Farewell to Google’s 15 GB of free storage? A new asterisk appears in the terms of service

For many years, creating a new profile on Google’s servers automatically granted access to a free storage space of 15 GB.

This quota, historically shared among essential services such as Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos, has always represented a very generous offer when compared with sector competitors.

However, recent reports indicate that the California-based company has introduced a limitation, reducing the base storage to only 5 GB for new sign-ups who decide not to verify their identity. To unlock the entire free capacity, users are now required to provide and link a valid mobile phone number.

Only 5 GB of free storage on Google for those who do not link a phone number

This change wasn’t announced with sensational press releases, but emerged during the normal sign-up process faced by some users, who were shown a specific notice. The notification offers the choice between accepting the lower threshold or unlocking the canonical 15 GB by entering their phone contact.

Investigating the official support pages reveals a significant update: while previously it spoke of an account that offers 15 GB of storage at no cost, the new wording reports the expression up to 15 GB. By consulting historical web archives, it has been possible to trace the exact moment of the change, implemented steadily on the platforms from March 2026.

The motivations behind this corporate choice are many and closely linked to resource management. On one hand, there is the clear intention to counter improper exploitation of computing systems.

By linking the expansion of cloud memory to a verifiable contact number, the company seeks to ensure that the maximum quota is allocated only once per individual, hindering the uncontrolled creation of fake or automatically managed profiles to accumulate infinite space.

On the other hand, we must take into strong consideration the current economic pressures bearing on the hardware market. Rising costs and the general shortage of technical components for data storage are pushing tech giants to rationalize infrastructure costs.

The real impact on subscribers

In daily practice, most new sign-ups may not feel the weight of the change. In the vast majority of cases, whether on desktop or mobile devices, the creation of a new account already requires providing a phone number for security reasons.

There are, however, some particular exceptions, such as the initial setup of an Android smartphone without a SIM card inserted; in these circumstances, skipping the verification step would entail automatically assigning the reduced 5 GB quota.

The effectiveness of the measure will depend on its long-term application, taking into account that legitimate ownership of multiple phone numbers still theoretically allows obtaining multiple, separate storage spaces.