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The best Google Photos alternatives

Caleb Clark
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With Google officially killing its free plan for Google Photos, many people are looking for alternatives to store their favorite memories. If you are baked into Google’s services, Google One is probably a decent bet for you. It allows you to share storage between Drive, Gmail, and your Photos.

However, if you’re looking to break away from Google for photo storage, there are plenty of great options available. They vary in features and price, so we’ve taken the time to compile the best Google Photos alternatives to save you some time.

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There are five services here, as well as a bonus option you can do yourself at home. For more on cloud storage, be sure to check out our comparison of Google Drive and Dropbox.

Best overall: Amazon Photos

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The surprise victor here comes with Amazon Photos. Not only does Amazon Photos have an app that automatically syncs on all major operating systems, but the service is free with a Prime membership. That is unlimited photo storage for no additional cost if you’re a Prime user already — though videos over 5GB in total will cost extra.

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If you don’t have Prime, you get 5GB for free right out of the gate, and it’s $1.99/month for 100GB and $6.99/month for 1TB. Amazon Photos also allows you to order prints of your photos so that you can compile your favorite images for family pictures or photo albums.

All in all, it’s the best alternative overall to Google Photos, thanks to its ease of use and decent pricing, especially if you’re a Prime user already.

Best for iPhone users: iCloud

iCloud Contacts Web App
Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you’re an iPhone user, you’re probably already familiar with iCloud. You get 5GB of storage space for free, and it works automatically on your Apple devices with no work on your end. For $0.99/month you can bump that up to 50GB, $2.99/month for 200GB, or $9.99/month for 2TB. That’s a great option for families who take a lot of photos.

Alternatively, you can get a collective 200GB of iCloud storage for your family if you pay for Apple One. This all-inclusive service includes an Apple Music family plan, Apple TV+, and Apple Arcade. That iCloud storage is still shared with all your other family members and services, but Apple offers enough flexibility in the plans to accommodate most people.

If you’re looking for something that works, iCloud is one of Apple users’ best solutions.

Best integration: Dropbox

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Dropbox has continually had some of the best third-party integration of any cloud service, which is still the case even with so much competition in the market. The Dropbox app will automatically sync your smartphone’s photos to the cloud, making it a great automated alternative to Google Photos. The Dropbox app also has its own Photos tab to look through all your images without shuffling through other file types.

Dropbox isn’t the most flexible with its pricing, though. It only has two paid options for non-business users. The Personal plan offers 2TB for $9.99/month if billed annually, and its family plan provides a shared 2TB for up to six users for $16.99/month. It has some more favorable offerings for businesses, but the Personal plan is probably the best bang for the buck for most people.

If you are looking for seamless integration with a third-party service, Dropbox is one of your best options.

Best for photographers: Flickr

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Flickr has recently limited its free offering down to 1,000 photos, but its Pro option does have some compelling features and an appealing price plan.

Flickr is primarily for professional photographers who want to share their work, but it also works as a great storage solution. For $5/month (if billed annually), users get unlimited storage and automatic backups on the desktop. Since Flickr is all about sharing photos, it’s also easy to invite friends and family to see and organize photos. Users can also browse the site without ads and get exclusive discounts with Flickr’s partners.

If you are a professional photographer or want to share your photos easily, Flickr Pro is a great and affordable option.

Best features: OneDrive

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If you’re going to pay for cloud storage, you might as well get the most you can out of it. If you’ve been relying on free services like Google Docs, it may be time to switch to Microsoft Office. For a comparable price to the competition, users can get 1TB of OneDrive storage along with Microsoft Office — which is more robust than Google Docs and has a significantly better mobile experience (especially on iOS).

The OneDrive app is available on Android and iOS devices and automatically syncs photos and screenshots, plus it will automatically backup desktops if you so choose.

You can get OneDrive and all it includes for $6.99/month or $70 a year.

Build your own

If you hate the idea of paying every year for cloud storage, you could always build your own storage solution. This isn’t nearly as complicated as you think, and the price and complexity vary based on how much money and time you want to sync into it.

If you’re looking to back up your photos and don’t care about them being in the cloud, you can get an external 1TB hard drive for pretty cheap these days. Even a 1TB solid-state drive is decently affordable if you hunt for a bargain.

If you want to make a cloud solution, though, that’s where things get a bit more complicated. Luckily, there are a lot of excellent guides out there to help you along the way.

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Caleb Clark
Caleb Clark
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Caleb Clark is a full-time writer that primarily covers consumer tech and gaming. He also writes frequently on Medium about…
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