Yahoo Mail has announced a significant change to its storage policy, reducing the free email storage allowance from its previous generous offering to just 20GB. At the same time, the company has introduced new subscription tiers starting at $1.99 per month for 100GB, with a higher-tier plan offering 1TB for $9.99 per month. These changes take effect immediately and are likely to impact long-term users with extensive email histories.
Users were notified on Tuesday to review their current usage and take action to prevent disruptions. Yahoo warned that reaching the 20GB cap would result in users being unable to send or receive emails unless they either delete existing messages or upgrade to a paid plan. Although inboxes will remain accessible, core functions like sending and receiving emails will be restricted beyond the new limit.
To accompany the change, Yahoo has introduced new inbox management tools, such as a storage tracker, usage dashboard, and options to identify and delete large emails and attachments. These tools are intended to help users adapt to the reduced storage cap and navigate their email space more efficiently.
The company also rolled out Yahoo Mail Plus, a premium tier offering 200GB of storage, an ad-free experience, and extra features. However, the standard 100GB and 1TB plans will still display ads, a decision that has sparked frustration among some users who feel they are being asked to pay without receiving a fully upgraded experience in return.
This move aligns Yahoo more closely with competitors like Google’s Gmail, which offers 15GB of free storage shared across several services, with similarly priced paid options. However, Gmail provides a more ad-light experience even on free accounts. The key difference is Yahoo’s email-only focus, which may appeal to certain users, though it remains to be seen how well the new pricing model will be received.
Source: Business day