Slack has stopped publishing a storage figure in gigabytes for any plan. There is no meter in the app that reaches 100% and blocks uploads. What most people mean by "Slack storage full," especially on the Free plan, is the 90-day visibility limit: once a workspace has more than 90 days of history, Slack hides older messages and files from view and search. They still exist, they are not deleted, and they reappear if the workspace upgrades to a paid plan.
Which limits apply?
| Limit | Value | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Total workspace storage | Not published by Slack | all plans |
| Per-member storage allowance | Not published by Slack | all plans |
| Message and file visibility | last 90 days | Free plan |
| Size per file | 1 GB | every plan |
| Connected storage apps (Drive, Dropbox, Box) | up to 10 | Free plan |
Verified 2026-09-22 against Add files to Slack, Usage limits for free workspaces, and Slack pricing. None of the three pages lists a storage figure in GB or TB per plan; older third-party guides that quote 5 GB total for Free or 10 to 20 GB per member on paid plans are describing a pricing structure Slack no longer publishes, so treat those numbers as historical, not current.
What actually fills up on the Free plan?
Not storage capacity, but visibility. Slack's own help page describes it as a limit on how far back you can see and search, not a limit on how much data the workspace can hold: "You can view and search messages and files from the last 90 days... When your workspace reaches the visibility limit, Slack will start hiding messages and files older than 90 days." Hidden content is not deleted; it is simply out of reach until the workspace upgrades or a retention policy removes it on purpose.
How do I see what is using space?
Slack does not offer a single storage dashboard on the Free plan. To find large or old files:
- Open a channel or direct message and click the file icon in the details panel to list everything shared there.
- Use workspace search with a
has:orfrom:filter to narrow down uploads by person or channel. - On a paid plan, a workspace owner can check file activity through the admin analytics dashboard, which is not available on Free.
How do I free up space in Slack?
- Delete files you no longer need. Hover over a file in a message or in the Files list, open the menu, and choose Delete file. This removes it for everyone in the channel.
- Set a retention policy. Workspace owners can choose to delete messages and files automatically after a set period instead of only hiding them at 90 days. This is a Free-plan setting under workspace preferences.
- Post links instead of uploads. Connect Google Drive, Dropbox or Box from the Slack App Directory (up to 10 apps on the Free plan) and share a link rather than dragging the file into the message. Only the link and a small preview are stored in Slack.
- Route deliveries around Slack entirely. For anything meant to be downloaded once and kept elsewhere, a transfer link never enters Slack storage at all. See the next section.
How does a transfer link keep files out of Slack storage?
A transfer service uploads a file once, outside Slack, and gives you a link to paste into the channel or direct message. Brault Transfer sends up to 2 GB per transfer on the Free plan (5 transfers a month) and up to 250 GB per transfer on Growth, with a branded download page, an optional password and an expiry date. Because the file itself never uploads into Slack, it does not count against the 90-day visibility window and never runs into the 1 GB per-file limit. The plans and limits page lists every cap by plan.
If you are hitting Slack's per-file cap rather than a storage question, see What is the Slack file size limit? for the 1 GB ceiling and how to work around it.