licenses, and any additional storage purchased. Gmail messages and attachments, Google Drive files, supported Google Photos content, and other eligible data count toward storage.
For example, if the organization has 10 eligible licenses and each license contributes 30 GB, the organization’s total pooled storage may be 300 GB. The actual quota is calculated based on the subscription, applicable policies and any extra storage.
Important: The storage limit for a single user is different from the total storage for the organization. The user limit cannot be increased if the license or organizational quota of the account does not support more storage.
How Much Storage Does Google Workspace Provide?
Google Workspace storage is different for each subscription. Before you buy extra storage or change user limits, check out your current edition.
| Google Workspace Edition | General Storage Allowance |
|---|---|
| Business Starter | 30 GB per eligible user license, generally pooled |
| Business Standard | 2 TB per eligible user license, generally pooled |
| Business Plus | 5 TB per eligible user license, generally pooled |
| Enterprise editions | Storage depends on the specific Enterprise edition and applicable terms |
| Education editions | Storage depends on the Education edition and its storage policies |
| Frontline editions | Storage allowances and restrictions vary by edition |
These are only reference figures. No guarantee of the quota available to each organization at this moment. Legacy subscriptions, special editions, licensing agreements and account-specific policies may differ.
How to Increase Storage Limit in Google Workspace
For details about your storage limits, see Google Workspace storage limits and check your subscription in the Admin console.
There are a few ways to increase the available storage for your organization. Choose a method based on your subscription, remaining storage, and business needs.
Method 1: Upgrade Your Google Workspace Subscription
If you find that your current plan doesn’t have enough storage for your organization, you can upgrade your subscription.
Do the following:
- Sign in to your Google Admin console with your admin account.
- Open Billing >> Subscriptions.
- Choose your current Google Workspace plan.
- Check out the upgrade options and storage allowance of each plan.
- Review the available upgrade options and the storage allowance for each plan.
- Select the plan that suits your organization’s requirements.
- Follow the instructions on screen to complete the upgrade.
- Open Storage and verify if the total storage for your organization has increased.
With an upgraded subscription you can get a larger storage pool and more Workspace features. Please see the subscription price and billing terms before you confirm the change.
Helpful for Organizations that run out of storage space often or want more Workspace features, in addition to more space.
Method 2: Purchase Google Workspace Additional Storage
Eligible organizations might be able to purchase the Google Workspace Additional Storage add-on. That’s pooled storage for the organization rather than having a separate purchase for one user.
Steps to purchase additional storage:
- Sign in to your Google Admin console with the appropriate billing administrator privileges.
- Go to Open Billing and check for available subscription or add-on options.
- Find Google Workspace Extra Storage, if available for your edition.
- Choose an existing storage subscription and read its terms.
- Finish the purchase.
- Return to the Storage section and verify the new organization quota.
“Usually, the extra storage shows up in pooled storage within minutes, but it can take a few hours to process,” Google says.
Not all editions and subscription combinations are available for the add-on. If you don’t see it in your Admin console, explore your upgrade options or contact your Workspace reseller.
Read Google’s official guide: Buy increased Google Workspace storage for your org.
Useful for organizations that need more pooled storage, but don’t want to upgrade their entire subscription.
Method 3: Add Eligible User Licenses
When eligible user licenses are added to certain Workspace subscriptions, the organization’s pooled storage increases. This is not equivalent to purchasing a seperate storage allowance for one person.
Before you use this method, determine the total cost of additional licenses and verify whether they provide storage through your subscription.
Steps:
- Go to the Google Admin console.
- Billing >> Subscriptions.
- Check out the current license count and purchasing options.
- If your organization needs them, add eligible licenses.
- After you apply the subscription changes, check the total storage that is available.
- Avoid buying extra licenses just for storage without reviewing the price and terms.
How to Increase Storage Limit for User in Google Workspace
Don’t buy unnecessary licenses just to get storage – check pricing and terms before you buy. Maybe a subscription with an upgrade or more storage is a better concept.
Best for: Organizations that require more user accounts and storage that comes with those licenses.
Or if one employee is at their storage limit and other users have available storage space, you can try to change the employee’s storage allocation. Available options depend on your Workspace edition and how your organization’s pooled storage is configured.
Step 1: Check the User’s Storage Usage
- Sign in to your Google Admin console.
- Click on Storage.
- Open user storage or view of user usage.
- Find the affected user and review their storage consumption.
- Check the total organization storage available and whether the user is subject to a specific storage policy.
This helps determine whether the problem is an individual allocation limit or an organization-wide shortage.
Step 2: Check Whether the Organization Uses Pooled Storage
An administrator can set different storage limits for supported users, organisational units, or configuration groups if the organization has pooled storage.
However, the actual storage available to the user cannot be greater than the applicable limits set by their edition or license.
When the organization is at its total quota, increasing the configured limit for the user does not generate additional storage. You can upgrade your subscription, buy more storage when you’re eligible, or make room you already have.
How to Free Up Google Workspace Storage Without Upgrading
If you are unable to increase your quota at this time, consider moving older email data to secure backup before deleting it from your email account.
This is especially useful for organisations that want to retain historical correspondence, but don’t need to have every older message in their active mailbox.
A dedicated email backup tool can export mailbox data in a supported local format. If you want to backup Gmail emails outside the cloud account, then try Advik Google Workspace Backup Tool.
Important: Backing up your email does not reduce Google Workspace storage automatically. Space is released only when the corresponding cloud data is deleted and the storage consumption is recalculated. Check the backup before deleting any source data.
No need for a backup utility. You don’t need any third-party software to upgrade a Workspace subscription or to set supported storage limits.
Conclusion
The first step to increase storage limit in Google Workspace is first to determine whether the problem is a single user’s quota or your organization’s total storage quota. Administrators can see the current plan, purchase additional storage when the subscription is eligible for it, or modify supported user storage limits. If the existing quota is full but heavily used, then cleaning up unnecessary data or backing up older emails before removing them can help restore available space.
Select the approach that best fits your organization’s storage needs, budget and data-retention requirements. Be sure to check the latest quota to be sure the problem has been corrected.
