New Features for Google Photos: Fees to be Applied

Google made a big change this month – on Google Photos, to be exact. Since June, users can no longer simply upload pictures via their smartphones anymore. Before, this was possible. So, where should you put your pics? We will show you a few alternatives below.

Unlimited storage in the Google Cloud is a thing of the past – at least free storage. The tech giant consolidated its cloud services to include Google Drive, Google Mail, and Google Photos. What this means exactly: 15GB of free storage for everything all together. With this, Google set a clear storage limit for the first time. There is one exception, however: owners of Pixel smartphones can use their services as before for free and without a limit. 

For those who do not want to give up Google Photos, there are two paid options to choose from to suit every need: 100GB for $1.99 / month or up to 30TB for $149.99 / month.

However, it is worth taking a look at other providers: Amazon (Amazon Photos), Flickr, Dropbox, Microsoft (OneDrive), Shutterfly, and Snapfish all offer similar services. 

Amazon Prime customers have something extra to be happy about – those with a Prime account automatically have access to Amazon Photos for free. There is no upload limit for pictures, but videos are limited to 5GB for free.

Flickr is especially popular with photographers – 1,000 photos and videos can be uploaded for free. In-app ads will then be activated. Those who do not want this can opt out and pay $6.99 per month, which also gives them unlimited storage as well as no ads. 

Dropbox provides free storage of all standard document types for up to 2GB and allows for easy document sharing. Additional plans, catering to individuals or businesses, start at $9.99 per month for individuals. Businesses can get unlimited storage, for example, for $15 per user per month. 

Microsoft with its OneDrive provides services similar to Amazon Prime. Customers who have an Office 365 license can use OneDrive without additional costs. For a single license, 1TB of storage is included, and for a family license a generous 6TB, where each person can use up to 1TB each. There are no options for editing available, however. 

Shutterfly and Snapfish both offer free unlimited storage for users. While Shutterfly’s photo storage is free for users, video storage requires a paid plan, starting at 60GB for $19.99 per year. Snapfish’s unlimited free photo storage is available to customers who are “active participants”, meaning those who have ordered a product in the past 365 days. Both focus on storage for photo projects and products and make it easy to order photo products from your uploaded gallery.