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.
8 Replies
- SBSBOXBrass Contributor
I heard back from MS Support Engineer today and they calim it should be fixed and have asked me to verify but so far I still see the same for all effected users across multiple tenants, still shows 150GB mailbox. Will post back if it starts to show different or if MS Engineer provides any additonal feedback.
- SBSBOXBrass Contributor
I have an open case with Microsoft Support (TrackingID#2609090030004665) and they have confirmed this as a bug, nice testing MS.
- The GUI in admin portal user details, Exchange Admin portal, and powershell all report 150GB
- Outlook client reports correct 100GB
- Quotas listed in powershell indicate prohibit at 99GB
Right now they have no ETA for resolution or fix, 150GB was not intended. Users with Business Standard + Exchange P2 do report Online Archive as 100GB vs 50GB with just Business Standard license. I was told by MS engineer but waiting for confirmation that P2 will give 1.5TB autoexpanding archive but it sounds like some of you are saying archive license will give same at cheaper cost?
I even joked with the MS engineer that I am suprised MS would do anything that would take revenue away but it looks like we will be dropping a ton of P2 licenses now.
- BRichards1385Tin Contributor
There's other features that are in Exchange 2 that aren't in archive only. One example is archive only is capped at 50gb with no expansion. So there's still lots of places to use Exchange 2. Some of it's other features already crossover with other licenses too.
- Ahmed_Masoud97Steel Contributor
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.
- BRichards1385Tin Contributor
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.
- JimOhCopper Contributor
My apologies if I am misunderstanding on the mailbox limits you outlined. FOR THE PAST 3 YEARS, we have 15 users with Microsoft Business Standard with 100GB of email storage space and 11 with Microsoft Business Premium with 100GB of email storage. I have 1 Business Standard with Exchange On-line Plan2, and 1 with Exchange On-line Plan2. Both now showing 150GB of usable mailbox storage. Both users for several years, leading up to September 18, 2026 showed over 100GB of mail in their mailboxes and had no problems sending or receiving email, ever. THEN ALL OF THE SUDDEN on 9/18/2026, these 2 users with Plan 2 are no longer able to receive any email and it now shows their mailbox is full Even though checking active users details about mail for both of these users shows 150GB storage. In investigating further, in the exchange area of the admin portal, checking mailboxes indeed both of these 2 USERS ONLY SHOW 100GB, the exact same as all my other users who are not paying for PLAN 2. HOW DO I REPORT this to Microsoft?
- SBSBOXBrass Contributor
JimOh If you look at my posts above, I have an open ticket with Microsoft on this. It is a display bug, and they have confirmed it as a bug. There is no such thing as a 150GB capacity mailbox it is 100GB maximum. If you look in Outlook it will also report 100GB maximum. You will have to fix on your end by reducing mail or using the Online Archive.