Forum Discussion
Anyone else seeing mailboxes with Exchange Online 2 showing they now have 150gb?
Noticed this this morning. I understand that Basic was going to go to 100gb as they roll that out, but did they also increase Exchange 2 to 150gb to make it still worth paying for it vs an archive license? Or is this a glitch that is going to give us a problem later when people blow through the limit and MS corrects it?
This example mailbox is licensed with Business Basic, then Exchange Online added on. It now shows 150gb. I'm seeing this for every user in every tenant I have looked at so far.
3 Replies
Microsoft split the Business suite mailbox entitlement into two service plans in the 2026 packaging update. BPOS_S_STANDARD still gives 50 GB and a new EXCHANGE_STORAGE_50GB adds another 50. That is how Basic reaches 100. The rollout runs June through September and it is gradual, so users flip on different days.
Your case is Basic plus Plan 2. Plan 2 already carried 100, then the additive plan landed on top. That is your 150.
Microsoft is clear that entitlements are not cumulative. Their own example is Business Premium plus Plan 2 or E3 staying at 100 rather than 200. So treat 150 as a backfill artifact, not a new tier, and keep planning against 100.
Check what is actually enforced before telling anyone they have headroom:
Get-EXOMailbox -Identity email address removed for privacy reasons | fl *Quota*
If PowerShell also reports 150, raise a case with a few tenant examples. Do not strip and reassign licenses to force a refresh, Microsoft called that out specifically.
Worth noting the new storage is primary mailbox only. It does not grant archive or turn Basic into Plan 2. If the add on was bought purely to escape the old 50 GB ceiling, that reason is gone. If it is there for litigation hold, DLP or the 1.5 TB archive, it still earns its place.
Thanks. Yeah, I've already confirmed all of that. I guess at this point it's basically just an oddity.
However, for MANY users this does mean Exchange 2 becomes irrelevant as an archive license is way cheaper. Microsoft should really have considered that and made this cumulative or even better made 1+2 = 200. They shot themselves in the wallet here.
Their email caps are the absolute least competitive part of their offering, but at least now a whole bunch of small businesses who only needed archive + 100 from Exchange 2 can save some money.
The 150 GB figure across your tenants does not match Microsoft’s documented primary-mailbox limits. Business Basic is listed at 50 GB and Exchange Online Plan 2 at 100 GB; the published limits do not describe those licenses as combining into a 150 GB primary mailbox. The archive is separate. Because the portal screenshot may reflect a display or provisioning change, verify the enforced values in Exchange Online PowerShell with Get-EXOMailbox for one affected user and inspect IssueWarningQuota, ProhibitSendQuota, and ProhibitSendReceiveQuota. Confirm the assigned service plans and whether an archive is enabled, then check Microsoft 365 Service health and Message center for a rollout notice. Until Microsoft updates the service description or confirms the change, plan against the documented 100 GB Plan 2 limit and avoid growth beyond it. If PowerShell also reports 150 GB, open a support case with affected tenant examples.
