The Best Cloud Storage for Photos

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    As a keen photographer with plenty of photographs to store, backup and securely share between others, a good cloud storage solution with a focus on providing plenty of storage space, useful photo gallery features plus automatic smartphone camera uploads (amongst many other useful features) is rapidly becoming a must have tool.

    best cloud for photos - featured gallery view

    In this guide to the best cloud storage for storing photographs I will be listing 10 of the best cloud storage solutions with enhanced provisions for the storing and sharing of photographs which are available as of today. This is with done with reference to the reviews performed right here on BestBackupReviews.com in order to help make the process of choosing a suitable cloud storage service for working with photos as simple and straightforward as possible.

    Remember, whenever assessing any kind of cloud storage for use with photographs or otherwise, always try and look past the initial free offerings and see what the upgrade path looks like for each provider as well. If at some point in the future you do find yourself needing to upgrade your account (e.g., to acquire more cloud storage), then be aware of any costs involved in doing so as well as the additional features which might also come with such an upgrade.

    With all of the above in mind, cloud backup can often make for a great way of not only storing a large volume of photos safely, but also for helping to index and search through your collection, easily share said photos with family and friends and even perform basic photo editing tasks when using selected providers offering such functionality. Time to look at some of the key features found within selected cloud storage offerings before looking at my top 10 favourite cloud storage choices towards the end of this guide – vamos!

    Check out my top cloud choice for storing photos...
    pcloud review logo
    pCloud

    Finding the Best Cloud Storage for Photos

    Before listing my top 10 favourite cloud storage solutions for storing, backing-up and sharing photographs (which is towards the end of this guide if you want to jump straight there), here are a few quick tips and things to look out for when choosing such photo orientated cloud storage for yourself.

    Built-in Photo Gallery Views

    One of the most important features for anyone looking to store their photos in the cloud will be the inclusion of a web-based gallery viewing tool.

    Such a gallery tool makes browsing through any photos which are stored upon the cloud account both quick and easy and, thanks to the use of the cloud storage, means even if you don’t have access to the original versions of such photos on your current device then they can still easily be seen and shared via such a gallery view.

    Top 5 cloud for photographs choices:

    Below is a quick look at the top 4 choices mentioned in this guide, scroll down further for the full and detailed list of unlimited cloud storage services.

    Provider Free Storage Upgrade Pricing Website
    1 pcloud review logo 10GB From $49.99 / year
    2 mega.nz review logo 20GB 2TB from €9.99 / month (€99.99 / year)
    3 google drive review logo 15GB From $8.99 / month
    4 internxt review logo 10GB From $24 / month (min 3x users)
    5 iDrive Best Backup Software Logo 10GB 5TB from $79.50 / year

    Some of the best cloud storage services have really made big efforts in this area in recent years and now offer some very highly functional gallery tools. These upgraded gallery tools include, amongst other features, allowing a recipient of a sharing link to also use the web-based gallery view (as opposed to just simply downloading the photos) as well as to easily share copied of photos to their own cloud account (with the same provider) which can be ideal for anyone working on photographs in a team on a professional basis.

    Top 5 cloud for photographs choices

    With many modern smartphone devices featuring amazing camera technology of recent years, you might now find yourself doing a lot of your photography on a smartphone device instead of a more traditional camera.

    best cloud for photos - mega.io configure auto camera uploads

    Being this the case, that smartphone cameras are now of such high quality, there are also a growing number of cloud storage providers now offering smartphone apps which will, amongst various other related features, offer to automatically upload any photos taken on your device directly to your cloud storage account for you.

    This automatic photo uploading capability can be a real benefit as it removes any manual workflow which is usually involved with the manual storing of photographs in the cloud and will leave you with photos which are both ready to share and safely stored on the cloud just moments after taking them.

    Photo Sharing Features

    Most cloud storage account now provide at least some form of file sharing functionality which is built directly into the service itself. The extent of this sharing functionality does, however, vary greatly between different providers and can include password protection, automatically expiring sharing links, public sharing folders and even the use of photo gallery tools amongst other features.

    best cloud for photos - pcloud sharing menu on gallery page

    Whilst sharing via a special sharing link is usually seen as a fairly standard method for sharing such photos, many providers now make working with and sharing photographs via the cloud even easier thanks to integrated collaboration functionality. This means when multiple users are working with the same cloud provider, any photographs which need to be shared and worked on between the group can be done so from within the cloud storage providers system itself and will (in some cases) even extend to the provider themselves allowing file permissions to be applied (meaning, for example, some users might only be able to view such files whereas others can make changes)

    NB – Whilst these kinds of cloud-based collaboration features do offer good file security options overall, be aware that anyone with access to a file could potentially still make copies and use said copies outside of the protection of the cloud storage provider’s service!

    Built-in Editing Tools

    Some cloud storage providers are now going as far as to offer photo editing capabilities which are built directly into their cloud-based storage offerings themselves.

    best cloud for photos - google photos editing mode

    Whilst these cloud-based photo editing solutions might, in many cases, not quite yet be a real replacement for a full desktop-based photo editing suite such as Adobe Photoshop, they are often a great solution for allowing any quick photo fixes to be easily applied whilst on the go using nothing more than a smartphone device.

    Multiple Device Synchronisation

    It is not uncommon for many creative professionals and photographers (both armature and professional) to work across multiple devices in these modern times, especially so with smartphone devices offering such professional quality cameras and processing power from such a portable device. Even as a keen amateur photographer, it is highly likely you will have at least 2 devices in regular use and being able to keep all of your photographs in synchronisation and available across these multiple devices can be of great benefit.

    best cloud for photos - mega.io desktop app setup

    Many cloud storage providers now offer some kind of “desktop” application software which compliments their cloud storage service, software which usually provides a special “Sync Folder” (or virtual drive) functionality which will work in the background and keep any files and folders within this folder synchronised across multiple devices. This mean that, amongst any other files, any photographs taken on one device will automatically be available on all connected devices and can help in not only keeping such photographs backed up, but also in making hem easily available for editing work on one device despite them being taken on another.

    Low-Cost Cloud Storage

    This is not a feature per se, but having access to a generous allocation of cloud storage for a reasonable price can be very helpful for anyone storing photographs and will make the process of managing your photos in the cloud much easier (versus constantly having to move and even delete photographs to stay within a small allocation of cloud storage).

    With the above in mind, choosing a cloud storage plan with a good allocation of storage and reasonably priced upgrade plans is not only recommended, but is something which should be considered form the very beginning when looking to store photos in the cloud in order to help avoid wasted time switching between cloud provides later on.

    Unlimited Cloud Backup FAQs

    Generally speaking, storing photos upon a reliable and reputable cloud storage service is a very safe option. Not only do cloud providers deliver an additional layer of backup protection for your photos (versus simply storing them only on a local device), but by storing them away from you home or office will also provide an additional layer of protection against localised dangers including fire, floods and theft.

    NB – In order to provide the maximum levels of protection to any photographs which are stored in the cloud, be sure to seek out cloud storage providers which offer always on, zero-knowledge encryption of all files (which will include photos) which are sent to and stored upon their cloud storage service!

    Many leading cloud storage services are now providing some very generous free account offerings which can be ideal for anyone looking to store a large quantity of photos on the cloud for free.

    These free offerings, often affording up to 20GB or more of free cloud storage, are ideal for anyone wanting to store their photos online without having to pay a subscription fee or for the testing of a cloud storage service before committing to a premium subscription later on down the line. Some of my favourite free cloud providers currently include MEGA.IO (20GB free), Internxt (10GB free) and pCloud (10GB free) amongst various others.

    In order to ensure the maximum levels of safety and security for any photographs which are stored upon the cloud, always be sure to choose reliable cloud providers which employ strong zero-knowledge, end-to-end encryption on all files automatically.

    Whilst some providers will have various other security features which can help to help protect cloud accounts and the data stored within them, services featuring zero-knowledge AES 256-bit encryption (or stronger in some cases) are often considered to be some of the most secure cloud platforms with all user data (theoretically) still highly protected even if the cloud storage service itself is ever compromised.

    Some good choices for storing photos safely in the cloud include providers such as MEGA.IO, pCloud, Internxt and Sync.com, all of which offer the use of strong zero-knowledge encryption

    When attempting to share multiple photos online, one of the best methods and most reliable is to seek out a cloud storage provider which allows for sharing an entire folder full of photos as opposed to having to share individual files one-by-one.

    Some of my favourite cloud storage providers, including Internxt, MEGA.IO and pCloud all allow both individual file sharing via a sharing link as well as providing options to set-up special sharing folders thus allowing for a large number of photos to be shared in one go with ease.

    As a general rule for all cloud storage, any photographs stored upon the cloud will remain in situ on the cloud for as long as the cloud storage account itself remains active.

    Having said this, there might be some instances where photographs are at risk of being deleted from the cloud. One main example of this is when not resubscribing to a premium cloud storage plan and the provider themselves automatically deleting items form the cloud account to bring the total cloud storage used in line with that of their free account offering.

    Top 10 Best Cloud Storage for Photos

    In the final section of this guide, I will be listing 10 of my favourite cloud backup services for storing photographs as per the reviews found right here on BestBackupReviews.com.

    Remember, any ratings and rankings given below reflect my own personal opinions and that the cloud storage services with the highest ratings might not necessarily be the best for your own personal needs. With this in mind, please refer to my detailed reviews of each entry on the list for more information on the service itself and how it might help with your own individual cloud storage requirements.

    1
    pCloud
    2
    MEGA.io
    3
    Google Drive
    4
    Internxt
    5
    iDrive
    6
    Jottacloud
    7
    Sync.com
    8
    Icedrive
    9
    Dropbox
    10
    Koofr

    Best Cloud for Photos Summary

    Cloud storage can be one of the safest and most reliable means for storing photographs, especially so given the high degree of photo related features found in modern cloud storage services. These features include being able to easily browse and search a large number of photographs thanks to advanced gallery view pages, secure photo sharing services, automatic smartphone camera uploads plus the ability to even go as far as making minor adjustments with certain providers which can mitigate the need for desktop-based image editing software in certain cases.

    Regardless of which cloud provider you eventually choose for storing you photographs upon, be sure to research fully the additional features they provide surrounding the storing of photographs and always be wary of how much storage is provided on any given cloud plans and the costs associated with upgrading the account should you need more photo storage in the future.

    Looking for Cloud Storage?

    Are you looking for practical help and advice in choosing cloud storage? If so, then be sure to check out our various guides including our Top 10 Free Cloud Storage guide, our guide to the Best Free Cloud Storage Services plus our guide to the Best Cloud Storage for Photographers amongst several others!

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