Short answer: yes, it’s absolutely plausible that an organisation ends up needing an extra 3–5 TB of SharePoint storage.
But here’s the more important follow‑up question: Do you actually need it — or have you just drifted into it?
Why 5TB of extra storage happens more often than you think
Organisations rarely make a conscious decision to buy several terabytes of extra SharePoint storage. It usually creeps up over time. Duplicate files are created, multiple versions of files are ignored and in many cases don’t serve a purpose, and large files are stored and forgotten.
You’re far more likely to hit multi‑terabyte overages if several of these sound familiar:
- A long‑running Microsoft 365 tenant (5–10+ years)
- Heavy Microsoft Teams usage (every Team creates a SharePoint site)
- Versioning left unchecked (50–500 versions per file adds up fast)
- Duplicate files everywhere (the same PowerPoint copied across multiple sites)
- Large file types (video, design files, CAD, recordings)
- No lifecycle discipline (project sites created and never retired)
This is common in organisations with:
- 300–800 users
- Knowledge‑heavy workloads (consulting, engineering, construction, marketing, public sector)
- Project‑based teams that move fast and rarely clean up
In those environments, an extra 5 TB isn’t unusual, it’s normal.
When 5TB usually isn’t necessary
On the flip side, many organisations never need to buy that much extra storage.
You’re much less likely to hit large overages if:
- You have a high number of licensed users (the 10 GB per user allowance adds up quickly)
- File version limits are capped sensibly (e.g. 20–30 versions)
- Old project sites are archived or deleted
- OneDrive is used properly instead of SharePoint becoming a dumping ground
- Someone is actively monitoring storage growth rather than reacting to it
In these tenants, any overage is often hundreds of GB — not multiple TB.
What actually happens when you hit the SharePoint storage limit
This is the bit most organisations only learn the hard way.
When a tenant hits its SharePoint storage limit, Microsoft doesn’t delete content — but things start to quietly fail.
What users see
Uploads and saves begin to fail with messages like: “There is not enough storage space available to complete this operation.” or “Your organisation has exceeded its SharePoint storage limit.” Sometimes, there is no error, but from a user’s point of view, SharePoint and Teams just stops behaving reliably. You may see meeting recordings failing, or vague “something went wrong” messages within Teams tabs.
What IT Pros see
In the Microsoft 365 and SharePoint Admin Centres:
- SharePoint storage shows as 100% used
- Warnings appear stating that the tenant has exceeded its SharePoint storage quota
- Admins are prompted to buy additional storage immediately
Nothing is deleted — but the tenant is effectively blocked from growing.
This is usually the point where storage stops being an IT concern and becomes a business incident which often leads to panic buying more storage.
The truth about SharePoint storage
Most organisations don’t need 5 TB of extra storage, they drift into it. Costs for that drift are shown below (at time of writing 27th January 2026) and can be referenced here: Compare Microsoft 365 Enterprise Pricing and Plans | Microsoft 365
- ~£160 (~$220 USD) per TB per month
- 5 TB ≈ £800 (~$1100 USD)/month
- ≈ £9,600 (~$13,200 USD) per year
- Every year. Ongoing.
At that point, SharePoint storage stops being an IT detail and becomes a finance problem.
Before approving extra capacity, the real question should be: Is our storage growth driven by business value — or by neglect?
What you get out of the box with Microsoft 365 E3 and E5
Before assuming storage is the problem, it’s worth discussing what Microsoft actually gives you with E3 or E5 licenses.
Both Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 include the same SharePoint storage model:
- 1 TB of base SharePoint storage per tenant
- +10 GB per licensed user
There is no extra SharePoint storage benefit in E5 versus E3. The difference between the plans is security, compliance, and analytics — not storage capacity.
Example of Storage availability with E3 & e5
- 100 licensed users → 1 TB + 1 TB = 2 TB total
- 300 licensed users → 1 TB + 3 TB = 4 TB total
- 500 licensed users → 1 TB + 5 TB = 6 TB total
This pool is shared across:
- All SharePoint sites
- All Microsoft Teams files (which live in SharePoint)
OneDrive storage is separate and does not offset SharePoint overages.
Common storage scenarios (and where things go wrong)
Scenario 1: 250-user organisation, 8-year-old tenant
- Included storage: ~3.5 TB
- Hundreds of Teams and project sites
- Versioning left at defaults
- Same files copied across multiple sites
Result: Storage steadily creeps past the limit. Extra capacity is purchased “temporarily” — and never removed. Over time, this easily turns into 2–4 TB of extra paid storage.
Scenario 2: 500-user organisation, heavy Teams usage
- Included storage: ~6 TB
- Teams used for chat, meetings, recordings, collaboration
- Video recordings stored indefinitely
- No ownership of old Teams
Result: Storage growth is driven by Teams content, not SharePoint libraries people actively manage. Buying 5 TB extra feels unavoidable unless recordings and old Teams are tackled.
Scenario 3: 150-user organisation, disciplined governance
- Included storage: ~2.5 TB
- Version limits capped at 20–30
- Old project sites archived or deleted
- Clear ownership of content
Result: Little or no overage. Storage grows predictably and rarely requires additional spend.
How can DeliverPoint Help?
To help organisations answer that question properly, DeliverPoint now includes a premium storage insight feature designed to shine a light on what’s really consuming your SharePoint space.
With DeliverPoint, you can:
- Report on duplicate files across SharePoint and Teams
- Identify files with excessive versions that silently consume storage
- Understand storage consumption at site, library, and file level
- Spot content that is high‑cost but low‑value
Crucially, DeliverPoint doesn’t just report — it enables users with the right permissions (Site Owners) to easily identify where excessive versions reside, and allows multiple versions of files to be removed.
Safe, controlled clean‑up — at scale
DeliverPoint allows IT Pros and authorised business users (with the right permissions) to:
- Carefully review problem content
- Bulk remove duplicate or unwanted files
- Reduce version bloat without trawling site by site
- Clean up storage without risky scripts or manual guesswork
That means less dependency on central IT, faster clean‑ups, and decisions made by the people who actually understand the content.
Duplicate files can also exist. Users copy files to a place that is more convenient, which of course is not just a storage problem, but a security risk. You may lock down security on a sensitive file, ensure the right people have access without knowing a duplicate copy resides elsewhere. This copy of the file could potentially allow external sharing, contain anyone links, and also be served by Copilot.
Fix the leak before buying a bigger bucket
Extra SharePoint storage isn’t evil — sometimes it’s genuinely needed.
But in many tenants, 1–3 TB can be reclaimed quickly just by tackling:
- Duplicate files
- Excessive versions
- Abandoned content
DeliverPoint helps you do exactly that — turning storage from a creeping cost into something you actively control. Before you approve another 5 TB purchase, it’s worth asking: Are we paying for growth — or paying for neglect?
Because fixing the leak is almost always cheaper than buying a bigger bucket.
Learn more about DeliverPoint Storage Management here:
