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Outlook · AccountsFree Hotmail Account: What You Actually Get
Two separate allowances, not one. That single difference from Gmail is why Outlook mailboxes rarely fill up, and almost no comparison mentions it.
A free Outlook.com account gives you 15 GB of mail storage and 5 GB of cloud storage. Those are two separate allowances, which is the single most commonly misunderstood thing about it, and it works in your favour compared with Gmail.
- Gmail's 15 GB is shared across mail, Drive and Photos. Outlook's 15 GB is mail alone.
- Browser versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint are included at no cost.
- Ads appear in the mailbox. That is how the free tier is funded.
- 15 GB mail + 5 GB cloud are separate. Filling one does not affect the other.
- Free means free. No trial, no card, no expiry date.
- Two years without a sign-in and the account can be closed.
- The address you pick can never be reused by anyone, including you.
The two allowances, and why the confusion matters
Almost every comparison of free email treats "15 GB" as one number and stops there. On Outlook.com it is two numbers, and the distinction decides whether the account ever gives you trouble.
| Outlook.com free | Gmail free | |
|---|---|---|
| Mail storage | 15 GB, mail only | Shared with Drive and Photos |
| Cloud storage | 5 GB separate (OneDrive) | Comes out of the same 15 GB |
| Photos backing up | Uses the 5 GB, not your mail | Uses the same 15 GB as mail |
| Practical effect | Mail rarely fills | Mail can be squeezed out by photos |
The practical consequence: on Gmail, a phone quietly backing up photos can fill the quota and cause incoming mail to be rejected — a fault that looks nothing like a storage problem. On Outlook.com that cannot happen, because the photo library draws on a different allowance entirely.
If you have hit that on Gmail, what the Gmail 15 GB actually covers explains the mechanism.
What else is included
- Browser Office apps. Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote on the web, at no cost. Reduced features against the desktop versions, but genuinely usable.
- Aliases. Additional addresses that deliver into the same mailbox, useful for shopping and newsletters. Capped per account and per year.
- Calendar, contacts and tasks, synced across devices.
- Focused Inbox and rules-based filtering.
What the free tier costs you
Not money. Three things worth knowing before you commit:
| Limit | What happens | When it bites |
|---|---|---|
| Ads in the mailbox | Display ads alongside your mail | Constantly, though unobtrusive |
| Attachment ceiling | Large files converted to OneDrive links | Typically past 25 MB, and the link then uses your 5 GB |
| Inactivity | Content removed, account can be closed | After roughly two years without a sign-in |
| Send limits | Sending temporarily suspended | On unusually large bursts. Rarely hit by personal use |
The inactivity rule is the one that actually loses accounts. Because addresses are never recycled, an account closed for inactivity takes its address with it permanently. Nobody can recreate it, including you. A calendar reminder once a year is enough.
What actually counts toward the 15 GB
Mail storage is not the same as the size of your inbox. Four folders draw on the same allowance, and two of them are invisible in normal use, which is why people report a full mailbox while swearing they have deleted everything.
| Counts toward the quota | Does not |
|---|---|
| Inbox and every custom folder | OneDrive files, which use the separate 5 GB |
| Sent Items, which is usually the second largest folder | Calendar entries and contacts |
| Deleted Items, until it is emptied | Files shared to you but not saved |
| Junk, which nobody ever empties | Anything you opened but never stored |
Emptying Deleted Items does not free the space immediately either. Removed messages move into a recoverable-items store for a further period so that an accidental deletion can be undone, and that store still counts. If you have just cleared several gigabytes and the number has not moved, this is why, and waiting is the fix rather than deleting more.
Attachments are the entire problem. Text is negligible: a hundred thousand plain messages occupy less space than one folder of forwarded photographs. So sorting by size rather than by date finds the offenders in about a minute, and deleting twenty messages usually recovers more than deleting twenty thousand.
The search box accepts a size filter, and searching for messages larger than ten megabytes across all folders is the single most effective thing you can do to a full mailbox. Do it before you start archiving anything, because the result almost always makes archiving unnecessary. Save anything worth keeping to the separate 5 GB cloud allowance first, then delete the mail carrying it, then empty Deleted Items so the space is actually released.
If you stop paying for Microsoft 365
Worth knowing before you subscribe rather than after, because the ceiling comes back down and your mailbox does not shrink to meet it.
- The mailbox survives. You keep the account, the address and the mail. Nothing is deleted at the moment the subscription lapses.
- The allowance reverts to 15 GB. If you are above it, sending and receiving stop until you are back under. Incoming mail bounces rather than queues, so the sender is told and you are not.
- OneDrive above 5 GB becomes read-only. Files stay readable and downloadable, but nothing new saves until you are under the limit.
The order matters if you are letting a subscription lapse. Get under both limits before the renewal date, not after. Once the mailbox is over quota you cannot receive the verification mail that several recovery routes depend on, which turns a storage problem into a sign-in problem.
When paying is actually worth it
Rarely, for a personal mailbox. The paid step is Microsoft 365, and it makes sense in three situations:
- You want the desktop Office apps rather than the browser versions.
- Your OneDrive 5 GB is full and you are storing real volumes of files.
- The mailbox ads bother you. A legitimate preference, and the cheapest reason to upgrade.
Storage alone is rarely the trigger on Outlook.com, precisely because mail gets its own 15 GB. That is the opposite of the Gmail situation, where storage is the usual reason people end up paying.
Related guides
Sources
- Microsoft: How to create a new Microsoft accountSign-up requirements and the address reuse rule.
- Microsoft: Outlook help and learningStorage, aliases and mailbox settings.
Frequently asked questions
How much storage does a free Hotmail or Outlook account get?
Is a free Outlook.com account really free forever?
Do I get Microsoft Office with a free account?
Can my free Outlook account be deleted?
What is the attachment size limit?
Is Outlook.com better than Gmail for storage?
Why you can trust this guide
- Independently written. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Microsoft.
- No credentials collected. Always sign in on Microsoft's own pages, never through a third party.
- Checked against the live interface before publishing, and re-checked when it changes.
- Last reviewed: .