Increase OneDrive storage without 365 purchase

Question

I have already purchased Microsoft 365 as a one-time (Lifetime) purchase, so I do not want or need to pay for a subscription to Microsoft 365.

I just want to increase my free 5GB OneDrive storage to something useful (1TB - 2TB) WITHOUT paying for an unneeded subscription and apps.

I cannot find anything for 'standalone' OneDrive storage subscriptions, unless they are very well hidden.

Answer 1

Hello

I think you meant Office Home 2024 perpetual license is what you switched to. Anything starting with Microsoft 365 wording is subscription, not one-time purchase.

The only OneDrive standalone is the Microsoft 365 Basic subscription. If you use the one for personal account users, it only gives you 100GB https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/p/microsoft-365-basic/cfq7ttc0ktxs

However, the commercial version of Microsoft 365 basic gives you 1TB https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/business/microsoft-365-plans-and-pricing But this means, you must set up a separate account during signing up, it is a user ending with onmicrosoft.com. You cannot use your personal account to sign into this plan/OneDrive.

Answer 2

Standalone consumer OneDrive storage beyond the free 5 GB is now tied to Microsoft 365 subscriptions; large capacity options (hundreds of GB to 1 TB and above) are provided through Microsoft 365 Basic, Personal, Family, or Premium plans rather than as separate OneDrive-only plans.

From the current consumer offerings:

• Free accounts get 5 GB of OneDrive cloud storage plus 15 GB of Outlook.com email storage.
• Microsoft 365 Basic provides 100 GB of mailbox storage and 100 GB of OneDrive cloud storage.
• Microsoft 365 Personal provides 100 GB of mailbox storage and 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage.
• Additional OneDrive file storage beyond the 1 TB included with Microsoft 365 Personal/Family/Premium can be purchased, but this is an add-on to those subscriptions, not a standalone OneDrive plan.

The documentation explicitly notes that if already a Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, or Premium subscriber, it is possible to “add even more file storage to the 1 TB already included,” and that “only the subscription account holder can extend their storage.” There is no separate path described for buying 1–2 TB of OneDrive storage without a Microsoft 365 subscription.

So for a personal (home) account, increasing OneDrive capacity to 1–2 TB requires a Microsoft 365 subscription plan (such as Microsoft 365 Personal or Family) and, if needed, the OneDrive storage add-on. A one-time (perpetual) Office license does not change the 5 GB free OneDrive allocation and does not provide a way to buy large OneDrive capacity independently of Microsoft 365 subscriptions.

To see current options and quotas for the specific account, sign in to the account dashboard and check the Microsoft storage section, and review the upgrade options shown there.

---

References:

• Microsoft storage FAQs
• Microsoft storage quotas
• What is Microsoft cloud storage?
• My OneDrive says it's full

Answer 3

You cannot buy Microsoft 365 as a one-time (Lifetime) purchase. With Microsoft 365, you are basically buying OneDrive storage, since you can get access to the Microsoft 365 apps online for free. With your purchase, you do not need to install the Microsoft 365 (Office) apps.

Answer 4

The documentation explicitly notes that if already a Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, or Premium subscriber, it is possible to “add even more file storage to the 1 TB already included,” and that “only the subscription account holder can extend their storage.” There is no separate path described for buying 1–2 TB of OneDrive storage without a Microsoft 365 subscription.

Can I get this if I am not technically a subscriber, because I purchased a Office Home - Lifetime for 1 user (Windows)?