Your file is too big for Slack. Here's the workaround.
Slack's 1 GB per file, the 5 GB workspace cap, and what to do instead · Updated May 2026
Slack allows 1 GB per file but the free workspace caps total storage at 5 GB. sto.care sends 5 GB per file with no workspace cap. Paste the link in any channel.
- 5 GB per file vs Slack's 1 GB
- No workspace storage cap (free Slack runs out at 5 GB total)
- Files don't expire on Slack's 90-day clock
- Free, 7-day expiry, no signup
You drag a 2 GB video into a Slack channel and the upload dialog throws an error before the progress bar even starts. The fastest fix is not to argue with Slack: upload the file somewhere with a higher ceiling, paste the link in the channel, and let Slack's link unfurl render a preview card. The recipient clicks through and downloads the file from there. Slack's storage stays clean and the file isn't on a 90-day clock.
The NumbersSlack's real file limits
Slack's help docs lay out three caps that hit free workspaces in different ways. The first is per-file: 1 GB per upload, identical on every plan including Enterprise+. Hard cap. No way to raise it by paying more.
The second is workspace-wide: free workspaces share a 5 GB total storage allowance across the entire team. Once you hit it, new uploads start failing until somebody deletes older files. A team of fifteen with light file usage runs into this in months, not years.
The third is retention. Slack's pricing page lists the free plan as 90 days of message history; in practice that means files older than 90 days are hidden from channel search and the file browser, and files older than roughly a year on the free plan are permanently deleted. Paid plans keep history indefinitely unless an admin sets a custom retention policy. The 90-day clock is the silent killer: the file you uploaded in February 2026 isn't findable in May without paying.
The WorkaroundHow to share a file too big for Slack
Three steps, no Slack admin involvement, works in any channel including DMs and external Slack Connect rooms.
- Upload the file to sto.care. Drop it on the upload zone, type the recipient's email if you want them notified, hit upload. Multipart upload runs in the browser, so 5 GB on a gigabit line takes about 45 seconds.
- Copy the download link from the page (or from the confirmation email we send you).
- Paste the link in the Slack channel. Slack auto-unfurls it into a preview card with the filename, size, and a click-through to download.
The file lives on AWS S3 in eu-west-1 (Ireland) for seven days, then a lifecycle rule purges it. The Slack message stays in channel history, but the unfurled preview goes dead and the link 404s. That's by design: the file isn't supposed to live on Slack's 90-day clock or your team's 5 GB allowance forever.
Cost MathWhy this beats paying for Slack Pro just for storage
Slack Pro is $7.25 per user per month on annual billing, $8.75 on monthly. The headline upgrade is unlimited message history, but the storage allowance also goes up to 10 GB per member. Pro doesn't raise the per-file 1 GB ceiling: a 2 GB render is still rejected on every paid tier.
For a team of ten, that's $725 a year just to remove the 90-day history limit and bump the storage pool. If the real reason you're looking at Pro is occasional big file delivery, free Slack plus an external host is cheaper and works around the per-file cap that Pro doesn't fix anyway. sto.care costs nothing, has no paid tier, and handles 5 GB per file.
Side By SideWhat each option actually gives you
Google Drive in Slack works fine for documents your team already collaborates on (a deck somebody's editing live), but it inherits Drive's sharing model: recipients may need a Google account, the link may default to your domain, and revoking access is a manual click months later. For one-shot deliveries, that overhead is the wrong shape.
FAQCommon questions
What's Slack's file size limit?
1 GB per file on every Slack plan, including Enterprise+. You can attach up to ten files per message. The limit is the same on desktop, mobile, and web. Slack's own help article on adding files (slack.com/help/articles/201330736) is the canonical source for the number.
Why do my files disappear from Slack after 90 days?
Free workspaces only retain message and file history for 90 days. Files older than that become hidden (the underlying object still exists for a window, but it's no longer accessible from the channel UI). After roughly a year, free-plan files are permanently deleted. Paid plans keep files indefinitely unless an admin sets a retention policy.
Will the sto.care link work for users outside my workspace?
Yes. The link is a public URL with a hard-to-guess token. Anyone with the link can download the file for the seven days it lives, whether or not they're in your Slack workspace, on the same SSO, or even using Slack at all. That's actually the point: cross-org file delivery is where Slack's free plan struggles hardest.
Do I need Slack Pro to share large files?
No. Pro raises your workspace storage allowance and removes the 90-day history cap, but the per-file ceiling stays at 1 GB on every plan. If your only reason to upgrade is to send a 2-3 GB file occasionally, paste a sto.care link in the channel instead. Free Slack plus an external host is cheaper than $7.25 per user per month.
Does the file count against my Slack storage?
No. The bytes live on sto.care (AWS S3 in eu-west-1), not in Slack's storage pool. Slack only sees the URL you paste, which renders as an unfurled preview card. That keeps your free workspace's 5 GB allowance free for actual Slack-native files (screenshots, docs your team edits in-channel) instead of one-shot deliveries.
What happens to the file after seven days?
An S3 lifecycle rule purges the object on or shortly after the seven-day mark, and the matching DynamoDB metadata row drops via TTL. The Slack message stays, but the unfurled preview goes dead and the link 404s. If you need the file back online, re-upload and paste the new link.
Send the file Slack rejected. Paste the link in the channel.
UPLOAD A FILE →Want the long version of Slack's file rules? Read the full breakdown of Slack's file size and storage limits. Comparing direct alternatives? See sto.care vs Google Drive for the persistent-storage trade-off, or the broader send large files free page for every limit on a single screen.