iCloud Storage vs Google Photos: A Comprehensive Comparison

iCloud Storage and Google Photos are two popular cloud storage services that have been vying for attention in the digital world.

iCloud Storage offers 5GB of free storage, which is a decent starting point, but it's worth noting that Google Photos gives users unlimited storage for photos and videos, with some limitations on file size.

If you're an iPhone user, you might find iCloud Storage to be a more seamless experience, as it integrates well with your device. However, Google Photos has also made strides in this area, offering a user-friendly interface and robust features.

Ultimately, the choice between iCloud Storage and Google Photos depends on your specific needs and preferences.

Google Photos offers a generous 15GB of free storage for account holders, shared across all Google services, including Drive. This is a more generous offer than iCloud's 5GB free tier.

If you hit the limit, you'll need to shell out for additional space, but Google doesn't sell extra storage capacity on a standalone basis. Instead, you'll need to take out a Google One subscription to increase your storage space across all of Google's products and services.

The cheapest upgrade nets you 100GB of storage for $1.99/month, while the next level offers 200GB for $2.99/month. Apple's iCloud, on the other hand, offers 50GB of extra space for $0.99/month, which is a more affordable option if you only need a small amount of storage.

If you want unlimited full resolution back up and sync with Google Photos, a paid Google Membership is required, with prices ranging from $1.99/month for 100GB to $299/month for 30TB.

Here's a comparison of the pricing plans for Google Photos and iCloud:

As you can see, the prices are similar, but Google Photos offers a more generous free tier, while iCloud's pricing is more affordable for small storage needs.

Google Photos offers unlimited free storage for compressed photos and videos, but there's a resolution limit of 16Mp and videos can't be over 1080p HD.

If you want to upload full-quality originals, you'll need to use Google Drive, which comes with 15GB of free storage.

Apple's iCloud Photo Library, on the other hand, offers 5GB of free storage, but you'll need to pay for more space.

You'll need to cough up 79p per month for 20GB, which might not be enough if you have a lot of videos or take a lot of snaps.

For 200GB, it's £2.99 per month, which adds up to £36 per year.

Google Photos is a more cost-effective option if you're looking for a lot of storage space.

Google Photos is a popular choice for storing and sharing your photos. You can share folders and albums with friends and family, which is particularly useful if they live on the other side of the globe.

In Google Photos, you can share photos with non-users by allowing them to view the photos in their web browser via a public link.

You can share up to 5,000 images within a Shared Album.

Google Photos is available on both iOS and Android, making it a great option for smartphone and tablet users.

You can access Google Photos on your computer by going to photos.google.com, and your photos will automatically sync across all platforms.

One thing to note is that you don't have to worry about running out of space, unlike some other services.

Google Photos is compatible with a wide range of devices, making it a convenient option for those with multiple devices.

Google Photos is a powerful tool for organizing and sharing your photos. It's particularly good at detecting human faces, objects, and activities in your images.

Google Photos uses AI smarts to identify faces, places, and objects, making it easy to track down specific snaps. Type a search term into Google Photos, such as 'car', and you'll find that it's spookily good at detecting the contents of your collection.

Google Photos allows you to create direct links to images and collaborative albums, as well as sharing with email contacts. You can also send snaps from your Google Photos library straight to social media.

Google Photos gives you the option to order physical prints and photo gifts in certain locations. Whether you choose to use this will depend on the pricing and product range available, compared to other third-party options.

Google Photos allows you to share folders and albums with friends and family, particularly useful if they live on the other side of the globe.

Google Photos and iCloud both offer integrated solutions for organizing your images.

Both services allow you to filter photos based on date, location, and the subjects detected in an image.

Google Photos features a 'favorites' functionality for highlighting any individual snap, and you can easily sort sets of images into custom albums.

iCloud also allows you to sort images into custom albums, but its organizational ability varies depending on how you access your library.

Google Photos is scarily good at tying together timings, location data, and the subject of a photo to figure out the thread or topic that connects certain images.

iCloud predominantly presents grouping as 'Memories', to be enjoyed as a kind of slideshow.

Google Photos allows you to filter photos by theme or contents, while iCloud only arranges photos based on date and time.

Google Photos gives users a smarter option to arrange their photos, with features like theme and contents filtering.

Google Photos organizes your photos by day, and pinch to zoom out to see the photos you took in a particular month.

Google Photos is more intelligent than Apple's Photos app, detecting what your photos are of and leading to much better search capabilities.

Google Photos is a clear winner in terms of compatibility, offering automatic backup and sync across different devices, whereas iCloud's web interface is limited.

For those invested in Apple's ecosystem, iCloud is the obvious choice, offering seamless integration with Apple devices and functionality that's hard to match.

However, if you're not all-in with Apple, Google Photos is the way to go, especially if you use a Windows PC or other non-Apple hardware.

Google Photos offers a free and unlimited cloud storage solution, which is a major advantage over iCloud's paid subscription model.

While iCloud's photo editing tools are a nice touch, the £2.99 price tag and lack of an Android app hold it back.

Ultimately, Google Photos' contextual search functionality and automatic Creations make it a more user-friendly and feature-rich option.

Sharing is a crucial feature when it comes to cloud storage, and both iCloud and Google Photos offer this option.

You can share photos with family and friends by creating links to images and sharing them. Google Photos allows sharing of both photos and albums, while iCloud only supports sharing links for a single photo.

Google Photos offers a great sharing option compared to iCloud, but if you're an iOS or Mac user, we recommend sharing photos via Apple Photos App. This app allows users to share multiple photos with family and friends via different apps.

Apple Photos allows you to share folders simply by creating a shared folder and entering the email address of the person or people you want to share it with. You can share up to 5,000 images within a Shared Album in Apple Photos.

Google Photos also allows sharing, and those photos can be viewed in the Photos app or via the web if the recipient isn't a Google Photos user.

If you're deeply invested in the Apple ecosystem, iCloud Storage is a no-brainer for your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. It seamlessly integrates with these devices, making it easy to access and share your files.

iCloud Storage also offers a 5GB free storage plan, which is a decent starting point for casual users. This plan is a great option for those who only need to store a few hundred photos and documents.

For Android users, Google Photos is the way to go. Its advanced AI technology allows for automatic organization and tagging of your photos, making it a breeze to find what you need.

If you're all-in on the Apple ecosystem, iCloud Photos is a great option for iPhones. It lets you upload thousands of photos and videos at full resolution securely to iCloud Photos.

You can access your photo library from any supported device, so if you lose your iPhone, your entire photo library doesn't have to face the same fate.

Photo and video edits are synced to each device, so your photo library appears the same wherever it's accessed. This means if you create digital photo albums or delete pictures from your library on one device, these changes are made everywhere.

You can even free up local storage on your smartphone, tablet, or computer using iCloud Photos. This is a major perk, especially if you're running low on space.

A feature called Optimize Storage lets you replace full resolution photos and videos from your device with preview versions that won't fill up your phone or computer.

If you're an Android user, you'll love Google Photos. It's a comparable photo library service that works seamlessly with the built-in Photos app on your phone.

Google Photos also has a more robust web app than iCloud Photos, making it easier to access and manage your photos from your desktop computer.

One of the standout features of Google Photos is its advanced search function, which lets you find photos based on keywords. This is especially useful if you have a huge collection of photos and need to quickly locate a specific one.

Google Photos also automatically organizes your photos into collections, making it easy to find and view your favorite memories. And if you're running low on storage space, Google Photos has a more aggressive space-saving feature than iCloud Photos, which will help free up space on your phone.

Sharing photos with family and friends is a breeze with Google Photos, especially if everyone uses the service. You can create special albums that update in real-time for everyone with access, making it easy to share your photos with loved ones.

In Google Photos, you can access your entire library, but on the desktop, you'll be relying on the web interface.

Google Photos provides a native app with great editing solutions on the iPad and iPhone. However, the lack of a desktop app is a significant drawback.

You can share your entire library with someone else in Google Photos, but this feature is limited to Google account to Google account sharing.

Google Photos offers a flexible sharing option, allowing you to share photos of only certain people or photos from a specific date forward.

Here's a comparison of Google Photos pricing with Apple's iCloud Photos:

Google Photos has a significant advantage over iCloud Photos in terms of family sharing, making it easier to manage and share your photos with loved ones.