Have you ever experienced losing your device? What’s one thing that crossed your mind
when that happened?“ My photos! I can’t get them back! So many memories lost!?”
right? That was a major problem back in the day. But luckily for us, cloud photo storage
services have provided a solution to this problem.
Now, the big question is, which cloud photo storage service is THE best? Welcome to The
Cyber Lab, and today we will be reviewing the five best cloud photo storage services
available out there.
Before we start, we would like to know your experiences of losing photos and other important
data, so don’t forget to share your stories in the comments section down below. We will
reply to your comment - and that’s a promise!
Now, let’s begin. We will cover our top picks in descending
order. So stick with us till the end to see which one is the best of them all.
We have ranked these services keeping five key factors in mind. And these are Features,
Security, Ease of Use, Pricing, and Support. By the end of the video, you’d know which
service is THE best and WHY. Oh, and one more thing: In the description
box below this video, you’ll find official links to all of the cloud storage services
we have covered in this video. These links have special discounts already applied to
them, so you’ll end up saving a lot of money, and who doesn’t wanna do that.
Let’s get underway.
Ranked sixth on our list is Creative Cloud.
Most people, especially photographers, are already familiar with Adobe's range of tools
for photo manipulation, such as Photoshop, Elements, and Lightroom. Not many know of
the company's Creative Cloud storage service.
Creative Cloud has elegant image galleries where users can explore or share their work
with other people, allowing for a very pleasant photo-managing experience. Creative Cloud
also comes with Group Libraries, which allow collaborators to add images to shared folders.
Of course, this doesn't prevent you from making individual folders private, so we think Group
Libraries is a very good inclusion.
It's also worth noting that Creative Cloud integrates nicely with various Adobe platforms,
including Photoshop, Elements, and Lightroom. This means you can always edit your images
easily without needing to go out of the photo-storing platform.
Creative Cloud also works with RAW images, but that's probably not surprising to anyone
considering that Adobe has a huge reputation for photo editing. As such, Creative Cloud
is a perfect photo-storing platform for photographers who don't want any drop in quality when storing
their pictures.
In terms of compatibility, there are compatible clients for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS,
so you can easily upload your photos regardless of the device you are using.
There are three different storage plans for intending customers to choose from. Two plans
offer a cloud storage space of 1TB, while the third one offers a whopping 20GB of cloud
space to save your pictures. The plans cost $9.99 per month or $19.99 per month. The developers
know that the 20GB-plan is probably too much for just storing pictures, so they've included
Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop as incentives.
Is Creative Cloud perfect? No, it does comes with a few drawbacks. For instance, it has
long loading times for large files and it’s less intuitive than many cloud platforms.
It’s quite costly as well, which can discourage potential customers.
We have added a link to the Adobe Creative Cloud plan in the description down below,
so don’t forget to check it out.
The fifth position on our list goes to Google Photos.
Google Photos is another excellent platform to both organize and edit your photos without
any stress whatsoever. While the sync and backup function should be activated by default
as soon as you download the application, you can manually activate it in your settings.
Either way, Google Photos allows you to conveniently manage your cloud photos library from your
desktop or phone.
Now and again, Google Photos will ask you if you would like to free up some phone space
by backing up your images to your cloud account. It's also worth adding that your Google account
is also accessible via Gmail, which is nothing short of remarkable, especially when you consider
the convenience that comes with it.
Furthermore, Google Photos automatically uploads your pictures, where they're arranged, tagged,
and analyzed by the company's AI-driven software. While some users aren't comfortable with this
software as they consider it invasive, Google promises that the data stays private and isn't
used for marketing or advertising purposes.
In addition, Google Photos also features a detailed photo editor that improves your pictures
and suggests edits using AI technology. The AI technology also identifies people and utilizes
geo-tagging for places, helping you sort through your photos.
Also, these systems look for objects in your images, allowing you to use relevant words
to find your images. For instance, you can search for a word like "fireworks," and relevant
photos will be displayed without needing to do additional work to include tags.
This may be a little unsettling for privacy-conscious individuals, as nobody can tell for sure what
Google does with all the information in your images. And users have no control whatsoever
over how the AI technology scans and analyzes their photos. However, you can control who
gets to see your photos, and by default, all images are private.
Google Photos also comes with incredible sharing features that allow you to create shared galleries
and albums and let multiple users add contributions to an album. This is perfect for events or
parties where everybody takes pictures on their different devices – all the photos
taken can be easily shared among guests.
While Google Photos offers a free cloud storage space of 15GB, we understand that it may be
too small for some people, especially professional photographers. If you need more space, you
could choose from Google's range of paid plans, including a 100GB-plan, a 200-GB plan, and
a 2TB-plan.
While Google Photos is a great option for people looking to automatically upload photos
taken on their phones, it allows users to upload their images from a camera or a computer
manually.
Before we continue, may I ask for a small favor? Please hit the like button if you enjoy
watching our videos. It would literally make my day. And do subscribe if you want to see
more amazing videos like this one. In 4th place, we have iDrive.
With its ability to give you almost everything you want in a cloud service while being one
of the most affordable options around, it's not difficult to understand why most people
regard iDrive as one of the best cloud storage services in the world. It not only comes with
great features but is also effortless to use, thanks to its well-designed and user-friendly
user interface.
For instance, the service allows you to back up your photos to as many devices as possible
with instantaneous syncing. It also allows you to restore older files, which can be helpful
if you mistakenly delete one of your favorite pictures. 30 older versions of every file
are retained, so you can rest easy with the knowledge that if you ever need to roll back
to a previous version of a photo, you can easily retrieve it.
Like some of the top cloud services around, iDrive also provides a neat facial recognition
feature that helps you arrange your images. If you take lots of shots or have a pretty
large family, the program will automatically arrange images by the individuals. Facial
detection information can also be shared across all of the devices added to an account.
One amazing thing you'd also appreciate about iDrive is its usage of lossless encryption
and compression, which lets you save your RAW files with no fear of quality loss. It
also lets you upload videos, but you have to put up with a pretty annoying 2GB-cap per
file.
It's also worth adding that iDrive sports a simple interface that lets you easily share
photos by email or to your social media platforms. Another of iDrive's biggest advantages is
its incredible flexibility. It's compatible with Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, so
you can always access your photos no matter what device you are using.
iDrive is probably the most affordable cloud photo storage you can find at the moment.
The service normally costs $9.95 per year, but it currently goes for a giveaway price
of $0.99 per year. It's almost unbelievable, especially when you consider the fact that
most of its competitors are at least ten times more expensive.
From the look of things, this is a strategy to attract as many users as possible because,
after the first year, you will most probably start paying the normal price. In our opinion,
it's a super good and attractive deal.
On the downsides, there are some to mention. First of all, the 2GB-cap per file on video
uploads can be pretty annoying. Besides, iDrive hits you up with overage charges without any
warnings. Also, they used to send your backed-up data overnight on a hard drive (if you needed
it). Now, they only have an option to download. If you’re interested in iDrive, see the
official link we have added below for a special 50 percent discount on this service.
Coming 3rd on our list is Dropbox.
Dropbox is one of the front runners in the cloud service industry, and on the evidence
of the company's recent offerings, it doesn't look ready to give up its spot at the top
of the game yet. The cloud service has about 400 million customers
worldwide, which is proof of the developers' commitment to outstanding service.
While we must note that the service is not exactly built with pictures in mind, it's
an excellent choice for anyone looking to store, back up, or even share their images.
The platform takes all the stress out of uploading images. There's an option to automatically
upload new pictures from your phone's gallery to your Dropbox account.
Of course, you can do this on your desktop devices too. Once the option is activated,
your computer's Dropbox will scan every connected mobile device or camera card for images. And
as soon as the images are uploaded, there's a great feature that will help you arrange
them in your Dropbox library.
Even better, the Dropbox program can synchronize your folders for them to appear in macOS or
Windows Explorer Finder. This allows you to edit images even after uploading them to Dropbox.
Any changes you make on the image will be detected and synced automatically, which is
really helpful.
In addition, Dropbox has many exclusive features that are lacking in most of its rival services.
For instance, you can restore older versions of your photos within 30 days. So, if you
have already replaced and deleted an image, you can restore it if there's another need
for it. Just make sure you do this within 30 days of deletion.
For security, all your files are encrypted with military-grade AES 256-bit encryption
– the highest grade of encryption. There's also two-factor authentication, which provides
an extra layer of protection for your pictures.
If you don't have many images, the Basic plan may do it for you. It's completely free, offering
2GB of cloud storage. If you're not pleased with that little space, though, you may upgrade
to the pretty expensive Plus plan. It offers 2TB of cloud storage, costing $11.99 per month.
Despite the high price, the Plus plan only allows one user, so if you need more licenses,
the Family Plan sounds like a good alternative, as it offers six licenses. But, it's even
more expensive, at $19.99 per month. It's also worth adding that paid customers can
increase their storage capacity when they refer the service to friends.
This is a great service, but its expensive paid plans may be a significant drawback for
many.
Taking the 2nd spot on our list is OneDrive.
If you need a simple cloud storage service that lets you store your images effortlessly
without a learning curve, it's worth taking a look at OneDrive. Being a brainchild of
Microsoft - one of the giants in the tech space – OneDrive doesn't have many shortcomings.
The developers have intentionally given it a look that resembles what you see on Windows,
allowing you to get familiar with the whole thing instantly.
Of course, the OneDrive cloud service is built into Windows 10, allowing you to access it
easily, just like you would access an SSD or physical hard drive. This makes for an
efficient cloud backup solution. Surprisingly, Mac users are not left out as a Mac-compatible
client allows for a similar experience. However, the Mac integration is not as smooth as the
Windows'. Not surprising! That said, OneDrive can also be used on Android and iOS mobile
devices.
Despite being just a part of OneDrive's service, the photos' segment boasts impressive features.
It supports RAW files and also comes with a smart feature that helps to identify your
images' content and subsequently tag them automatically. This makes it easy for you
to find images by theme or content.
OneDrive is also user-friendly, automatically storing photos and videos from any connected
device. It's compatible with smartphones and cameras and SD cards, USB drives, and hard
drives. OneDrive can also automatically backup the screenshots you take on your devices.
However, this feature is not activated by default, so you need to turn it on in the
settings.
Android and iOS apps also allow automatic backup of your phone photos, with OneDrive
making it on our list of the best cloud storage for Android. This is true for iPhone users,
too, although Microsoft OneDrive cannot upload photos that have been optimized for iCloud.
It should also be noted that OneDrive does not compress your videos or photos at all.
Therefore, it's a great option for anyone looking to save a 4K video or RAW images.
That said, keep in mind that there's a size limit of 100GB.
OneDrive offers a free cloud storage space of 5GB, the 100GB-plan will set you back $1.99
per month. While this looks ridiculously cheap, note that it's a storage-only plan, so don't
expect to find other Microsoft products. The 1TB-plan is much more expensive, costing $5.99
per month. However, it also comes with Microsoft's other products like Outlook, Word, Excel,
and PowerPoint.
The 1TB-plan allows just one user, but you can get it for $7.99 per month if you need
as many as six users.
Finally, our highest-rated cloud service is **drum-roll please*** pCloud.
While pCloud isn't a dedicated cloud photo storage, it's an incredible all-round cloud
service. It's a great option if you're looking to collate your photos without using a local
hard drive. Apart from offering desktop and mobile apps, it also lets you backup your
photos from social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
pCloud also lets you manage your photos in real-time across every device you own, using
either a mobile application or browser extension. There're no limits whatsoever on file sizes,
so you can upload any video you want. Backups of altered and deleted files are also stored
for 30 days, so you can always restore them if you change your mind.
The cloud service also comes with a couple of excellent media-management tools, which
you can use to compress and resize content in your account. pCloud also comes with a
backup feature, allowing you to automatically back up any file or folder from your computer
to your cloud account. The entire process is done automatically, so you don't have to
log in – just set the folders you'd like to backup, and pCloud will handle the rest.
In terms of security, your data is protected by military-grade AES 256-bit encryption,
which is reinforced with two-factor authentication. In addition, you can choose where you want
your data to be stored in the US or EU, which is a great option that you are not likely
to get with other cloud services. It should also be noted that pCloud is headquartered
in Switzerland, which is a country renowned for its solid privacy laws.
pCloud also has a user-friendly interface, so there is no complexity to its usage. You
can get started almost immediately - you only need to be a little tech-savvy. It's also
a great plus that pCloud has great platform compatibility, working well with Windows,
macOS, and Linux. There are compatible clients for Android and iOS as well, so you can automatically
backup your photos and videos as soon as you take them.
Lastly, anybody would agree that pCloud has reasonably-priced plans. The plans are divided
into two tiers – annual and lifetime. You have a 2GB-plan and a 10GB-plan under each
tier, with the only differences being the prices. For instance, the 2GB-plan and the
10GB-plan under the annual tier cost $47.88 and $95.88, respectively. Meanwhile, you get
the same plans for $175 and $350 under the lifetime tier.
The good news is, The Cyber Lab viewers can get a special 65 percent discount on pCloud.
Just click the official link we have provided in the description box below this video, and
the discount will be automatically applied. But this offer is only valid for a limited
time, so hurry up. Everyone alive today should feel lucky to
have been born in the modern age. While the older generations relied on cheap, low-quality
cameras to capture their most cherished moments, we can easily capture every moment of our
lives with great cameras built into our smartphones. Even better, we can easily store them in the
Cloud, where our valuable moments can live forever.
Hope you enjoyed this video. Do you have anything you'd like to share with us regarding cloud
services? We'd love to know in the comments down below. Don’t forget to like and subscribe
to our channel to see more.
Goodbye for now! Check out some other popular videos from our channel.