In our digital world, it's important that photographers backup their images and make them easy to access and share with others. The best way to do this is to back up your photographs to a cloud storage provider. The question is: which one? To help, I'm using my decade-plus experience and sharing the best cloud storage for photographers.

Key Takeaways

Cloud storage makes it easier to access your photographs across multiple devices.
Industry-standard encryption, client-side encryption and password protection for files makes cloud storage a very secure option.
You can scrap monthly subscription costs by signing up for lifetime plans with large storage capacity.

Away from Them Frames, I'm also a Technical Writer for Cloudwards, a leading publication in the cloud-based software space. For them, I wrote about the best cloud storage for photos, which targets all types of users, including everyday folks looking to back up their vacation snaps.

This selection will differ slightly as it's solely for my fellow photographers. It doesn't matter if you're a pro or an enthusiast, as my selection caters to every type of photographer in the community. I've tried and tested all of the services in this article, and all of them have different strengths and weaknesses.

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Choosing The Best Cloud Storage for Photographers

There are certain features I want when looking for a cloud storage service to back up my photographs. First, it must be easy to use across all platforms, including web, desktop, and mobile. I require fast sync speeds so I can access images on different devices, and I don't want to wait forever for my files to upload to my account.

The biggest features we as photographers must consider pertain to security and privacy. I want to know that once my images - which may also belong to a client - are fully secure and protected from man-in-the-middle attacks.

For my client work, it's essential that cloud storage services make it easy to share files. Not all my clients are cloud-savvy, so I need to use platforms that are built for all experience levels and make it easy for clients to access the images they paid for.

With all that in mind, all the services in this selection tick the boxes I want. They also offer excellent value for money, and some of them have subscription options that don't require you to pay monthly or annually.

Bitesize Opinion: Why pCloud is the Best Cloud Storage for Photographers

I began using pCloud when I became more aware of the importance of privacy. The platform uses client-side encryption, which means nobody - including pCloud employees - can access your images. This isn't true with most mainstream providers such as Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox.

pCloud also comes with a beautiful design, and I can create a fluid management system for all my images. The slideshow feature is especially useful for presenting my client work, and I like that I can present and view my photographs in full resolution, as pCloud doesn't compress the quality.

Although monthly and yearly subscriptions are available, the lifetime plans offer exceptional value and remove the need to constantly pay for cloud storage.

Why Should Photographers Use Cloud Storage?

Even today, some photographers are suspicious about the cloud. I get that, but in the digital era, I believe it's the best way to back up photographs. Local drives can fail, get lost or stolen and be damaged beyond repair. If you don't back up to multiple drives, then you risk losing your photographs forever.

With cloud storage, it's not the end of the world if your computer fails or you lose your laptop. Once you get a new device, you can simply access all your photographs by logging in to the cloud storage service you use.

It's also much easier to share work with clients and grant them access to images so they can approve them. With industry-standard encryption like AES 256-bit encryption and a host of features such as password protection, it's nearly impossible for cyber attacks to have any form of success.

Some services are more private than others, and we'll get to that shortly. But overall, the fears of cloud storage have long been soothed after decades of positive experiences with a range of platforms.

pCloud - The Best Cloud Storage for Photographers

I made the switch to pCloud because it offers a simple user interface that makes it very easy to manage all my photographs—I have a lot! Beneath the well-designed UI is a solution that works smoothly and helps me access my files quickly. Thanks to the fast sync speeds, I'm able to get to an image either via the web, my desktop, or one of my mobile devices.

Sharing my client work is extremely straightforward, and I can fully control what type of access someone has. For example, I can simply give them viewing permissions or the ability to add files to a folder if they need to. On the chance I'm working with another photographer, I can send file requests via pCloud, and they can upload their images to my cloud.

What gives pCloud the edge for me is the option to pay for client-side encryption. This activates a special encryption folder that gives the files I add the optimal level of privacy, even pCloud employees can't access the data within the folder.

The platform feels incredibly fast and smooth to use, and my files were in the cloud in good time. I didn't experience any lag or crashes, even when uploading large files. The viewing experience is also among the best, as I can view the images in full quality, and the platform was smooth and responsive when skipping from one image to the next.

pCloud offers some of the best value for money, offering 2TB of storage for as little as $8.33 per month if you pay annually. I do understand that one of the biggest gripes photographers have about cloud storage is the constant subscription fees. pCloud overcomes this by offering lifetime plans, meaning you'll pay a one-time fee and it's yours to use forever without needing to pay again.

Lifetime plans tend to have continuous discounts, and you can get huge storage up to 10TB. Sign up now with the security of a 14-day money-back guarantee.

Sync.com - The Best Cloud Storage for Photo Privacy

Sync.com is for photographers who want the optimal level of privacy for their images. Like pCloud, it offers client-side encryption; however, you don't need to pay extra for it, and it's included across all plans, including the free one.

Design-wise, Sync.com has made a lot of improvements. Recent updates have put it more in line with modern standards, and I especially like reviewing my photographs when in dark mode. It's very minimalist in terms of tabs, but for me, this is great because it makes it easy to use, and I can find images quickly when I need to.

Because it's so focused on privacy, the platform opts not to add file previews as a feature. Instead, there's a photo symbol. Unless you know the file name, this can make it hard to know which image you're looking for, but it's a small price to pay for optimal privacy.

Free users can password-protect the files they share, and paid users can do that plus set expiry dates, send upload requests, and limit the number of times external users can download a file. I like that you can get email notifications whenever a client has accessed the files via the shared link.

On the pricing front, Sync.com offers excellent value. You'll pay $8 a month for 2TB of storage when you sign up for an annual subscription. You can get 6TB of storage space for just $20 per month, again on annual billing, which works out to around $3.33 per terabyte, which is superb value.

You can try the free 5GB plan or sign up risk-free for a paid plan thanks to the 30-day money-back guarantee.

Google Drive - The Best Cloud Storage for Photo Management

Google Drive was the first cloud storage platform I used for photography, and I still use it today in some capacity. Like most Google apps, it's very easy to use, and this should especially interest photographers who are totally new to using cloud storage for photo backup.

I love the color-coding options available for all my folders as they really bring some vibrant life to the overall user experience. Moving files from one folder to another is very painless, and I like having the option to star specific folders so I can quickly access them in the left-hand menu.

An excellent feature within Google Drive is its search functionality. I can find a photograph just by typing in a description, like "Wedding Photos," for example, and it will bring up images with very accurate results.

The biggest concerns with Google pertain to security and privacy. Although industry-standard encryption is in place, ensuring no middle-man attacks, it does lack some extras that are available with other options.

For example, I can't add a password to the files I share, nor can I limit the number of downloads. Though I can set access permissions, which is something at least.

Unlike the two secure cloud storage services above, Google Drive doesn't come with client-side encryption. This gives Google the power to scan files, and its privacy policy outlines that it absolutely does do this.

Do the staff at Google sit looking at all your photographs? No. But it does mean they could use them to train AI language models, and they can access them should they ever want to. How much of an issue this is depends on how concerned you are about privacy. It's perhaps not a deal-breaker, but photographers, especially those doing client work, should consider more private solutions.

Pricing is in line with market averages, and you'll get 2TB of storage for $8.33 on an annual subscription. There are plenty of plans to choose from, including a very generous 15GB free version.

Can You Use Lightroom for Online Photo Backup?

Lightroom is part of Adobe Creative Cloud, which means any photos you add to the photo editing software will automatically back up to the cloud. You can access your images across different devices, and you can share them with the Lightroom community as well.

So, in theory, Lightroom does serve as a solution for online photo backup. However, in practice, it's not the best platform for cloud storage for photographers. If you delete images from Lightroom, then they are removed from the cloud, and keeping them inside the platform can make the software bloated.

File management isn't the best either, and sharing feels a little more complicated than traditional cloud storage for photographs. Storage space caps out at 1TB, and pricing is more expensive, although it does include full access to the editing tools.

With that, I wouldn't recommend using Lightroom as a backup solution. Also, if you're not feeling it as an editing tool, you can check out my selection of the best Lightroom alternatives.

Desktop vs Web Cloud Storage Apps

All my recommendations offer desktop apps for macOS and Windows. I recommend downloading them as it makes backing up your photographs a much smoother process.

That's because with web apps, you have to upload your images manually, and remembering to do this can be a task in itself. With the desktop apps, you can export images from your photo editor directly to a sync folder, and they will automatically be backed up to the cloud. It's the best way to ensure you don't forget to back up your photographs.

Signing Off

I didn't want to overwhelm you with too many options. Instead, I opted to share what, in my experience, are the very best cloud storage for photographers. For the sweet spot of design, privacy, and affordability, I would sign up for pCloud. But none of the three options are a bad choice, and all of them will do what you need them to do: back up your photographs.

By the way, if you're looking for an all-in-one photo management platform that allows you to upload photos, share them with clients, and build a photography website, I recommend checking out my ShootProof review.

Which cloud storage service will you use to back up your photographs? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading.

FAQs

What cloud storage do professional photographers use?
Many photographers use Google Drive and Dropbox to back up their images. However, as people are becoming more concerned about privacy, services like pCloud and Sync.com are becoming more popular.

Is Dropbox good for photographers?
Because of its popularity and well-built software, Dropbox is popular with photographers. However, it's not the most private solution, leading several photographers to look elsewhere.

Where do photographers store their photos?
Photographers tend to use a blend of local backup and cloud storage to back up their files. However, as we move deeper into the digital age, cloud storage has become the leading backup solution, making it easier to access and share your files.

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