Yahoo Mail users face an urgent deadline to reduce storage or upgrade as 20 GB cap enforcement begins August 27, 2025

Yahoo Mail has been reminding its millions of users that the era of free 1 TB inboxes is officially over. The company, which slashed its free storage offering to 20 GB earlier this summer, is now sending out direct warnings that anyone over the new limit will lose the ability to send or receive messages starting August 27, 2025.

The countdown to August 27

The new cap was introduced in late July, but Yahoo granted a grace period to allow users time to either clean out their overflowing inboxes or pay for a storage plan. That grace period ends soon, and for many, the pressure is real.

If you are still over 20 GB by the deadline, your account will essentially be locked for email sending and receiving until you take action. You will still be able to log in and view old mail, but the functionality of your inbox will be crippled.

Yahoo has framed the 20 GB cap as “industry-leading” compared to some competitors who only offer a few gigabytes for free. Still, for long-time Yahoo loyalists who relied on the massive 1 TB of free space, this shift feels like a dramatic downsizing.

Options for users

Yahoo is offering two basic paid storage plans:

• 100 GB for $1.99 per month
• 1 TB for $9.99 per month

These plans come with ads included. For those who want both extra storage and an ad-free experience, Yahoo Mail Plus is available at $5 per month, offering 200 GB of storage along with perks like disposable addresses and 24/7 support.

Yahoo has also introduced new inbox management tools to ease the transition. Users now have real-time storage monitoring on both web and mobile, dashboards to track usage, and filters to help identify large emails and bulky attachments that may be clogging up valuable space.

How to check your Yahoo storage usage

One of the biggest pain points for users has been simply figuring out how much space they are using. The new Yahoo Mail interface prominently displays a storage widget, but those still on the old interface often struggle to find this information.

The easiest solution is to go directly to the Yahoo storage settings page.

https://mail.yahoo.com/d/settings/storage

Even if you are still using the old interface, this link opens a version of the new Yahoo Mail settings, where you can see your storage usage displayed at the bottom left corner of the page.

This small loophole has been a lifesaver for users stuck on the classic design, since Yahoo has not built a native storage indicator into the old layout.

What this means for long-time Yahoo users

The change signals a clear shift in Yahoo’s strategy. For over a decade, the free 1 TB offering set it apart from rivals like Gmail and Outlook. But with costs of cloud storage rising and Yahoo looking to push more users toward paid subscriptions, the company has decided that oversized free inboxes are no longer sustainable.

For people who never came close to filling 1 TB, the adjustment is minor. For digital hoarders who used Yahoo as a near-limitless archive of personal history, the change is daunting. Some are scrambling to delete tens of gigabytes of old newsletters, attachments, and duplicate messages. Others are exporting their mail to local drives or migrating to different providers altogether.

Why Yahoo is still sending reminders

Even now, just days before the cutoff, Yahoo continues to email users about the deadline, urging them to either sign up for a paid plan or delete enough content to get under 20 GB. This constant messaging reflects how many accounts are still above the threshold.

Yahoo knows that if users suddenly lose the ability to send or receive mail without clear warning, the backlash could be severe. By sending repeated notices, they are attempting to soften the blow and push procrastinators into action before it is too late.

The broader trend in free email

Yahoo’s move is part of a wider recalibration in the email industry. Free email once meant virtually unlimited storage and services subsidized by ads. Now, as email remains a core part of online life, providers are treating storage space as a premium product.

For users, this means adjusting expectations. The days of casually storing decades worth of attachments without ever worrying about limits are fading fast. Email is becoming more like cloud storage, free tiers are useful, but serious users are expected to pay.

The final days before the cap

With August 27 just around the corner, the advice is simple:

• Check your current storage usage via the direct settings link, even if you use the old Yahoo interface.
• Start deleting large attachments, spam, and outdated newsletters to clear space quickly.
• Consider downloading old emails to a backup system if you want to preserve them without paying for extra storage.
• If you know you will need more than 20 GB long term, compare Yahoo’s paid options or explore whether another provider better fits your needs.

The clock is ticking, and Yahoo has made it clear there will be no extensions this time. By the end of August, the 20 GB cap will no longer be just a guideline, it will be the hard rule that decides whether your Yahoo inbox stays alive or goes silent.