Yahoo Mail users globally will now pay monthly for storage as the company has slashed the free storage cap to 20GB, in a move that comes as downgrade for long-time users.
According to a notice sent to users on Tuesday, the change takes effect immediately. The notice urged all users to check their current storage and consider paid upgrade options.
Previously offering a far more generous storage limit, Yahoo is now capping free accounts at 20GB, bringing it closer to some of its rivals, although still trailing Gmail, which offers 15GB of free storage shared across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos.
However, Yahoo’s new free tier is exclusive to emails, which could be considered an advantage for those who don’t use cloud services as extensively.
What happens when you hit the limit?
According to Yahoo, once users reach the 20GB threshold, they will no longer be able to send or receive emails unless they either delete old messages or upgrade their account.
Access to the mailbox itself will remain, so users will have time to clean up or choose a paid plan.
The company has introduced two new storage subscription options:
- 100GB for $1.99/month
- 1TB for $9.99/month
For users who want more than just extra storage, Yahoo is also pushing Yahoo Mail Plus, a premium offering that includes 200GB of storage, an ad-free interface, and other perks.
However, both the new 100GB and 1TB plans will still include ads, a point that may not sit well with paying customers.
Smarter tools at a cost
In a bid to cushion the transition, Yahoo is also rolling out enhanced mailbox management tools. These include:
- Real-time storage tracking across web and mobile apps
- A usage dashboard
- Sorting tools for large emails
- An attachment manager to help users clean up storage hogs
While these tools aim to make managing shrinking free space less of a headache, the abrupt change could still catch many users off guard, especially those with large inbox histories dating back over a decade.
Comparison with Gmail
In comparison, Google’s Gmail continues to offer 15GB of free storage, though this is shared across other Google services.
Gmail users can upgrade to 100GB for $1.99/month, the same price as Yahoo, but this plan also includes benefits like Google Photos backups and expanded Google Drive capacity.
Gmail also offers a no-ad experience to free users—ads only appear in the Promotions tab and are relatively unobtrusive. In contrast, Yahoo’s decision to serve ads even to subscribers of its lower-tier plans may be a sticking point for users evaluating which platform gives more value.
This is a lie. You can only pay for Yahoo plus or extra storage if you are in the USA. If you are from any other country, including Britain, you just get “Offer only available in the USA” when you try to pay. I have been using Yahoo as my business email address precisely I didn’t want hassle, so this is a nightmare and I can’t see any solution. Please have a look into it.
Yes, I too have been receiving such messages when I open my Yahoo Mail, but when I try to inter my details in the prescribed form for storage extension, it does not accept my Indian zip code and state name. Is it that this message is not valid for the Indian yahoo mail subscribers?
What if I have 66GB…. which is over 20 GB but does not hit 100 GB. I had 186 GB and they made me pay as my email stopped working, but now that I finally worked on deleting stuff the last 2 months and have it below 100 GB, it is not prompting me to pay and I deleted the subscription as of January 11, 2026. so hopefully there is this interim / limbo amount of storage where you dont have to pay until you hit over 100 GB…. does anyone know? Right now they are not making me pay for 66 GB. I have had the same yahoo for over 25 years….. nice of them to change things now and try to get us all to pay when I literally never deleted emails… now I know I need to unsubscribe and delete unwanted stuff. Its been a major pain these last few months, but I guess you live and you learn. Now I actually have to pay attention to what I want to keep and what is unneeded! Thanks Yahoo for trying to get us all to pay now…. makes you wonder!