The netizens were in for a shock a few days ago after Google announced its decision to end the storage service of "high quality" photos for free. After letting the users' store videos and pictures without much restrictions for five years, the company has now decided to charge for storage from users.
Google's Announcement
Google stated that 28 billion new photos and videos are currently being uploaded to Google Photos every week and currently there are more than four trillion pictures stored in it. In a blog, the company said, "Starting June 1, 2021, any new photos and videos you upload will count toward the free 15 GB of storage that comes with every Google Account or the additional storage you've purchased as a Google One member. Your Google Account storage is shared across Drive, Gmail, and Photos."
Netizens Worried
However, this came as a worrying sign for those netizens who have tons of pictures and videos stored in Google Photos. Although the content uploaded before June 2021 will not be counted to the users' 15 GB limit, yet people are not happy with the change in the policy.
Flickr CEO's Response
Don MacAskill, chief executive of photo-sharing site Flickr and its owner Smug Mug, slammed the latest development on Twitter and wrote, "For five years, we've known this would happen eventually... Losing billions of dollars to scoop up market share, stifle the competition, then eventually charging money for it? Monopolistic behaviour."
Storing pictures might be an issue in the future considering people's craze around taking high-quality pictures from mobile cameras. Many are now finding cloud storage to be cost-effective and a good option for numerous reasons.
As the free storage to keep "high-quality" photos are going to end soon, we are looking at the options that include Google One.
Here, we are bringing you some alternatives or other options to store your photos online.
Google One
Google One is considered to be the best choice to store your content online. People can keep 100 GB of content for $2 per month or $20 per year. If people want to store more, the prices will get cheaper. One has to pay $3 per month or $30 for a year to store 200 GB per year. If you opt for the 2 TB (2000 GB) plan, the cost will be $10 per month or $100 per year.
Dropbox
Dropbox is a good option though the users will have to shell out little more than Google One. It has multiple options and its popular plan is $119.88 per year and if users opt for monthly billing the charges will be US$11.99 for 2 TB. The company has various plans and people can choose as per their requirements.
Icloud
If you are using an Apple product, the easiest choice to keep your content online will be iCloud. Like Google One, users can store not just their photos, but documents, messages, and almost everything from their iPhones. They will automatically get 5 GB storage for free after signing up. If people need more, they have to choose a premium plan.
Amazon Photos:
People with Amazon Prime membership have the advantage of storing unlimited photos for free, but they have to pay to store their videos although it gives 5 GB free. It charges $19.99 per year under 100 GB storage plan.
Flickr/SmugMug
Flickr allows users to keep about 1000 photos and videos for free. However, it charges Rs $59.99 yearly for providing unlimited storage.
One Drive
Mircosoft's One Drive gives limited options where users have to pay $69.99 for 1 TB per year and $99.99 per year for 6 TB.
Note: These are the rates in the US and price might vary from country to country.
