# How many GB does Gmail give you? — Adinand Email Cleaner

Last reviewed: September 27, 2026. HTML version: https://adinandemail.com/answers/how-many-gb-does-gmail-give-you

**A personal account gets up to 15 GB, and Gmail does not get it to itself. Google's wording: "Each Google Account includes up to 15 GB of storage, which is shared across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos"** ([*How your Google storage works*](https://support.google.com/drive/answer/9312312), read 27 September 2026). How much of that your mail can use depends on how much your photos and files have already taken. A work or school address follows different rules, set by its Workspace edition.

## What else draws on the same 15 GB <p>Google's list of what counts is longer than the three product names suggest (same page):</p> <ul> <li>Gmail messages and attachments, "which includes your Spam and Trash folders".</li> <li>Files in Google Drive, plus Docs, Sheets and Slides files created or edited after 1 June 2021.</li> <li>Photos and videos in Original quality, and Storage saver backups made after 1 June 2021.</li> <li>Meet call recordings.</li> <li>WhatsApp backups on Android, and "All data managed through the Android backup settings", which Google says covers SMS and MMS, call history, device settings and app data.</li> </ul> <p>Files other people share with you do not count against yours: shared files "only consume the cloud storage quota of the original file owner". Make your own copy, though, and the copy is yours.</p>

## Work and school accounts <p>Google's admin table gives each edition's storage, shared by Gmail, Drive and Photos as in a personal account. Most are pooled, shown as "a storage amount times the number of End User licenses" ([*Google Workspace storage FAQ for admins*](https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/storage/google-workspace-storage-faq-for-admins), read 27 September 2026):</p> <ul> <li>Business Starter: 30 GB times the number of users.</li> <li>Business Standard: 2 TB times the number of users.</li> <li>Business Plus: 5 TB times the number of users.</li> <li>Frontline Starter, Standard and Plus: 5 GB per user.</li> <li>Education Fundamentals and Education Standard: 100 TB in total for the whole institution.</li> </ul> <p>The same page notes that the Essentials editions "do not include Gmail", so their figures are not mail storage at all. Pooling means the organisation, not you, holds the total: an administrator can give each person a storage limit, and where none is set, a user's Drive storage "is limited only by the total pooled storage for your organization" ([*Set storage limits for your users*](https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/storage/set-storage-limits-for-your-users), read 27 September 2026). On a single-person Workspace Individual plan, Google's buying page says it "comes with 1 TB of storage" ([*Buy more Google storage*](https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2375123), read 27 September 2026).</p>

## What happens at the ceiling, and long after it <p>At the limit, Google's list includes "Your ability to send and receive email in Gmail can be impacted" (the *How your Google storage works* page). The part fewer people know is the long tail: if you stay over quota "for 2 years or longer", content "may be removed", after notice Google promises at least 3 months ahead. That is the only case on the page where being full costs you data rather than service.</p>

## More space, or less use <p>There are two directions, and they have their own pages: [adding space](https://adinandemail.com/answers/add-more-space-to-gmail) (a bigger plan for the whole account) and [finding what fills it](https://adinandemail.com/answers/what-takes-up-space-in-gmail). Before either, open your storage breakdown and see which of Gmail, Drive and Photos is actually large. Sometimes it is not the mail at all.</p>

Related: [Is there a limit on Gmail emails?](https://adinandemail.com/answers/is-there-a-limit-on-gmail-emails) · [What takes up space in Gmail?](https://adinandemail.com/answers/what-takes-up-space-in-gmail) · [Google storage full](https://adinandemail.com/answers/google-storage-full) · [Add more space to Gmail](https://adinandemail.com/answers/add-more-space-to-gmail)