With a Microsoft account, you receive 5 GB of OneDrive cloud storage for free. When you cancel your subscription, it reverts to this capacity. Microsoft states that if you exceed this limit without paying, you cannot sync new files. Your existing files will be in a read-only state, and you won’t be able to send or receive Outlook.com emails or Teams messages with attachments.
Microsoft allows you six months to manage your OneDrive files before it might delete them from its servers. Once deleted, the files are permanently gone. To keep these files, download and relocate them using OneDrive clients for Windows and macOS.
Microsoft and Google handle cloud storage and email storage services separately. Outlook offers 15 GB of free cloud space, with an additional 100 GB available for $1.99 per month. Exceeding your limit stops you from sending or receiving emails, requiring inbox cleanup for continued use.
Dropbox provides 2 GB of free cloud storage, with paid plans starting at $9.99 per month for 2 TB. If you exceed 2 GB and cease payments, files remain unchanged in the cloud and on synced devices, but new file uploads and changes won’t sync. There’s no expiration on files, allowing users to upgrade to a paid plan later.
Dropbox clients for Windows and macOS allow file syncing from the cloud to computers and other locations. Files removed from Dropbox on your computer are deleted from the cloud too.