Do you need files outside Salesforce?
Answer this before any vendor call. Three things justify leaving native Salesforce, and one number settles most of the rest.
For Salesforce admins, IT and security reviewers, and whoever signs off the budget.
Published by CloudFiles, who sell one of the apps a “yes” answer here could lead you to. Every Salesforce figure below is quoted from Salesforce's own documentation and dated. Nothing on this page needs you to trust us.
What you already have
Salesforce allocates file storage per org, not per user, so headcount tells you nothing on its own.
| Contact Manager / Group / Professional / Enterprise | Performance / Unlimited | |
|---|---|---|
| File storage, per org | 10 GB, flat | 10 GB, flat |
| Data storage, minimum per org | 10 GB | 10 GB |
| Data storage, per user license | 20 MB | 120 MB |
There is no per-user line for file storage. Essentials and Starter editions get 1 GB flat instead of 10 GB, with no per-user data storage line either. Individual file limits: 2 GB on Chatter and the Files tab, 25 MB for a Notes & Attachments attachment.
Source: Data and File Storage Allocations, Salesforce. Retrieved 28 Aug 2026. A "2 GB per user" file-storage figure circulates widely online and appeared in an earlier version of this page; it does not appear in Salesforce's own table above. Full breakdown of that discrepancy: Salesforce file storage limits, the verified facts.
Check your own number
Setup, then Quick Find, then Storage Usage. The row that matters is File Storage, not Data Storage. If your AI is already connected to your org, ask it directly: “What percentage of our Salesforce file storage allocation have we used, and how has it moved over the last year?”
File storage doesn't scale with headcount: a 20-user org and a 200-user org on the same edition both start at the same flat 10 GB. This argument only bites at real document volume, or where individual files run large, not at headcount. Check before you argue about it.
What your answer means
| Stay native | Keep reading | |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | Comfortably under allocation, flat over time | Already tight, or climbing fast |
| Ownership | No other team or system owns these files | IT, another team, or a system of record already owns them |
| Compliance | No retention or residency requirement forces it | Compliance or retention requires external storage |
All three in the left column? Stop here. Use native Salesforce Files, and revisit yearly with the guide's own record-and-recheck routine.
Any in the right column? Files need to live outside Salesforce. The guide's next question, whether Files Connect is enough on its own, decides whether that means Salesforce's own bridge or an external app.
Where this stops
This page settles exactly one thing: whether the question is live at all. It says nothing about identity, migration, volume or cost; those are separate questions on the guide. CloudFiles publishes the Salesforce limits this check is measured against, and sells one of the external apps a “yes” answer eventually leads to. The number itself needs nothing from us.
Check my working
Most readers won't need this. If your number left you unsure, say what's in the way.
- Report: written assessment, two to three working days.
- Reader: a person. Not a bot, not an auto-reply.
- Call: only if you ask. We won't ask twice.
- Fields: four. No phone, no company size, no mailing list.
That's with a person now.
You'll get a written assessment within two to three working days. No call unless you ask for one.