Gmail storage quota mismatch between Drive API response and actual account usage

Other Questions Google drive
1

I’m using the Google Drive API to check the storage quota for Gmail, but the results I’m getting from the API don’t match what’s displayed in my Gmail account.

The response from the API is as follows:

{
  "totalQuotaBytes": "230043852800",
  "usedQuotaBytes": "4892156",
  "aggregateUsedBytes": "79651228670",
  "trashQuotaBytes": "0",
  "quotaCategory": "LIMITED",
  "serviceQuotaBreakdown": [
    {
      "service": "DRIVE",
      "storageUsed": "0"
    },
    {
      "service": "GMAIL",
      "storageUsed": "79646336514"
    },
    {
      "service": "PHOTOS",
      "storageUsed": "0"
    }
  ]
}

However, in my Gmail account, it shows:

35% used
80.2 GB of 230 GB storage utilized

The figures are close, but there’s still a discrepancy. Has anyone come across this issue? Is it possible that there’s a lag in the API information, or is there something I’m overlooking regarding how the quota is calculated?

2

It’s common to encounter discrepancies between the Google Drive API responses and your Gmail account’s storage reading. The API provides raw data that may not account for certain real-time factors like attachments, which are handled differently in Gmail’s interface. Additionally, there can be slight delays in how the API updates its figures compared to the Gmail display. If exact accuracy is vital for your application, I recommend using the API data for a more detailed analysis, as it captures comprehensive metrics that may not always align with the user interface in Gmail.

3

Same here. The API lags with trash and deleted emails - changes don’t show up right away. Wait a bit and check again, it’ll sort itself out.

4

I’ve hit this same issue with Google APIs - it’s almost always caching delays. The Drive API pulls from cached storage calculations that can lag hours behind what you see in Gmail. These mismatches usually fix themselves in 24-48 hours, especially after big storage changes. Gmail’s web interface also counts certain data types differently than the API does. Shared files or temp cached data might get calculated differently between the two systems. If you’re building an app that needs accurate storage monitoring, build in a few GB tolerance margin for these reporting differences.