Farewell to free storage: Google Photos will soon cost money

In June 2021, Google Photos will start charging users.

Just a few years ago, free cloud storage was the norm for many major companies such as Microsoft. But that is now coming to an end. Google Photos is following other major storage services such as Microsoft 365 or Apple iCloud and will cost money from June 2021.

Photos or videos that are already in the Google account will not be counted. In addition, each Google account receives an extra 15 GB of storage. This means the change will not come as too much of a surprise to users.

What is changing specifically

From June 1, 2021, each Google account will receive 15 GB of free storage. All photos and videos that are already in the Google account will not count toward the 15 GB and will remain free.

All new photos, videos, or other Google products such as Docs that exceed the 15 GB on the Google account will then be subject to a fee. Google One members who have already manually added additional storage are not included in the free 15 GB.

Why Google is taking this step

Over 4 million photos are stored in Google Photos. Every week, 28 million new photos and videos are added. Why has Google decided to take this step now? Google announced this product update on November 11 on its product blog.

Google justifies the decision by saying that the product should continue to meet its standards. Others, however, justify the decision by saying that Google now wants to sell more Google One subscriptions. This could allow Google to retain more members for the long term across its products.

What prices users can now expect

Customers can now choose from various tiered pricing options. Each Google account automatically receives 15 GB of storage. In addition, users can opt for a Google One subscription. These Google One subscriptions vary depending on the amount of storage required. Users have three options: 100 GB (€1.99/month), 200 GB (€2.99/month), or 2 TB (€9.99/month).

Google also points out in its blog post that around 80% of all users can continue to use Google Photos for another 3 years without any issues with the free 15 GB of storage, without exceeding the 15 GB limit. As soon as storage is running low, users will be notified via the app and email.

Here you can get a personalised assessment of your own Google storage and find out how long you can continue to use it for free.

From Amazon to Microsoft

When comparing the offerings of major technology companies such as Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Dropbox, etc., it quickly becomes clear that all major companies are bundling extensively—whether it is Office products, Skype and storage as with Microsoft, or TV, music and storage with Apple.

These various product bundles make it increasingly difficult for users to decide which product is best suited to them and also offers good value for money.

What you should consider when choosing a storage solution

The “Family” packages are often worthwhile if there are multiple users. It is important to be clear about how much storage is actually needed. Whether you are looking for a secure provider as a private user or as a business, it is worth comparing the different providers thoroughly.

If, as a business, protecting your data is important to you and you also want to use a wide range of features including online office, you should take a look around our website.

leitzcloud not only stands for GDPR-compliant cloud solutions, but also secures your data with end-to-end encryption, provides an office editing program for you and all your users, and includes all key corporate governance features for effective internal and external collaboration.

For more information, visit our Home Office page and read more about the various features.