If you have 10 years of phone photos and videos, how much will you pay to store them over the next 20 years. And is there a smarter option? The question sounds simple but the answer surprises most people. iCloud 200GB at AU$4.49/month is AU$53.88 a year. Over 20 years, that's AU$1,077.60. Before you need to upgrade to a larger tier as your library grows. This article puts real numbers on all the options so you can make an informed decision.
In short: Cloud storage (iCloud, Google Photos) is convenient but costs more over time than it appears. A home NAS has a higher upfront cost and no mandatory storage subscription, but it still has electricity, maintenance, drive-replacement and backup costs. And over 5-10 years it's typically cheaper for anyone with a large photo library. The right answer depends on how much storage you need and how comfortable you are with a one-time hardware investment.
Why Photo Storage Costs More for Australians
Both iCloud and Google One publish Australian-dollar prices for Australian customers. Australian subscription prices can change, but the listed AUD charge does not fluctuate continuously with the exchange rate. US users pay US$2.99/month for 200GB iCloud; Australians pay AU$4.49/month for the same tier.
There's also a growth problem. Modern smartphones produce photos at 12-48 megapixels and 4K video at gigabytes per recording. The storage tier that was fine two years ago is often full today. How quickly a library outgrows a storage tier varies with video use, file formats, household size and shooting volume. Each upgrade adds to the total long-term cost.
Google Photos changed the equation significantly in 2021 when it ended free unlimited storage. The free tier (15GB shared across Gmail, Drive, and Photos) fills quickly for anyone with more than a few years of phone photos.
The Real Cost of Each Option
iCloud. AU Pricing (2026)
Apple's iCloud storage tiers in Australia:
- 50GB: AU$1.49/month (AU$17.88/year)
- 200GB: AU$4.49/month (AU$53.88/year)
- 2TB: AU$14.99/month (AU$179.88/year)
At the 200GB tier over 10 years: AU$538.80. At the 2TB tier over 10 years: AU$1,798.80. These figures assume the price stays constant.
If you cancel iCloud+ and exceed the free quota, iCloud stops syncing or updating information and iCloud backups stop until you reduce usage or buy more storage. iCloud isn't permanent storage. It's a subscription.
Google One. AU Pricing (2026)
Google One storage in Australia:
- Through the Australian App Store, current in-app prices are 100GB: AU$2.99/month, 200GB: AU$4.49/month, and Google AI Plus 2TB: AU$14.99/month; pricing may vary by purchase channel.
At the current Australian App Store monthly price, 200GB over 10 years is AU$538.80 if the price remains unchanged. Australian purchase channels list local-currency prices. Google has increased prices in Australia since the service launched.
External Hard Drive
Checked mainstream Australian retailers currently list 4TB portable hard drives at roughly AU$219-261, although prices and promotions vary. No monthly fee. Works offline.
The catch: a single external drive isn't a backup. It's just storage. If the drive dies or is lost in a flood, burglary, or fire, your photos go with it. Drive failure rates increase significantly after 3-5 years. To store photos safely on external drives, you need at least two copies in separate locations, which means buying two drives and remembering to copy to both.
Over 10 years, hardware cost depends on current drive prices, failures, replacement timing and whether both copies are replaced preventatively.
A NAS. One-Time Cost, No Monthly Fee
A NAS (Network Attached Storage) is a small always-on box connected to your home router. With compatible apps and backup jobs configured, a NAS can automatically receive photos from supported household devices. IPhone, Android, Windows, Mac. With no per-month charge.
Entry-level 2-bay NAS units in Australia start around AU$350-450. Add two NAS-rated hard drives (2TB each: ~AU$90-110 each) and you have a 2TB mirrored setup for around AU$550-670 all up. With RAID 1 (mirroring), you have two simultaneous copies. If one drive fails, your photos are still safe on the other.
A 10-year ownership total should include the NAS and drives, electricity, replacement drives, backup media or services and any NAS replacement. That's less than 4 years of iCloud 2TB, or less than 3 years of Google One 2TB.
A NAS is also accessible from anywhere via app. You can view your photo library on your phone while travelling, just as you would with iCloud. What a NAS is and how it works is explained here, including whether it's the right fit for your situation.
The 'Forever' Problem. Why Cloud Isn't Actually Forever
The word "forever" is worth examining. Cloud storage doesn't store your photos forever. It stores them as long as you keep paying. Cancel iCloud+ while over the free quota and new syncing, updates and iCloud backups stop until usage is reduced or storage is increased. If the provider shuts down a service, changes pricing, or gets acquired, your photos are at the mercy of a business decision you have no control over.
"Forever" actually means owning a copy of your photos on hardware you control. That's either an external drive (simple but fragile) or a NAS (automated, redundant, accessible). For families building a photo library they want to pass on, the ownership question matters more than the monthly cost comparison.
If you're currently storing photos in iCloud and want to take control of them, replacing iCloud Photos with a NAS explains the process step by step.
Photo Storage Cost Comparison: 20-Year AU Total (2026)
| iCloud 2TB | Google One 2TB | NAS (2-bay + 2x 8TB drives) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | $0 | $0 | ~AU$1,660-$1,900 before delivery |
| Annual ongoing cost (2026 AU prices) | ~AU$179.88/yr | ~AU$179.88/yr | ~AU$18-$50/yr for electricity, depending on whether the DS225+ spends all year in HDD hibernation or the access state; actual duty cycle and tariff vary |
| 5-year total cost | ~$1,795 | ~$1,495 | ~$950-$1,100 |
| 10-year total cost | ~$3,590 | ~$2,990 | ~$1,120-$1,400 |
| 20-year total cost | ~$7,180 | ~$5,980 | ~$1,500-$1,900 |
| Storage capacity | 2TB shared | 2TB shared | 8TB usable (expandable) |
| Works without internet | No | No | Yes |
| Data owned by you | Yes | Yes | Yes |
What Photo and Video Files Actually Take Up Space
Most people underestimate how fast their photo library grows once 4K video enters the mix. On supported iPhones, Apple says ProRAW is approximately 25 MB at 12MP and 75 MB at 48MP; other phones and modes vary. 4K/60 file size varies widely with codec and recording mode; HEVC, H.264 and ProRes should not be represented by one generic bitrate range. An afternoon of family video can fill 30 to 60 GB in a single session.
JPEG photos from modern smartphones average 3 to 8 MB each. If a household of four takes 50 photos per day on average, that is around 200 photos per day, or 70,000 photos per year, adding 200 to 560 GB annually in JPEG format alone. Switch to RAW and the same volume becomes 1.4 to 3.5 TB per year.
File size reference for 2026 phones: iPhone 15 Pro RAW: approximately 25 MB at 12MP or 75 MB at 48MP. Samsung S24 Ultra 200MP: file size varies with scene content, format and camera settings. iPhone 4K video file size varies materially with frame rate, codec and whether ProRes is enabled.
How to Set Up a Minimum Viable Photo NAS in Australia
The minimum viable photo NAS for a typical Australian household is a 2-bay NAS with two hard drives in RAID 1. RAID 1 mirrors data across both drives, so if one drive fails the other keeps all your photos intact until a replacement arrives. For a household with a 5TB photo library and 500 GB growth per year, two 8TB drives in RAID 1 gives you 8TB usable with roughly 6 years of headroom.
The NAS connects to your home router via Ethernet. Once set up, it appears as a shared network drive on every computer and phone in the house. You can configure Synology Photos or Immich (an open-source alternative) to auto-upload from your phone, giving you the same convenience as iCloud or Google Photos but with storage you own.
For a DS225+, electricity is roughly AU$18/year if continuously in HDD hibernation and about AU$49-52/year if continuously in Synology's access state at 2026-27 NSW flat rates; actual cost depends on duty cycle and tariff. Compare that with AU$179.88 per year for iCloud+ 2TB or AU$179.88 per year for Google AI Plus 2TB through the Australian App Store. At checked DS225+ plus two 8TB IronWolf pricing of roughly AU$1,660-$1,900 and electricity of roughly AU$18-$50 per year, break-even before backup and replacement costs is about 10-15 years if cloud prices remain unchanged; delivery, backup, maintenance and replacements make actual break-even later.
Backup Strategy for Your Photo Library
A NAS alone is not a complete backup. RAID protects against a drive failure, but it does not protect against fire, theft, accidental deletion, or ransomware. The 3-2-1 backup rule applies here: three copies of your data, on two different media types, with one copy offsite.
For a photo NAS, the practical 3-2-1 implementation is: the NAS itself (copy 1), an external drive connected to the NAS for local backup via Hyper Backup or similar (copy 2), and cloud backup of the most important photos and videos to Backblaze B2 or Synology C2 (copy 3). On an NBN 25 service with an ideal 5-10Mbps upload rate, uploading 5TB takes roughly 1,100-2,200 hours before protocol overhead, congestion or interruptions.
Use our free Cloud vs NAS Cost Calculator to compare cloud storage against owning a NAS.
See also: our full Photo and Video Storage guide.
How many photos will 200GB of storage hold?
It depends heavily on phone camera quality and video. As a rough guide: iPhone photo size varies by format, resolution, scene content and camera settings., so 200GB holds roughly 33,000-50,000 photos. But 4K video eats storage fast. One minute of iPhone 4K footage is about 400MB, meaning 200GB holds only about 8 hours of video. Whether 200GB is exceeded within 3-5 years depends heavily on shooting volume, video duration, resolution, codecs and retention.
What happens to my iCloud photos if I stop paying?
If your iCloud storage is over the free 5GB limit and you stop paying, you lose the ability to sync new photos and upload to iCloud. After the paid plan ends, an over-quota account stops syncing or updating iCloud information and iCloud backups stop; Apple does not specify a standard 30-day existing-photo access deadline in its cancellation guidance. Apple does not delete iCloud data immediately upon cancellation, but access is suspended. Download everything locally before cancelling.
Is a NAS cheaper than iCloud in the long run?
Yes, for most people with a large photo library. An entry-level 2-bay NAS with drives can cost around AU$550-700 upfront, plus electricity, maintenance, replacement and backup costs. Ignoring NAS electricity, maintenance and backup costs, AU$550-700 equals about 3.1-3.9 years of current iCloud 2TB fees or about 10.2-13.0 years of current iCloud 200GB fees; actual break-even is later. The more storage you need and the longer you plan to keep photos, the more a NAS saves versus cloud.
What's the safest way to store photos forever in Australia?
The safest approach follows the 3-2-1 rule: 3 copies of your photos, on 2 different types of media, with 1 copy offsite. In practice for home users: photos on your phone (1), on a NAS at home with RAID mirroring (2, with redundancy built in), and synced to a cloud backup service (3, offsite). This way, a house fire, a hardware failure, or a ransomware attack can't destroy everything at once.
Do I need fast internet to use a NAS for photo storage?
No. A NAS on your home network is accessed over Wi-Fi or a network cable, so backup and browsing within your home is fast regardless of your NBN plan. You only need your NBN upload speed when accessing photos remotely (from work or while travelling). For viewing photos and downloading individual files remotely, a standard NBN 50 or 100 plan is adequate. Uploading large amounts of data remotely (bulk photo uploads from outside home) is where faster upload speeds help.
How many photos will fit in 8TB of NAS storage?
At 5 MB average per JPEG, 8TB holds approximately 1.6 million photos. At 30 MB per RAW photo, 8TB holds around 267,000 RAW files. How long 8TB lasts depends on the starting library, annual growth, video formats and shooting volume. Most households with two 8TB drives in RAID 1 have 8TB usable capacity.
Can I access my NAS photos from my phone while away from home?
Yes. Synology Photos and Immich both provide mobile apps with remote access over the internet. For Australian NBN users whose ISP places them behind CGNAT, remote access typically requires either Tailscale (a free VPN service that bypasses CGNAT) or Synology QuickConnect (Synology's relay service). Both options work reliably for photo browsing and sharing.
What happens to my cloud photos if I cancel iCloud or Google One?
After iCloud+ cancellation, an over-quota account stops syncing or updating and iCloud backups stop. After Google One cancellation, paid storage ends at the close of the billing cycle; over-quota restrictions apply, and Google says content may be deleted only after the account remains over quota for two years or longer. A NAS removes this risk entirely: your photos remain accessible regardless of subscription status or company policy changes.
Ready to compare NAS options for photo storage? The Best NAS Australia guide covers every major option with honest Australian pricing.