No reactivation fee: Microsoft 365 Archive becomes a no brainer for every M365 Admin

Last year, when Microsoft 365 Archive was launched, everyone asked me, “Can you save money with Microsoft 365 Archive?” So, to answer, I wrote the linked blog post, in which we talked about not only the amazing features of Microsoft 365 Archive but, most importantly, can you save money? 

P.S. Make sure you still read that blog post. It covers everything about the feature and how to use it.

The conclusion of that blog post was you should definitely create a process around it and do your calculations because Microsoft 365 Archive could either save you 75% off your costs or cost you 225% extra. I will be honest: most clients I talked to were hesitant to use Microsoft 365 Archive because of the potential for additional costs, and most enterprises prefer a “known” cost to a potential saving that could create unbudgeted costs down the road.

Microsoft 365 Archive reactivation fee

All changes start on March 31st, 2025. In a recent Blog post titled “Microsoft 365 Archive Eliminates Reactivation Fees by March 31, 2025,” Microsoft announced that they will no longer charge a reactivation fee for SharePoint sites or content stored in the Microsoft 365 Archive.

This means that for any inactive site, I can move it to Microsoft 365 Archive and keep it in cold storage at 0.05$/GB/month instead of keeping it as an active site at 0.20$/GB/Month. If I ever need to restore it in the future, I can bring it back for free. The only limitation is that I will not be able to re-archive it for four months, but after that, I can put it back in the M365 Archive and start saving money.

With this change, there is no reason you shouldn’t start looking at using Microsoft 365 Archive, especially if your organization is paying for extra storage in Microsoft 365. Whether you already have a workflow to put content in Archive automatically or you are thinking of one, here are a few things to remember:

• This will take effect between March 1^st and March 31^st, 2025. You will receive a message in the Message Center when it is active in your tenant.
• This does not apply to OneDrive for Business accounts – Only SharePoint sites.
• You can still reactivate a site within 7 days of archiving without restrictions.

Microsoft also confirmed that this will apply to file-level archiving when released. Although this feature has been announced for almost a year now, we have not yet seen it in action.

Finally, remember that while Microsoft 365 Archive will now be sure to save you money, features like SharePoint automatic versioning in Syskit Point can take it to the next level to save you even more money.

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