Snapchat now requires users to pay for Memories storage beyond 5GB

Snapchat has made plenty of attempts to monetize its app over the past few years, and with its latest effort, it’s placing a cap on the amount of photos and videos users can save in the cloud for free. Unlimited Memories backups are going away nearly a decade after their introduction, and it’s going to cost Snapchat power users.

The company announced its new paid Memories cloud storage plans last week (h/t @P4mui on Twitter), though we’re still a little short on details. According to Snapchat, users have saved more than a trillion Memories — that’s photos and videos — since its launch nine years ago, resulting in the company being forced to tamper down on its unlimited cloud backups. While every Snapchat user will still maintain 5GB of free cloud storage for managing their library, anyone over the limit will need to switch to a paid storage plan in the coming months.

The company is offering a handful of tiers that match up well to plans we’ve seen from other photo storage operators like Google and Apple. Snapchat users can pick from 100GB, 250GB, or a whopping 5TB of space for their Memories, with the latter two coming alongside Snapchat+ and Snapchat Premium, respectively. While the company says most of its users have yet to hit this new 5GB cap, those above the limit will need to upgrade to a paid tier within 12 months. That’s the grace period being given by Snapchat to either export their data or pay up to keep using the space.

Curiously, it doesn’t appear these plans have rolled out yet. Digging through the app, I don’t see Memories cloud storage mentioned as a selling point for Snapchat+, nor do I see a method for upgrading to the base paid 100GB plan. The Memories menu doesn’t show a storage limit, either; if I’ve surpassed 5GB of saved photos and videos, I don’t see any way to actually know for sure at the moment. Snapchat’s blog post doesn’t include pricing information either.

We’ve reached out to the company for comment and clarification, and will update when we hear back.