I’ve gone through way too many photo storage setups over the years because I shoot a lot on my phone and also carry a mirrorless camera when I travel. At some point you realize photos pile up fast and losing them would be painful, so where you store them starts to matter more than people expect.
Here’s what I learned trying different options.
What actually matters when storing photos in the cloud
Photos aren’t like documents. You usually have thousands of them, they take up a lot of space, and you probably want automatic backup from your phone so you don’t have to think about it.
Things I learned to check:
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Does it back up automatically from your phone?
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Does it keep original quality or shrink files?
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How easy is it to browse by date or albums?
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How expensive does it get once you fill the free space?
Some services quietly reduce file size unless you pay for full quality. Most casual users won’t notice, but if you care about originals or shoot RAW it matters.
Google Photos
Google Photos where I ended up with my everyday phone photos for a long time.
Automatic backup works well and the search is honestly the thing that keeps me there. You can type stuff like mountains, birthday, car, or a year and it usually finds what you mean. That’s something most other services still don’t match.
The downside is storage. Since 2021 everything counts toward the 15 GB Google limit (shared with Gmail and Drive). Mine filled faster than expected because of videos.
After that you’re paying for Google One. Not crazy expensive, but something to be aware of.
Also it does reduce file size if you pick the space-saving option. Looks fine to my eyes, but for camera originals I still keep separate backups.
iCloud Photos
If you use an iPhone, iCloud Photos is the easiest path. You turn it on and it just keeps everything backed up. My partner uses this and never thinks about storage beyond upgrading the plan.
Good parts:
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Full quality originals
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Works perfectly across iPhone, iPad, Mac
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No setup drama
Bad parts:
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5 GB free is basically nothing
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Windows support exists but feels awkward
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Android basically not part of the picture
If you’re fully in the Apple world it makes sense. If you’re mixed devices it gets annoying fast.
Amazon Photos
Amazon Photos surprised me when I found out about it.
If you already pay for Prime you get unlimited full-resolution photo storage. A lot of people don’t realize they already have this.
Videos are limited (5 GB unless you pay more), but for photos it’s a great deal if you’re already paying for Prime anyway.
Things I noticed:
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Keeps originals, no shrinking
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Phone backup works fine
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Interface is decent
The weak side is the search and organization isn’t as clever as Google Photos. But as a backup location it’s hard to complain when it’s basically included already.
Dropbox
Not really built for photos, but I used Dropbox for a while because I already had an account.
Camera Upload works fine and keeps originals. The problem is space. The free 2 GB disappears instantly with photos.
Paid plans are fine but cost more compared to other storage options if photos are your main use.
I’d only pick Dropbox for photos if you’re already using it for everything else and want everything together.
OneDrive
Similar story to Dropbox.
If you already pay for Microsoft 365 you probably have 1 TB sitting there, which is a lot of photo space. I know a few people who just use it because it’s already included.
Phone backup works fine. The weak part is browsing. It feels more like browsing folders than browsing a photo library.
Good if you already have it. Probably not my first choice if starting from zero.
The problem with photos ending up in multiple places
Realistically what happened to me (and most people I know) is that photos ended up scattered everywhere.
- Some in Google Photos from Android days.
- Some in iCloud from an old iPhone.
- Some in Dropbox from old projects.
- Some backups on OneDrive.
Getting everything into one place is a pain. And once you’re using multiple services, opening different apps just to check where something is gets old.
What helped me manage the mess was CloudMounter. I didn’t start using it for photos specifically, more because I was tired of juggling different storage accounts.
It basically mounts cloud storage like drives on your computer. So Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, pCloud and others just show up like folders in Finder or File Explorer.
What helped me with photos:
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I can browse different photo storage accounts in one place
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I can drag photos between services if I want to reorganize
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I don’t have to open five different apps
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It doesn’t pull entire libraries onto my laptop just to browse them
That last part matters because photo libraries get huge. I just connect, look around, and only download something if I open it.
For me it removed a lot of the annoyance of having photos spread across different accounts.
And if your photos end up across multiple services (which happens to most of us eventually), something like CloudMounter makes it much easier to keep track of everything from one place.