If you are a photographer or just someone who enjoys snapping vacation photos, you may find it difficult to store all your photos at home. Printed copies take up way too much physical space and digital copies take up too much memory on your hard drive. Thankfully, there is online photo storage available in an abundance of websites that allow you to save your photos virtually.
FAQ | Online Photo Storage
What Is It?
Online photo storage is a virtual way to save all your digital photo files. They are safely stored in the “cloud” and provide you the freedom to continue capturing as many photos as you want.
What Does Online Photo Storage Do?
Online photo storage gives you a place to put your photos when you have no more room on your computer. These sites online offer user-friendly ways to upload your photos for safekeeping, while also allowing you to share, send, and sell photos to friends, family and clients.
How Does Online Photo Storage Work?
Each website is unique and will have its own set of rules, which may or may not include a monthly fee. Generally, you can upload your photos to the website, create albums and safely keep your digital images there for both personal and professional use.
Where Can I Get Online Photo Storage?
The online photo storage sites we’ve listed here can most often be found online and we’ve provided links to all in their individual summaries below. Some, however, are also available in app form.
How We Reviewed
To make sure we got an accurate “picture” (get it?) of the best online photo storage websites, we spent a significant amount of time compiling a list of websites we felt comfortable recommending to you.
Once we had this list, we then detailed each site’s features, pros, cons, price and capacity for storage in order to determine how beneficial it would be compared to others on the list. We then reviewed the entire list and came up with a final verdict on what we feel is the best online photo storage website.
Overall Price Range of Online Photo Storage
The price range of these storage websites will vary greatly depending on which one you choose, what you need it to do with your photos and how much space you’ll take up with your files. Many of these sites offer free storage, which generally will come with limited benefits. The more you pay (typically no more than about $30 a month) the more exclusive the benefits are that you’ll receive.
What We Reviewed
- iDrive
- Flickr
- SugarSync
- SpiderOak ONE
- Dropbox
- Microsoft OneDrive
- CertainSafe Digital Safety Deposit Box
- Google Drive
- Apple iCloud Photo Library
- box
- Amazon Prime Photos
- Photobucket
- ThisLife
- SmugMug
- Zenfolio
iDrive
FEATURES
iDrive is a convenient way to save your photos. It can offer you tons of storage and is sure to keep your materials backed up. This means you will never have to worry about your photos getting lost, damaged or corrupted.
Pros
Cons
Price
To receive the full 3 TB of storage, it will cost you about $14 for the first year and then about $70 for every year after that.
Where to Sign Up
Capacity
iDrive can provide you with up to 3 TB of storage.
Flickr
FEATURES
Flickr is a well-trusted photo storage website that can help you free up space in your life. Its free plan offers a tremendous 1TB of storage space, which is more than enough for any average shutterbug.
Pros
Cons
Price
You can get 1TB of storage for free, but if you want to double that, it will cost you about $500 a year. Additionally, you can choose to remove the ads on Flickr’s site by paying about $6 a month.
Where to Sign Up
Capacity
Flickr can hold up to 3TB of your photos online.
SugarSync
FEATURES
For something a little more professional, check out SugarSync. This website is designed for ease of use. It has great accessibility and allows you to share photos anytime, anywhere.
Pros
Cons
Price
The price of a SugarSync membership can vary with its custom membership packages. Of their main plans, individuals can choose to purchase 100GB of space for about $7.50 a month, 250GB for about $10 a month, 500GB for about $19 a month or 1000GB for about $55 a month.
Where to Sign Up
Capacity
You can choose to customize your plan, which will broaden the range of space SugarSync will be able to hold for you. On their standard plans, the highest capacity of storage is 1000GB.
SpiderOak ONE
FEATURES
SpiderOak ONE is a highly protected storage website that allows you to keep any and all personal data safe. You can choose just how much storage you need with its variety of plans. And, you are assured that everything you save is backed up.
Pros
Cons
Price
SpiderOak ONE offers multiple plans depending on what you need. You can get a 150GB plan for about $5 a month, a 400GB plan for about $9 a month, a 2TB plan for about $12 a month or a 5TB plan for about $25 per month.
Where to Sign Up
Capacity
SpiderOak ONE has the capacity to store up to 5TB of data per customer.
Dropbox
FEATURES
Dropbox is a well-known storage website for all types of files. This is often the go-to website for schools, businesses and professionals, since it is highly shareable. It has a smooth interface and is easy to use.
Pros
Cons
Price
Dropbox has a variety of plans to suit however much space you need. You can get a plan to store 100GB for about $10 a month, 200GB for about $20 a month or 500GB for about $50 a month.
Where to Buy
Capacity
Dropbox offers you up to 10GB of free storage and you can purchase a plan to store up to 500GB.
Microsoft OneDrive
FEATURES
Microsoft OneDrive is most known for its innovative office apps. Here, you can store, edit and update files, photos and other personal data. It is free to download, simple to use and a great way to free up room on your personal devices.
Pros
Cons
Price
Microsoft OneDrive offers different plans for different amounts. You can get 50GB for about $2 a month or 1TB for about $10 a month.
Where to Sign Up
Capacity
Microsoft OneDrive can offer up to 1TB of storage space.
CertainSafe Digital Safety Deposit Box
FEATURES
Much like the name suggests, CertainSafe ensures the safety of all of your files. It makes sure everything you upload is safe, backed up and protected from any internal or external threat.
Pros
Cons
Price
CertainSafe offers a custom setting that will allow you to get the right amount of storage to suit your needs. Its standard pricing is 100GB for about $12 a month.
Where to Sign Up
Capacity
CertainSafe offers custom plans, meaning there is potentially unlimited storage for users willing to pay.
Google Drive
FEATURES
Google Drive is a unique website that has many subcategories within it. Part of that is Google Photos, which is where you can easily upload, share and edit all of your photos.
Pros
Cons
Price
If you are only looking to store photos, you will not have to pay anything. For extra storage for videos, 100GB will cost about $2 a month and 1TB will cost about $10 a month.
Where to Buy
Capacity
Google Photos, a part of Google Drive, provides unlimited storage space for photos.
Apple iCloud Photo Library
FEATURES
The Apple iCloud Photo Library is one of the most iconic storage websites to date. The iCloud gives Apple users instant access to storage on any of their devices. Most of the work is done for you, which means you can spend more time taking pictures rather than storing them.
Pros
Cons
Price
The Apple iCloud Photo Library starts off its paid plans at about $1 a month for 50GB of storage.
Where to Sign Up
Capacity
Apple iCloud Photo Library offers plans up to 2TB in storage.
box
FEATURES
box is a powerful storage website that allows users to securely place all of their data in the cloud. Anyone in your organization can then access these files from anywhere in the world with a simple click of a button.
Pros
Cons
Price
The price of box can vary depending on what you need out of it and how many team members you have that need to have access. These prices can range from about $5-$25 per user per month.
Where to Sign Up
Capacity
box can offer its users unlimited storage space.
Amazon Prime Photos
FEATURES
If you are already a fan of Amazon, you will love Amazon Prime Photos. This storage website allows you to store an unlimited number of photos on the same site that you can purchase a new camera on. It is convenient, easy to navigate and potentially already paid for if you are a Prime member.
Pros
Cons
Price
The price for this storage website will vary depending on what you need. For unlimited storage of photos, the Amazon Prime Photos will cost $12 a month. If you want access to other Prime features, such as free shipping on thousands of products, simply pay the yearly membership fee and Prime Photos will be included.
Where to Sign Up
Capacity
Amazon Prime Photos offers unlimited photo storage and 5GB of video storage.
Photobucket
FEATURES
Photobucket has been around for quite a while and is a reliable place to store your photos. It allows you to store a wide selection of file formats for free both online and on Photobucket’s mobile app. If you only need a little of space and do not want to pay for another service, this is a great choice.
Pros
Cons
Price
If you would like to bump up your plan to get 20GB of storage, it will cost you about $3 a month.
Where to Sign Up
Capacity
Photobucket allows you to have 2GB of storage plus 8GB of storage with the mobile app. The file size cannot be larger than 5MB.
ThisLife
FEATURES
For those who are just looking for a simple place to store their photos online, try out ThisLife. This online photo storage website is easy to use and comes with unlimited storage, all for free.
Pros
Cons
Price
If you are strictly looking for online photo storage, you will not have to pay anything for ThisLife. It only charges for video plans, which range from $20-$140 a year.
Where to Sign Up
Capacity
ThisLife offers unlimited photo storage and the potential for unlimited video storage.
SmugMug
FEATURES
If you are looking for a great place to kickstart your photo career, then check out SmugMug. It has all the tools you’ll need to take your photos and put them in the hands of your clients. The site itself is extremely secure and great for those with tons of photos they want to share with the world.
Pros
Cons
Price
There are four different plans available, all with their own unique benefits. The basic plan is about $4 a month, the power plan is $6 a month, the portfolio plan is $15 a month, and the business plan is $30. All are billed on an annual basis.
Where to Sign Up
Capacity
SmugMug offers unlimited storage.
Zenfolio
FEATURES
Zenfolio is a storage website as well as a place to create your own professional website. It offers tons of templates, layout materials and, of course, unlimited storage. It is easy to use and reasonably priced.
Pros
Cons
Price
There are three different price ranges depending on what you need. The starter plan is roughly $5 a month, the pro plan is $20 a month and the advanced is $30 a month — all billed annually.
Where to Sign Up
Capacity
The overall storage capacity of this website is unlimited.
The Verdict
Overall, there are lots of great options on this list for online photo storage sites.
After reviewing all this data, our pick for the best online photo storage website is Google Drive. Its Google Photos section is simple to use and offers a ton of free storage space. You can also edit share, and send photos to anyone you would like at any time.
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