Google Photos is easily the best Online Cloud Storage for storing photos and videos. You all might be aware of the major change coming to Google Photos in summer this year. As per the new update, Google will no longer provide free and unlimited media uploading options with high-quality resolution. Till the date, people could have used Google Photos to store any number of photos for free in high resolution.
Once the new policy kicks in, you will have a free storage limit of 15GB. Everything you upload will be counted towards the same 15GB. In fact, it’s the same storage that you will be used to store your email attachments and Google Drive files as well.
Why Google Photos Alternatives?
After Google announcing the new policy, a lot of people started searching for services and apps similar to Google Photos to store videos and photos. The reason being, 15GB of storage provided by Google Photos might not be enough for most people or to store files in multiple services. Below, I will share a list of some best Google Photos Alternatives that you can use right away to move all your photos to.
Google Photos Alternatives
1. Flickr
Flickr is the first option on our list. A majority of you might be already aware of Flickr. Flickr is a popular online photo-sharing platform where millions of people share photos. A lot of people only see Flickr as an online image sharing and hosting solution, what they don’t know is the fact that you can use Flickr to upload and store your personal photos as well.
The free plan on Flickr allows you to host as many as 1000 photos, without paying anything. If you exhaust the 1000 photos limit then you can subscribe to their premium plan for $7.99/monthly and upload unlimited photos and videos in full resolution.
Flickr is available for Android, iOS and the Web as well.
Highlighted Features:
- Upload 1000 photos for free
- Comes with an unlimited plan
- Available for multiple platforms
2. Amazon Photos
Did you know that Amazon has a cool image and photo storing service called Amazon Photos? Chances are, the majority of people won’t be aware of Amazon Photos. The good news is that if you are a Prime user already then you can get access to the unlimited photo uploading plan without having the need to pay anything.
In short, for Prime members, Amazon provides the option to upload unlimited photos in high quality as well as 5GB storage for videos, too. Additionally, it would cost $1.99/monthly for 100GB of storage. One more thing to note is that Amazon Photos is not yet available in India at the time of writing this article.
If you are from a country where Amazon Photos is currently not supported, try sideloading the APK file to your device.
Highlighted Features:
- Comes with 5GB of free storage to upload photos
- Cheap paid plans
- Available for both Android as well as iOS
Amazon Photos – Android and iOS
3. NordLocker
NordLocker is a popular cloud storage service from NordVPN Teams. Some of you might be already using NordVPN on your device. NordLocker is a cloud storage service that comes with a free as well as a paid plan for you to store files. The free plans provide you 3GB of space to store anything you want and then the second option comes with 500GB of space for $3.99/monthly.
As of now, these are the two plans available on NordLocker. If you want a custom plan, you can get in touch with the team. If you are looking for a paid plan, getting 500GB of end-to-end encrypted cloud storage is nice.
Highlighted Features:
- Comes with 3GB of free storage
- End-to-end encrypted
- Custom plans option
4. pCloud
pCloud is an online cloud storage service where you can store pretty much any file. It is not specifically meant for Photos or Videos only, you can store any files. As of now, no free plans are available on pCloud. You can get up to 10GB of free space on signing up for the first time. There are two plans in pCloud. You can either get them annually or for a lifetime. The lifetime pricing model of pCloud is something I liked a lot. Almost all other cloud storage services charge you monthly. But pCloud comes with an option where you can pay for a lifetime. Purchase and forget!
You can get the Premium 500GB plan for $175 and Premium Plus 2TB plan for $350 for a lifetime or choose to go with the Premium 500GB or Premium Plus 2TB plan annually. If you plan to use the service for more than 3 years, then I would recommend you to go with the Lifelong plan as it is the most value-for-money plan out there.
Highlighted Features:
- Get 10GB of free storage
- Single time payment lifetime validity plans available
- Multi-device support
5. Microsoft OneDrive
Chances are most of you guys will be already aware of Microsoft OneDrive. The free plan of OneDrive provides users with 5GB of cloud storage. 5GB might not be that big, but something is better than nothing. Paid plans start from $1.99/monthly and come with 100GB of storage. Bigger plans with up to 6TB of storage space and 6 people are also available.
OneDrive is very closely integrated with Windows 10 and other apps and services from Microsoft. So, adding and syncing files between these services should be fairly simple and easy.
Highlighted Features:
- 5GB of free cloud storage to upload photos
- Plan as high as 6TB of cloud storage
- Add multiple users
6. Adobe Creative Cloud Photography
If you are a bit more serious about storing photos online then you might want to check out the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan. Basically, it is a plan that comes with 20GB of storage for $9.99 and comes with access to the photo editing application Lightroom.
You can use cloud storage to upload the photo and directly edit the photos with Lightroom and send them back in real-time. Super easy if you use Lightroom frequently. Accessing frequently used images and photos etc becomes easy with Lightroom integration.
Furthermore, you will be able to access all your photos anywhere and everywhere and use Lightroom to edit on your PC, Laptop, Smartphone, or the web itself.
Go check out the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan. You can also have the option to increase the cloud storage limit as well. With the base 20GB storage, you could store as many as 4,000 JPG image files.
Highlighted Features:
- Suitable for photo editors and photographers
- Well linked with Adobe products
- Multi-platform support
7. Dropbox
Dropbox is a giant when it comes to cloud storage solutions. The very same Dropbox can be used as a Google Photos Alternative as well. The best part is that it can sync all your photos on all your devices in real-time and access them anywhere on the planet.
I am personally using Dropbox and its services, and it has worked great for me. It’s not a photo-only cloud storage solution, instead, you can use it for pretty much any files out there. I frequently use the service to transfer files between my devices and also to store some hosted files as well.
Now comes the major part – the free plan. Well, the free plan of Dropbox only comes with 2GB of cloud storage which is too little when compared with the 15GB that Google provides. Furthermore, the paid plans are a little too expensive when compared with others on the list. If you are planning to use multiple free cloud photo-sharing services then definitely give Dropbox a shot and it works great.
Highlighted Features:
- Offers 2GB free cloud storage for photos
- Realtime sync with multiple devices
- Highly stable network and service
8. Apple iCloud
If you are an iPhone or iPad user then this one is something that you are already using. Apple’s iCloud is a top-notch cloud storage service that you can use to store all your images online. If you own an Apple device then you might be already using its services.
Apple iCloud Photos is what you should be using to store your photos. When compared with Google Photos, the search functionalities and other core feature like that might be missing but gets the job done as a Google Photos Alternatives.
When compared with others in the list, iCloud’s paid plan is significantly less expensive as well. The top-tier plan offering 2TB of cloud storage only costs you $10/month and the basic 50GB plan costs about a single dollar a month.
Definitely try if you are an Apple user.
Highlighted Features:
- Comes with cheap paid plans
- 5GB of free storage
- Sync with multiple Apple devices connected to your ID
9. Piwigo
Piwigo is just more than a regular online cloud storage service. Piwigo comes with some features that many other alternatives in the list do not offer. First of all, Piwigo is an open-source photo management solution that lets you upload photos online and store them.
It doesn’t matter if you are looking it for your personal use or business needs, Piwigo got you covered. Some features like the ability to upload photos directly from apps like Lightroom, using FTP protocol, etc make it unique.
Furthermore, Piwigo also comes with some features like the ability to use custom themes and plugins to customize your photo collection, slideshow options, multiple user support, API support, and a lot more.
Highlighted Features:
- Open Source service
- Support for Themes and Plugins
- API Support
- Add multiple users
10. 500px
Next comes 500px. In a nutshell, 500px is not a direct Google Photos Alternative but if you are a professional photographer or some who works photos then you should consider using 500px. In fact, using this service you can earn money as well.
500px comes with an option where you can license your image for a fee and keep generating some revenue. If you are purely looking for a personal photo cloud storage service then 500px is not for you as the photos uploaded on the platform are publically accessible.
It comes with about 10GB of free storage space that you can use to upload your photos. You can share your photos and earn money with 500px. There are tons of other features like joining groups, quests, etc as well.
Highlighted Features:
- Earn money by licensing photos
- Join groups
- Free 10GB storage
- Well suited for photographers
If you try to upload photos or images in full resolution without compressing, the storage might get full fast. So, if you are limited on storage then it is always better that you compress images without losing quality first and then uploading them to the cloud storage site. This way, you will be able to save valuable space.
Free Google Photos Alternatives to use in [year]
These are some free as well as paid Google Photos alternatives that you can start using right now. When it comes to free options, we only have a very limited number of choices. Dropbox, OneDrive, Flickr, etc comes with free options that you can use. It is better that you create accounts on multiple cloud photo storage sites so that you can maximize the space that you get to store them.
