Unlimited Cloud Storage: What It Really Means and Better Alternatives for Teams

What Does Unlimited Cloud Storage Actually Mean?

Unlimited cloud storage refers to plans that advertise no fixed data cap on how much you can store. The marketing promise is simple: pay a flat rate and upload as much as you want. But the reality in 2025 is far more complicated than those two words suggest.

The term "unlimited" in cloud storage has always been aspirational rather than literal. Every provider needs to manage infrastructure costs, and a small percentage of users uploading petabytes of data can destroy the economics for everyone else. This is exactly what happened at Google and Dropbox.

Google Workspace killed its unlimited storage option in 2022, moving to pooled storage where organizations share a collective limit based on the number of users. Dropbox followed a similar path, shifting enterprise customers to aggregated storage models. The providers that still advertise "unlimited" today almost always include one or more of these restrictions:

• User minimums: You need to purchase 3 to 5 seats before unlimited storage kicks in, even if your team is smaller
• Fair use policies: Buried in the terms of service, these clauses let providers throttle or terminate accounts that use "excessive" storage
• File size limits: Total capacity might be unlimited, but individual file uploads are often capped at 5GB, 15GB, or 50GB
• Performance throttling: Heavy users may experience slower upload and download speeds as an unofficial enforcement mechanism

Understanding these limitations matters because the storage plan you choose affects your entire workflow. A plan that looks affordable on paper can become expensive or unusable when you hit one of these hidden walls.

Why Google and Dropbox Ended Unlimited Storage

The death of truly unlimited storage at major providers was not random. It was an economic inevitability driven by a small group of power users who exploited the model in ways the platforms never anticipated.

Google's decision came after organizations began using Workspace accounts to mine cryptocurrency and store massive amounts of data that had nothing to do with productivity. Some accounts accumulated hundreds of terabytes. The company moved to a tiered system where organizations get 5TB per user, pooled across the account. Teams of 5 users share 25TB total rather than getting unlimited individual storage.

Dropbox faced similar challenges. Their unlimited Advanced and Enterprise plans became targets for data hoarders who would sign up, upload everything they owned, and treat the service as a personal archive. Sync conflicts and performance issues multiplied as accounts grew to sizes the infrastructure was never designed to handle. Dropbox now offers what it calls "as much space as needed" for enterprise customers, but the phrase includes extensive fair use clauses and requires negotiation with sales.

The pattern is consistent across the industry. Microsoft OneDrive caps most plans at 1TB per user. Amazon discontinued its unlimited photo storage for Prime members. iCloud tops out at 2TB for consumers. The storage arms race of the 2010s, when providers competed on who could offer the most space, has given way to a more sustainable model where capacity aligns with actual business needs.

For teams evaluating storage options today, this history matters. Any provider still advertising unlimited storage is either limiting it in hidden ways or will eventually follow the same path Google and Dropbox took.

Providers Still Offering Unlimited Storage in 2025

Despite the industry trend away from unlimited plans, a few providers still offer them. Each comes with trade-offs that make sense for some use cases but not others.

Box Business Plus

Box remains one of the largest providers still marketing unlimited storage. Their Business Plus and Enterprise tiers include unlimited storage for organizations with at least three users. The catch is the upload limit: files max out at 15GB on Business Plus and 50GB on Enterprise. For document-heavy businesses dealing primarily with PDFs, spreadsheets, and presentations, this works well. For video production companies or anyone handling large media files, the cap becomes a daily obstacle.

Box also enforces fair use through terms of service that allow them to limit accounts using disproportionate resources. This rarely affects typical business users but can surprise teams that assumed "unlimited" meant they could use it as a primary backup destination for massive archives.

OpenDrive

OpenDrive offers a personal unlimited plan at a lower price point than enterprise alternatives. It targets individual power users rather than teams. The interface feels dated compared to modern alternatives, and sync speeds can be inconsistent. The company has stayed in business for years serving this niche, but it lacks the collaboration features teams expect today: no real-time co-editing, limited permission controls, and basic sharing options.

Backblaze B2

Backblaze B2 is not traditional cloud storage in the consumer sense. It is object storage designed for developers and IT teams who want to build their own applications on top of it. You pay for exactly what you use at $0.005 per GB per month, making capacity effectively unlimited for those willing to pay. There is no built-in file browser, no collaboration layer, and no simple sharing interface. You need technical knowledge or third-party tools to make it usable for everyday workflows.

For backup and archival purposes where you write data once and rarely access it, B2 offers excellent economics. For active collaboration and daily file access, it requires significant additional tooling.

The Hidden Costs of Unlimited Storage Plans

The sticker price of an unlimited storage plan rarely tells the full story. Several hidden costs emerge once teams start using these services at scale, and understanding them upfront can save thousands of dollars annually.

Per-seat minimums inflate the real starting price. When a provider charges $25 per user for unlimited storage but requires five seats minimum, your actual starting cost is $125 per month. A two-person video production team ends up paying for three empty seats just to access the storage tier they need. This gap between advertised and actual pricing catches many small teams off guard.

Egress fees punish data access. Some unlimited plans, particularly object storage like Backblaze B2 and AWS S3, charge you to download your own data. Upload is often free, but every time you or your clients download files, you pay. For a video team delivering 500GB of footage per month to clients, egress fees alone can exceed the base storage cost.

Performance throttling degrades the experience. Providers often slow down bandwidth for accounts flagged as heavy users. You might have 50TB stored in the cloud, but if download speeds drop to a crawl, accessing that data becomes impractical. Some teams discover this only after migrating their entire archive to a platform that then makes it painful to use.

File size limits block workflows. An unlimited plan with a 15GB upload limit sounds reasonable until you try to upload a 30GB 4K video file. Either you split files (losing the convenience of cloud storage) or you find workarounds that add friction to every project. These limits rarely appear prominently in marketing materials.

Admin overhead increases with complexity. Managing storage quotas, monitoring fair use compliance, and handling user provisioning creates ongoing work. Usage-based alternatives often simplify administration because there is nothing to manage: you pay for what you use and stop worrying about allocations.

Usage-Based Storage: A Better Model for Growing Teams

Rather than chasing the "unlimited" label, many teams are switching to usage-based storage where you pay for what you actually use. This model aligns costs with reality and eliminates the hidden restrictions that plague unlimited plans.

Fast.io represents this approach. Instead of charging per seat and capping storage, the platform uses credit-based pricing where storage and bandwidth scale with your actual usage. The economic difference can be substantial: teams that switch from per-seat unlimited plans often see 70% or greater cost reductions.

The usage-based model works particularly well for teams with variable storage needs. A video production company might need 10TB during a busy project month and 2TB during slower periods. With per-seat pricing, you pay the same regardless of usage. With usage-based pricing, your costs flex with your actual needs.

Fast.io includes unlimited users in all plans. Pro plans include 25 seats, Business plans include 100 seats, and additional seats cost just $1 per month. This inverts the typical enterprise pricing model: instead of paying more for each person who needs access, you invite your whole team and all your freelancers without watching your bill multiply.

The platform also removes file size restrictions that hamper unlimited providers. Upload terabyte-sized files if your workflow demands it. There is no splitting, no compression workarounds, and no waiting for special approval to exceed upload limits.

For organizations that previously felt trapped between expensive "unlimited" enterprise plans and limited consumer storage, usage-based alternatives offer a middle path: capacity when you need it, transparent pricing, and none of the hidden gotchas.

Which Industries Actually Need Massive Storage?

Before committing to any storage plan, it helps to understand whether your team actually needs unlimited capacity. Most business users store far less than they think, and overpaying for storage you will never use wastes budget that could go elsewhere.

The average knowledge worker generates 10GB to 50GB of active documents. Email archives, presentations, spreadsheets, and PDFs simply do not consume much space. A team of 20 marketing professionals might need 500GB total for their daily work. Paying for unlimited storage in this scenario is like renting a warehouse to store a few boxes.

Certain industries genuinely need massive storage and should plan accordingly:

Video and Film Production: Raw 8K footage burns through approximately 120GB per hour of recording. A production company shooting 40 hours per week generates nearly 5TB weekly before editing begins. Post-production archives, dailies, and deliverables multiply this further. These teams need petabyte-scale thinking, not just "unlimited documents."

Scientific Research and Education: Universities handling genomic sequencing data, climate modeling, or telescope imagery deal with datasets measured in hundreds of terabytes. Research data often comes with retention requirements that span decades. Storage is not just a convenience but a core research infrastructure concern.

Architecture and Engineering: BIM models, CAD files, and construction documentation grow throughout a project lifecycle. A major commercial building project might generate 2TB to 5TB of files that must remain accessible for years after completion. Version control adds further storage requirements as designs evolve.

Media and Entertainment Archives: Broadcasters, game studios, and content libraries maintain archives of raw assets that support future productions. These archives can reach petabyte scale and require different infrastructure than active collaboration storage.

For these industries, the priority extends beyond raw capacity to include transfer speed, format support, and collaboration tools that work with large files. Storing 100TB is pointless if downloading it takes a week.

How to Choose the Right Cloud Storage for Your Team

Selecting cloud storage requires looking past marketing labels to understand how a platform will actually work for your team. Use this framework to evaluate options:

Check the Real Upload Limit

Marketing pages advertise "unlimited storage," but the upload limit tells you what you can actually use. Can you upload a 100GB file? A 200GB file? Many "unlimited" plans cap individual uploads at 15GB or 50GB. If your work involves video, design files, or any large media, this limit matters more than total capacity.

Test Transfer Speeds

Run actual speed tests before committing. Some providers throttle bandwidth for heavy users or during peak hours. Upload a 10GB test file and time it. Download the same file. If transfers feel slow during a trial, they will feel slower when your entire team depends on the platform daily.

Read the Fair Use Policy

Search the terms of service for phrases like "excessive use," "disproportionate resources," or "network impact." These clauses give providers legal cover to throttle, limit, or terminate accounts that store too much. Understanding where the line is helps you plan accordingly.

Calculate True Total Cost

Compare an unlimited plan (with its seat minimums and hidden fees) against a usage-based plan where you pay for actual consumption. A 10-person team using 5TB might pay $450 per month for unlimited per-seat storage or $60 per month for usage-based storage with the same capacity. The math often favors usage-based models for teams below enterprise scale.

Evaluate Collaboration Features

Storage is only part of the equation. How will your team work with files once they are uploaded? Look for real-time collaboration, commenting, version history, and sharing controls. A platform that stores files but makes collaboration difficult creates as many problems as it solves.

Consider the Migration Path

What happens if you need to leave? Providers that charge high egress fees or use proprietary formats make switching painful. Check whether you can export your data affordably and in standard formats before locking your files into any platform.