Free uploads of photos and videos will come to an end on Google Photos on June 1, 2021. Google Photos has been offering free and unlimited storage of photos and videos for mobile and desktop users since 2015. But the free service is about to end and users need to pay a yearly subscription to continue using the service or look elsewhere to back up their digital memories online, Slashgear reports.
Google has been offering High-Quality storage of photos that are up to 16MP and videos that are up to 1080p resolution for free for years, but it is now time to monetize the service given the high cost of running the service for more than 1 billion people in 140 countries around the world.
As it stands, every Google user has 15GB of free cloud storage that can be used across all Google services; this 15GB free storage allotted to everyone will remain in place, but any further storage requirement above this limit will be paid for. Users will need to subscribe to the Google One service to keep on enjoying the service or move to other online storage options, most of which are paid for and with limited features compared to Google cloud storage, WSJ writes.
Back in November 2020, the head of Google Photos division, David Leib, announced that Google will start charging subscriptions for online storage of photos and videos and other document files from June 1, 2020. He stated that the financial implication of running free backup storage for more than 1 billion people who upload 28 million photos every week is huge and eating deep into the resources of the company.
Leib said the only way out is to begin to charge for subscriptions. Google will be charging for 100GB, 200GB, 2TB, and even 10TB of storage space per year. For the 100GB, users will pay $1.99 per month or $19.99 annually; the 200GB option goes for $2.99 monthly or $29.99 annually; the 2TB option is $9.99 every month or $99.99 every year, and the 10TB for professional users goes for $99.99 per month. Needless to add that the 20TB is $199.99 per month and the 30TB is $299.99 per month.
Apart from Google storage, users can also consider using Microsoft OneDrive cloud storage, but this is also a paid subscription service that may feature access to other Microsoft services such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Skype, and Dropbox among others. There are also Apple iCloud, Amazon, and Flickr Pro services which are all paid for monthly or yearly for unlimited backup of photos and videos as well as other digital documents.
Source: slashgear.com