Google Photos once offered unlimited storage for absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, that time has long passed. Instead of Google’s solution, I’ve switched to another: Amazon Photos.
What happened?
In 2021, Google began limiting the amount of free storage space on its servers to 15GB per user. This limit didn’t just include Google Photos; it also included any other files you chose to store on the servers, such as Gmail and those on Google Drive. If you exceed this limit, Google offers several paid Google One subscription packages that start at $1.99 per month for 100GB, up to 2TB for $100 per year. There are several benefits to using Google One that you should consider, especially if you’re not an Amazon Prime customer.
While having unlimited storage trumps 15GB of storage, this free tier isn’t necessarily bad, especially when you compare it to companies like Apple and Microsoft that only give users 5GB of free data for iCloud Drive and OneDrive, respectively. Google’s decision to cut the amount of free storage to 15GB is significant when you consider what Amazon charges for its storage services, especially as an Amazon Prime user.
If you’re an Amazon Prime customer, Amazon offers unlimited photo storage. These are full-resolution photos. You also receive 5GB of video storage with Amazon Photos, which isn’t necessarily great, especially if you record a lot of videos. But for photographers, Amazon’s unlimited storage for photos is a great perk.
Why I ditched Google Photos
Price isn’t the only reason I decided to go from Google Photos to Amazon Photos. I have also grown tired of the overall user experience with Google Photos. It’s much more cluttered than I like, and I generally don’t like the company’s constant push to get me to use other Google services.
Another thing that bothers me about Google Photos is perhaps a benefit for others: AI. Thanks to Google Gemini, the company’s multimodal large language models and AI chatbot, there are a lot of cutting-edge tools you can now use with photos. And yet, as a primarily Apple user, the tools are less important to me, and their inclusion in the Google Photos interface feels somewhat invasive. But, again, not everyone feels this way.
What Amazon Photos offers
In addition to offering unlimited full-resolution photo storage to Amazon Prime customers, Amazon Photos also provides several other features that make it a worthwhile consideration. This starts with its accessibility. You can use Amazon Photos on Android and iOS mobile devices, through a web browser, and, no surprise, on Amazon devices. There are also apps available for macOS and Windows.
Simple process
Ease of use is another reason I’ve been happy with my decision to switch. The app reminds me a lot of an older version of Apple Photos, where content is divided by years and people. You can also organize your images by album, places, location, objects, and more.
Amazon Photos is also outstanding because it automatically backs up your images through the free mobile app. This means you don’t have to worry about keeping your precious memories safe as soon as you snap them.
You can also easily share your images and albums in Amazon Photos with family and friends. Through the “Family Vault,” you can share unlimited photos with up to five other people.
More you can do
If you have an Amazon device such as the well-reviewed Amazon Echo Show 21 or Fire TV, your photos are easily accessible and secure with these devices, making it easier to view your favorites at any time.
Finally, Amazon also makes it possible to turn images into actual prints, photo books, cards, and more, with just a few clicks. My daughter graduated from high school this year, and I had the opportunity to create a picture book featuring images from her most special events from the past four years. Ordering was simple, the pricing was competitive, and the shipping was quick.
Making the switch
There are several ways to migrate your photos from Google Photos to Amazon Photos. The best way for you depends on the type of devices you have. The two most popular are download/update and using Google Takeout.
Download and upload
The download and upload option is exactly what its name suggests. What you do is download the photos from the Google Photos website, then upload them to either the Amazon Photos website or the Amazon Photos app for macOS or Windows.
To get started, log in to the Google Photos website using your Google credentials. Next, choose the photos you want to export. From there, click the three-dot menu at the top right, then select “Download” to save the files to your computer.
Once your photos are downloaded onto your computer, you can upload them to Amazon Photos. First, log in to your Amazon account on the Amazon Photos website. From here, select the Add icon at the top of the screen. From the pull-down menu, choose to upload individual photos or a folder.
The most obvious drawback of using the download/upload option to transfer images from Google Photos to Amazon Photos is that it’s labor-intensive, especially if you have a large number of photos. Going through and selecting every photo you wish to download can take a considerable amount of time. However, the process encourages you to download only your most important images, discarding the rest.
Google Takeout
If you have many images to transfer or have decided to move everything you have, choose the Google Takeout option. This free service makes it pain-free to export all your content or select content from Google’s servers.
To get started, log in to your Google account on the Google Takeout page. Next, click the Deselect all option at the top of the list. From there, scroll down, then select Google Photos from the long list of Google services. You can choose to export all your albums or individual files. Choose Next step, then select how you want the images delivered. For example, you can have Amazon send you a download link through email or automatically send the content to services like Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, and Box.
You can also set the maximum amount of data you wish to download at one time. For example, perhaps you have 10GB of storage in Google Photos. Instead of sending everything at once, which could take a while and tax your Wi-Fi connection, you could have Amazon break it up into smaller amounts.
From there, you choose how you want your files, either as a ZIP or TGZ zipped folder. Once these files are downloaded, you can upload them to your Amazon Photos as you would in the download/upload option.
The most significant disadvantage of taking the Google Takeout route is that videos are downloaded alongside photos. Videos are larger, which means longer downloads. Additionally, if you make a mistake and upload pictures and videos, you may quickly use up your free video allowance in Amazon Photos.
Who benefits the most
Several groups of people benefit the most by switching from Google Photos to Amazon Photos. First, no doubt, are Amazon Prime customers who can store unlimited full-size images for free.
Photographers can also benefit because these images, stored on Amazon’s servers, are original and have an uncompressed resolution. Photos stored on Google One are compressed and of lower quality with the free plan.
A family focus
Additionally, thanks to Amazon Photos’ “Family Vault” feature, folks with large families can benefit from making the switch. With this tool, families can have a central location in the cloud where they can store and edit all their photos. Better still, the storage is unlimited, as long as one person is an Amazon Prime user. By contrast, sharing albums on Google Photos still counts against an individual contributor’s storage space.
Finally, just as hardcore Apple users would benefit the most from using iCloud Drive, those heavily into the Amazon ecosystem would benefit the most from using Amazon Photos. It’s really a no-brainer, although I know more than a few Amazon users who were unaware of the Amazon Photos feature and its generous free storage.
I’m thrilled that I switched from Google Photos to Amazon Photos. It’s a good fit for me and my family, and it may be a good fit for you and your family as well.
