Google Photos offers a generous amount of free storage for photos and videos, making it one of the best free cloud storage options for your memories. Here’s a look at how much free storage space Google Photos provides and what features are included.
15GB of free storage
Every Google Account comes with 15GB of free cloud storage across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. So you don’t get 15GB just for Google Photos – it’s shared with your other Google services.
Within that free 15GB quota, you can upload an unlimited number of photos and videos to Google Photos. This includes both lower quality “High quality” (compressed) and original quality uploads.
Unlimited free storage for “High quality” photos
Here’s the best part about Google Photos – any photos or videos you upload in “High quality” (compressed) format do not count towards your 15GB limit. You get unlimited free storage for High quality uploads!
This means you can upload unlimited photos and videos to Google Photos, as long as you use the High quality compression setting. Google uses advanced compression techniques to reduce High quality files to around 16MP for photos and 1080p for videos, while still maintaining a high visual quality.
Original quality counts towards storage limit
If you want to upload photos and videos in their Original (uncompressed) quality, this does count towards your free 15GB quota. Most users stick with High quality to get unlimited free uploads.
What else can you store for free?
In addition to unlimited High quality photos and videos, your free 15GB storage allowance can also be used for:
- Google Drive file storage
- Gmail email storage
- Google Documents, Sheets, Slides, Forms, etc.
- Google Calendar, Contacts, Keep notes
- Original quality photos and videos on Google Photos
So your free 15GB is shared across all these Google services. Many users can manage with 15GB for free, especially when using the unlimited photo storage in High quality.
What features are included for free?
Alongside the generous amount of free storage, Google Photos comes packed full of features at no cost. This includes:
- Unlimited photo and video uploads in High quality
- Smart organization with AI-powered search and albums
- Face recognition to group people together
- Photo editing tools like cropping, filters, color adjustment
- Video editing tools like trimming, GIF maker, collages
- Shared albums to collaborate with others
- Photo books, prints, and canvas prints ordering
- Syncing across devices – mobile, tablet, web
The core Google Photos experience is excellent for free users. The only limitation is your storage quota for Original quality uploads.
How much extra storage can you buy?
If you do max out the 15GB of free space, Google offers paid subscription plans for more storage:
| Plan | Storage Amount | Monthly Price |
|---|---|---|
| Google One 100GB | 100GB total storage | $1.99/month |
| Google One 200GB | 200GB total storage | $2.99/month |
| Google One 2TB | 2TB total storage | $9.99/month |
| Google One 10TB | 10TB total storage | $99.99/month |
| Google One 20TB | 20TB total storage | $199.99/month |
| Google One 30TB | 30TB total storage | $299.99/month |
These Google One plans give you expanded cloud storage to use across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. The storage is shared between the services.
Other ways to buy storage
In addition to the Google One plans, there are a couple other ways to purchase expanded storage:
- Google Pixel phones – Get free unlimited Original quality uploads from Pixel devices.
- Google Photos Partner Program – Some mobile carriers and other partners offer free or discounted Google storage.
How to manage your storage
To view your current storage usage and manage it:
- Open the Google Photos app or go to photos.google.com
- Click on your profile icon in the top right
- Select Storage or Settings > Storage
Here you can view your storage usage across Google services and manage it:
- See how much free space you have remaining
- Change uploads to High quality to save space
- Buy a Google One subscription for more storage
- Delete items to free up space
Conclusion
Google Photos offers an excellent free tier with unlimited photo and video uploads if you use the High quality compression setting. You get 15GB total free storage to also use across Google Drive, Gmail, etc. If you need more space, paid Google One plans start at 100GB for $1.99/month.
With unlimited free uploads possible at a reasonable quality, Google Photos stands out as one of the most generous and capable free cloud photo storage services available today.