(Updated) Microsoft OneDrive: New pay-as-you-go storage billing option

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Microsoft is introducing a pay-as-you-go billing option for additional OneDrive storage, allowing admins to let selected accounts exceed licensed quotas with automatic usage-based billing. Public preview is available now for commercial tenants, with general availability starting November 2026. No action is needed if unused.

Updated October 6, 2026: We are no longer releasing to gov clouds at this time. We will communicate via a separate Message center post at a later date once we are ready to proceed with gov cloud release. If you are in a gov cloud, you can safely disregard this message. Thank you for your patience. 

[What and why]

We are introducing a pay-as-you-go, consumption-based billing option for additional OneDrive storage. This capability gives administrators more flexibility to manage storage growth by allowing selected OneDrive accounts to exceed their licensed storage quotas when needed, while helping organizations control which users can consume additional storage beyond their licensed storage quotas. Pay-as-you-go storage is currently in public preview for commercial tenants.

[Rollout schedule]

  • Public Preview (Worldwide): The public preview of this feature is available now to all commercial tenants.
  • General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins in early November 2026 and is expected to complete by early December 2026.

[Impact on your organization]

Who is affected

  • Microsoft 365 commercial tenant administrators who manage OneDrive storage.
  • Organizations with OneDrive users approaching or exceeding their licensed storage quotas.

Platforms and services

  • OneDrive
  • Microsoft 365 admin and storage management experiences

What will happen

  • Administrators will be able to control which accounts are enabled to use a pay-as-you-go model to provide additional OneDrive storage beyond their licensed storage quotas.
  • Accounts enabled for storage consumption above their licensed storage quotas will be billed automatically based on usage.

[Action required and recommendations]

No action is required if you do not wish to use pay-as-you-go storage for your organization. We recommend that you:

  • Identify OneDrive accounts approaching or exceeding their licensed storage quotas.
  • Evaluate whether pay-as-you-go storage is appropriate for your organization.

[Learn more]

[Compliance considerations]

No compliance considerations identified. Review as appropriate for your organization.

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