Overview of legacy blob storage account retirement

Azure Storage is retiring the legacy blob storage account storage account type. This article explains what this change means for your legacy blob storage workloads and how to prepare for the transition to general-purpose v2 (GPv2) storage accounts.

Why legacy blob storage accounts are being retired

Legacy blob storage accounts were introduced to support legacy blob storage scenarios with account-level access tiering. However, GPv2 has since become the standard for all new storage accounts, offering:

• Per-blob tiering (Hot, Cool, Archive)
• Lifecycle management
• Immutable blob storage
• Event Grid integration
• Advanced redundancy options
• Support for all storage services (Blobs, Tables, Queues, Files)

By retiring legacy blob storage accounts, Azure simplifies the platform and ensures all customers benefit from modern capabilities and consistent pricing.

Benefits of migrating to GPv2

Retirement timeline and key milestones

After the retirement date, data access will be blocked for all legacy blob storage accounts. This change takes effect globally across all Azure regions.

Preparing for migration

To minimize risk and ensure a smooth migration:

• Inventory your legacy blob storage accounts: Use Azure Resource Graph, CLI, Azure Inventory, or the Portal to identify all legacy blob storage accounts.
• Evaluate workloads: To ensure compatibility with GPv2 (most blob-only workloads require no code changes).
• Plan for pricing changes: Understand the new GPv2 pricing model, which includes per-blob tiering and transaction costs. Use the Azure pricing calculator to estimate costs based on your usage patterns.
• Migrate to GPv2: Use the Azure portal, CLI, or automation tools to upgrade from GPv1 to GPv2. Learn more about the upgrade process.
• Validate workloads: Post-migration to ensure functionality and billing accuracy.
• Monitor usage: After migration, keep an eye on your storage account metrics to identify any unexpected changes in usage patterns or costs.

Identify legacy blob storage accounts using Azure Resource Graph

Azure Resource Graph is a powerful tool for exploring and querying your Azure resources at scale. You can use it to identify all legacy Blob storage and General Purpose v1 (GPv1) accounts in your environment and assess their configurations. This helps you plan your migration to GPv2 more effectively.

Here's an example Azure Resource Graph query to identify all legacy Blob storage accounts (kind BlobStorage) and General Purpose v1 (GPv1) storage accounts (kind Storage) within your subscription that are impacted by the retirement:

Resources
| where type == "microsoft.storage/storageaccounts"
| where sku.name in~ ("Standard_LRS", "Standard_GRS", "Standard_ZRS", "Standard_RAGRS", "Standard_RAGZRS")
| where kind != "StorageV2"
| extend Version = tostring(properties.siteProperties.propertiesid)
| project name, type, tenantId, kind, location, resourceGroup, subscriptionId, managedBy, sku, plan, properties, tags, identity, zones, extendedLocation, Version

[!NOTE] This query identifies both legacy blob storage accounts (kind BlobStorage) and GPv1 accounts (kind Storage) regardless of redundancy, which are also being retired. Review both account types to ensure all impacted accounts are included in your migration plan.

What happens if you don't migrate by the deadline

After August 31, 2026, you'll no longer be able to manage legacy blob storage accounts. After September 2026, if you don't migrate your legacy blob storage account to general-purpose v2, all existing legacy blob storage accounts are auto migrated over to a general-purpose v2 account, which may result in higher billing costs. Your decision not to migrate an existing legacy blob storage account will be construed as consent for Microsoft to migrate the account on your behalf.

Where to get help and support

If you have questions, get answers from community experts in Microsoft Q&A.

If your organization or company has partnered with Microsoft or works with Microsoft representatives, such as cloud solution architects (CSAs) or customer success account managers (CSAMs), contact them for additional resources for migration.

If you have a support plan and you need technical help, create a support request in the Azure portal:

• Search for Help + support in the Azure portal.

Need help?

Learn more about related features and how to migrate:

• Upgrade a storage account to GPv2
• Storage account overview
• Azure storage pricing