When I opened my current Google account back in March 2013, I never thought I’d still be using it more than 12 years later. Or that it would one day run out of space. At the time, life was simple: my Gmail inbox was empty, Google Drive stored a few stray documents, Google+ was already on life support, and I thought 15GB was infinite. I didn’t even own a smartphone yet. That came later in the year when I got my first phone — an Alcatel T Pop I redeemed through Safaricom Bonga points.
That’s when everything changed.
From “free and endless” to suffocating limits
With Google Photos arriving in 2015, I could suddenly back up every photo and video without thinking twice. For years, it felt like magic. Unlimited, reliable, and most importantly free. Then came WhatsApp backups, piling on even more data. For the longest time, though, Meta had a special deal with Google: WhatsApp backups didn’t count toward your storage quota. That truce ended in 2024, and suddenly, every sticker, meme, voice note, and forwarded video began eating into the same 15GB.
Add that to Google’s 2021 policy shift where new photos and videos started counting toward storage, and the free ride was over. Fast forward to today, and it’s a nightmare. After more than a decade, my account is now choking.
And I’m far from alone.
It’s almost poetic. The very generation that signed up for Gmail in the early 2010s is now hitting the 15GB wall together. A shared digital rite of passage: we all squeezed a decade’s worth of memories into Google’s “free” vault, and now the vault is overflowing. That free 15GB served us well, but after more than a decade of files, its time is up.
So, what are the options? For most people, there are three routes:
- Pay Google One – In Kenya, plans start at KES 110/month for 30GB, KES 250/month for 100GB, and KES 500/month for 200GB under the AI Plus plan. The latter even comes with Gemini perks like Veo for video generation and NotebookLM boosts.
- Delete ruthlessly – Clear old WhatsApp backups, blurry shots, screenshots, big videos, duplicate memes. But let’s be real: deciding which memories to erase is painful.
- Play Gmail hopscotch – Create a new account for another free 15GB. It works, but juggling multiple logins for the rest of your life isn’t exactly fun.
How did we get here?
Google knew exactly what it was doing. For over a decade, it hooked us with free storage, let us build digital lives around it, and then pulled the rug. The 15GB was never really free. It was bait. And now, with our memories locked in its vaults, the only way forward is to pay.
Perhaps that’s why Google killed “unlimited” storage in 2021 and started charging for everything. That’s why it’s bundling AI perks with its higher storage plans, because once you’re hooked, you’ll keep paying. This isn’t about storage; it’s about locking us into subscriptions for life.
The bigger issue is how file sizes have ballooned. In 2013, my phone produced less than 1MB photos; today’s devices casually deliver 20MB shots and gigabyte-sized 4K videos. Even those already paying for Google One are struggling to keep up. This is why I’m excited about AV2, AOMedia’s new video codec that promises smaller files without losing quality. If it works, it could ease some pressure.
But the truth is, the problem isn’t going away. As compression improves, so does our appetite for higher resolution, longer videos, and bigger files.
The end of the free ride
The truth is simple: the free 15GB era is over. We’ve had more than a decade of essentially free unlimited storage for our emails, files, photos, videos, and even WhatsApp chats. That’s unheard of in tech. But nothing free lasts forever. So now, each of us has a decision to make. Pay up. Delete. Or keep creating new accounts until the circus collapses. Whatever you choose, it’s clear that we’re witnessing the end of an era.
And maybe the real question isn’t whether you’ll pay Google a few hundred shillings per month. It’s whether you’re ready to confront just how much digital baggage you’ve been carrying and whether you really need it all. Luckily, it’s not just you. It’s all of us.
Which brings me to another question: Are you paying, deleting, or playing Gmail hopscotch? Let us know in the comments.
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