I primarily need it for my photos and videos which are over 500 GB at this point, so the 200 GB plan doesn't work. I used to have unlimited storage from my university up until now, but Google took away that benefit. I switched to Amazon Photos unlimited storage under Prime, but it doesn't cover Videos and I just don't like the UI/features as much as Google Photos. If I only need it for Photos, are there better/cheaper? If it makes a difference I own a Google Pixel 8 Pro, which already has a bunch of good Photos features without Google One. 280k
Go for Microsoft one drive
Lol you know what? I just checked the benefits of my Microsoft Office 365 and it offers 1TB storage. I primarily had it for Office/Word it but didn't know about the OneDrive perk. That might do it for me. It's cheaper than Google by $30 and offers me Office too, so a win win.
Also get 10% back on Google store purchases
Get a NAS and set your phone to auto upload to it. Will be more expensive in the short term, but it pays off after a few years.
Whats NAS?
You work in tech and don’t know what a NAS is… leetcode monkeys
$100/year for 2TB seems ridiculously expensive. Why not just get an external hard drive?
Yeah, I have a couple of hard drives already. I just like to be able to pull up a photo from the cloud whenever needed, and the good UI that comes with it. (Along with other cool features Google Photos offers especially the videos it makes from your photos) That said, Amazon Photos already offers me free unlimited photos storage, so it's just a matter of the videos which I can store it on a drive. I was also considering getting rid of my Prime which I essentially only use for Photos and Prime Video at this point and it goes to $140 a year. Fast shipping isn't really a benefit that stands out anymore.