Snapchat caps Memories at 5GB and adds paid plans

Snapchat announced this month that it will cap free storage for its Memories feature at 5 gigabytes, and begin charging users who exceed that limit, the company said in a blog post. The change, part of a gradual global rollout, affects accounts that have built large archives of saved photos and videos and comes with a 12 month grace period for anyone who exceeds the free limit.

Memories, introduced in 2016 to let users preserve Snaps and Stories that would otherwise disappear, now holds more than one trillion saved items, Snap said. To sustain that volume, the company is offering introductory storage plans, including a baseline 100 gigabyte tier for about $1.99 per month in the United States, a higher tier bundled with Snapchat Plus that provides roughly 250 gigabytes for around $3.99 to $4.49 per month, and a Platinum option that expands storage up to 5 terabytes for approximately $15.99 to $16 per month. Snap said pricing may vary by market.

Snap acknowledged that shifting a long‑running free feature to a paid model is difficult. "It’s never easy to transition from receiving a service for free to paying for it," the company said, adding that the change will allow continued...