Can We Buy OneDrive Storage Without Microsoft Office 365?

A reader recently contacted us asking if buying OneDrive storage is possible without subscribing to Microsoft Office 365 or Microsoft 365 service. If you are also looking to purchase OneDrive storage, this guide is for you.

As you likely know, OneDrive is a cloud storage service by the software giant Microsoft. When you create a Microsoft account, that is, an email address offered by Microsoft using its webmail services like Outlook.com or Hotmail.com, you get 5 GB of free OneDrive storage space (in addition to 15 GB of mailbox storage) so that you can try the storage service.

Can we buy OneDrive without a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscription?

NOTE: Office 365 has now been renamed to Microsoft 365. Both Office 365 and Microsoft 365 are the same.

Up until about a year ago, buying the 100 GB OneDrive cloud space was possible without buying or subscribing to Microsoft Office 365 plans. However, things have changed in the recent past.

Now, Microsoft does not let you buy OneDrive cloud storage without subscribing to Microsoft Office 365 plans. This means that you cannot purchase OneDrive cloud storage without paying for Microsoft Office 365.

Workaround to buy OneDrive storage without Microsoft Office 365 plan

We agree that many users might not need Office apps and are interested only in the OneDrive storage space. For these users, there is a Microsoft 365 plan called Microsoft 365 Basic, offering 100 GB of OneDrive space along with Office 365 web and mobile apps. The Basic plan, which costs $19.99 per year, also offers an ad-free Outlook email service. This plan is nothing but the standalone OneDrive 100 GB plan, which now includes web and mobile versions of Office apps.

We suggest you subscribe to this Microsoft 365 Basic plan and then buy additional OneDrive storage for which you do not need to migrate from Microsoft 365 Basic to other plans. You can add 200 GB ($1.99), 400 GB, 600 GB, 800 GB, and 1 TB storage to your Microsoft 365 Basic’s 100 GB ($9.99) storage if and when needed.

To buy additional storage:

Step 1: Sign in to your OneDrive account in a web browser.

Step 2: Click on the settings/gear icon and then click Upgrade link.

Step 3: Select a storage plan and then click the Buy button. Complete the payment to add the selected storage space.

Please note that the additional storage space might take a few days to reflect in your account. If you have issues, please contact the Microsoft support team for assistance.