Google Photos’ biggest rival right now is a company you probably never heard of

IDrive Photo Review Hero
(Image credit: IDrive)

Less than one year after it was launched, iDrive Photos, from the makers of TechRadar’s editor choice for best cloud storage, iDrive, has added a new feature that makes it an even more attractive offer for those looking to move away from Google Photos. You can check out our iDrive Photos review here.

For just under $1 for the first year and $10 for subsequent years, you get unlimited cloud storage for all your photos and videos on your mobile plus 1TB cloud storage for PC or Mac. While Google opted to bring its free unlimited backup plan for photos to an end, iDrive went the opposite way.

iDrive also claims that iDrive Photos is the “world’s fastest mobile backup” and boasts about its compatibility with iOS and Android. There’s no Windows or Mac client but you will be able to access your photos from any web browser; all files are uploaded at original resolution and there are no file size limits.

An intuitive interface

While iDrive Photos’ USP is its extremely affordable price tag, its ease of use and simplicity are also commendable. Users are able to easily share photos and videos from the app and access any files using a Timeline View. Other features include an auto-upload feature to ensure that your media is backed up each time, every time and now it’s made even better by the fact that it offers 1TB cloud storage on top of that.

As for competitors, well, a quick scan at our best cloud storage for photos and videos shows that it will most likely be a worthy alternative as long as users can live with its only limitation, that you have to use a mobile device for the upload.

Amazon Prime customers get free unlimited full-resolution photo storage and 5GB of video storage included in their subscription. Otherwise, you’d pay up to $1,800 per year for 30TB of cloud storage on Amazon Photos. Flickr Pro also offers unlimited storage with its cheapest plan costing $117.99 for 24 months.

Desire Athow
Managing Editor, TechRadar Pro

Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled in website builders and web hosting when DHTML and frames were in vogue and started narrating about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium.