"Looks like Google Photos no longer will allow unlimited photo upload starting June 1st, 2021. What are the best alternatives out there? Key features are:
Any good self-hosted options that can hit the majority of these?"
- A user from Reddit
Many people hope to find the best Google Photos alternative after Google announced that Google Photos would suspend providing unlimited storage on June 1st, 2021. So, is Google Photos unlimited storage? In the past, it offers free and unlimited storage for all users. But in the future, the thing becomes different. What's the Google Photos storage options at that time?
According to Google official, users will share 15GB of free storage across Google Drive, Google Photos, and Gmail. As you know, 15GB of free storage is far from enough. Several large videos or photos may use it up. Therefore, it is wise of you to turn to the Google Photos backup alternatives.
Now that you open this guide, you won't be disappointed with the top 11 Google Photos replacements shown below.
#1 iDrive
#2 Coolmuster Android Backup Manager
#3 Adobe Creative Cloud Photography
#4 Flickr
#5 Amazon Photos
#6 pCloud
#7 Dropbox
#8 Microsoft OneDrive
#9 500px
#10 iCloud
#11 Degoo Cloud Storage
Not initially designed for uploading videos and photos, iDrive is still a perfect alternative to Google Photos. Primarily, it offers every user 5GB of free storage to store fewer photos or videos. If you have piles of photos and videos, you can upgrade the storage plan, and it supports the maximum 10TB storage annually.
The Auto Camera feature allows you automatically back up photos and videos from your device to cloud storage. You can access them on different devices via the facial recognition feature.
Pricing:
* 5GB of free storage
* 5TB: $52.12 per year
* 10TB: $74.62 per year
Pros:
* Free storage supported.
* Offer different storage upgrade options.
* Automatically encrypt data during transmission and at rest.
* Back up the entire device, not only photos and videos.
Cons:
* Less free storage offered than other similar apps like Google Photos.
* A bit expensive.
* It needs fixing the bugs and flaws.
Create your account: https://www.idrive.com/idrive/login/loginForm
See also: Click this link to see how to fast transfer photos from a flash drive to an iPhone.
Strictly speaking, Coolmuster Android Backup Manager is not an online cloud storage service, but we still regard it as the best Google Photos alternative. Unlike Google Photos, it stores the Android files in the computer's local storage and restores the backups to your new Android device in one click. As it consumes no network during syncing, you can easily back up the photos and videos with this app even if there is no network connection or the network condition is poor.
It also lets you back up and restore contacts, messages, call logs, documents, apps, music, and other files on most Android brands, like Samsung, LG, Motorola, Huawei, HTC, Sony, OPPO, etc. Since it will not compress the files, the file format and data quality will keep the same after syncing.
Pricing at the time of writing:
* Offer trial version.
* 1-year license on 1 PC: $19.95.
* Lifetime license on 1 PC: $29.95.
* 1-year license on 10 PCs: $39.95.
* Lifetime license on 10 PCs: $89.95.
Pros:
* No network consumption when syncing files.
* The backup feature is completely free.
* No storage limitations.
* Widely compatible with most Android brands and computers.
* One-click backup and restoration.
* Support all Android data, not only photos and videos.
* Fast, secure, and reliable.
* Affordable price.
Cons:
* Cannot selectively transfer files.
Further reading:
How to Back Up WhatsApp Photos/Videos? (Proven Tips for iPhone & Android)
How to Transfer Photos from Samsung to Mac for Backup? 4 Ways in 2023
If you use Adobe Creative Cloud Suite and are serious about photography, you can use Adobe Creative Cloud Photography. This app is a more advanced alternative to Google Photos. Deeply integrated with Lightroom and Photoshop, this cloud storage enables you to upload, edit, and encrypt your photos and videos on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android devices.
According to Adobe company, you can upload 20GB of JPEG files in the Creative Cloud Files folder without any errors.
Pricing:
* 1TB of storage and access to Lightroom: $9.99 per month.
* 100GB of storage to all Adobe apps: $52.99 per month.
Pros:
* Integration and access to all Adobe Creative Cloud apps.
* Edit photos with Lightroom and Photoshop.
* More professional photography app than Google Photos.
Cons:
* Offer no free storage.
* Not the best affordable.
* The editing programs are too professional for ordinary users.
* low-capacity storage.
Create your account: https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography.html
Learn more: With this article, you can effortlessly repair your Samsung mobile phone even if it reboots randomly.
Photographers who want to share their works online can use Flickr. This American image and video sharing platform lets you store up to 1,000 copies of photos and videos for free on an advertisement basis. If you have more than 1,000 photos and videos to upload, you will have to cost $6.99 per month to upgrade to the unlimited storage plan with no ads. You can organize your photos and videos as public or private, which is better than Google Photos.
Pricing:
* Free storage of 1,000 photos and videos for casual users.
* Unlimited storage: $6.99 per month or $59.99 per year.
Pros:
* Offer free storage for casual users.
* Better connect with other photographers.
* Create your photostream and customized brand.
* Integrate with Adobe Creative Cloud.
* Built-in photo editing feature.
* Uncompress photos.
Cons:
* Cannot save raw files.
* Cannot store the entire photo library.
* Lack AI-based tools included in Google Photos.
Create your account: https://www.flickr.com/
Amazon Photos is also among the apps like Google Photos. It provides 5GB of photo and video storage for non-Prime users. If you are a Prime member, it gives you 5GB of video storage and unlimited storage for photos to up to five family members. Besides photo and video storage, you can also conduct photo or video sending with someone via text messages, emails, or the supported third-party apps.
Pricing:
* 5GB free storage for non-Prime users.
* Amazon Prime members:
$12.99/month for unlimited photo storage and 5GB of video storage;
$1.99/month for 100GB of video storage;
$6.99/month for 1TB of video storage;
$11.99/month for 2TB of video storage.
Pros:
* Prime members benefit most.
* Powerful search and photo uploading feature.
* Most similar to Google Photos.
Cons:
* Not user-friendly for both non-Prime members and Prime users.
Create your account: https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Photos/b?ie=UTF8&node=13234696011
pCloud is a Google Photos backup alternative that automatically backs up your photos and videos to the cloud storage and encrypts the data during the process. If you concern about data security, you can choose this program. Except for the pCloud team, no one will access your uploaded content online.
Pricing:
* $175 for a lifetime subscription for 500GB of storage.
* $350 for a lifetime subscription for 2TB for storage.
Pros:
* Once-for-all lifetime subscription payment.
* Secure to use.
* Support raw images.
Cons:
* Expensive subscription for less storage.
* No free storage offered.
* Cannot edit documents.
Create your account: https://www.pcloud.com/home.html
You may have ever used or at least heard Dropbox. Dropbox is a popular yet influential alternative to Google Photos. Better than Google Photos, it automatically uploads photos from your device to the cloud service and integrates photos from Facebook and features from Adobe Creative Cloud and Pixlr. However, Dropbox does not offer AI categorization and smart tagging, making the photo organization much tricky.
Pricing:
* 2GB of free storage.
* Dropbox Plus (2TB): $9.99 per month.
* Dropbox Professional (3TB): $16.48 per month.
Pros:
* Intuitive and simple interface.
* Explicit storage plans.
* Encrypt data during transfer and at rest.
* Support raw files.
Cons:
* Not enough free storage.
* Cannot edit photos.
* No AI-based features.
Create your account: https://www.dropbox.com/
If you search for a reliable, easy, and secure Google Photos alternative, you can consider Microsoft OneDrive. Developed by Microsoft company, this comprehensive platform works for backing up photos, videos, documents, and other files. Plus, it works with Microsoft Word, Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint, and Outlook, and you can freely back up and view the Office documents.
Users who have already been using Office 365 will pay nothing extra.
Pricing:
* 5GB of free storage.
* $1.99 per month for 100GB of storage.
* $6.99 per month for 1TB of storage.
Pros:
* End-to-end encryption.
* Affordable storage plans.
* Special section for photos.
Cons:
* Not designed for photo storage.
* More suitable for Windows-based environment.
Create your account: https://onedrive.com/
500px is another appealing option for professional photographers and designers who hope to share their works and interact with other users on the platform. The most significant strong point of this platform is that users can license the images to others for a small fee. Moreover, you can join interest groups, quest, explore magnificent images, and win exciting prizes.
As it is not suitable for saving the entire photo library and personal photo albums, it cannot substitute Google Photos. What's worse, data security is not enough on this platform. A cyber intrusion in mid-2018 has resulted in the personal data leakage of 14 million users.
Pricing:
* 10GB of free storage.
* Awesome subscription: $60 per year.
* Pro account: $120 per year.
Pros:
* Users can earn money on the platform.
* Include many insightful works.
* Unlimited storage for subscribers.
Cons:
* Not user-friendly for casual users.
* Free accounts have to tolerate ads.
* Cannot store personal images.
Create your account: https://500px.com/
If you are using an iPhone, the best Google Photos alternative for you may be iCloud. With an Apple ID, you can sync photos, videos, and other iOS data to the iCloud account and access them from iCloud.com anytime. Also, you can associate the iCloud storage with Apple One to freely access the content on Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple Music, etc.
Pricing:
* 5GB of free storage.
* $0.99 per month for 50GB.
* $2.99 per month for 200GB.
* $9.99 per month for 2TB.
Pros:
* Easy to use for iOS users.
* Able to access on all iOS devices.
* Bundle with other Apple services.
* Reliable and secure.
Cons:
* Not support non-Apple devices.
Create your account: https://www.icloud.com/
Degoo Cloud Storage is the last Google Photos alternative on our list. This app is generous because it offers you 100GB of free cloud storage without ads. Furthermore, if your friends sign up for the service, you will get up to 500GB of storage. Like iDrive, it also automatically uploads your photo to the cloud storage every time you click the photo. Isn't it convenient to use?
Pricing:
* 100GB of free storage.
* $2.99 per month for 500GB storage.
* $9.99 per month for 10TB storage.
Pros:
* Convenient and easy to use.
* Offer much free storage.
Cons:
* The free version has ads.
* No photo editing feature.
* No AI classification.
Create your account: https://degoo.com/
Hard to decide which one is the best Google Photos alternative? After reading the above information, if you find it challenging to choose one Google Photos alternative, here are my suggestions. Since most online cloud storage cannot work without the internet, Coolmuster Android Backup Manager may be the best choice. It consumes no network when syncing. Therefore, the backup process won't slow. Second, it is easy to handle. You can back up everything on the device in one click. Why not pick this one?
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