I haven't paid a cent for cloud storage in years. Here's my setup

Published Oct 7, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT I cover Android with a focus on productivity, automation, and Google’s ecosystem, including Gemini and everyday apps. With a background in engineering and software development, I tend to go beyond surface-level tips. Before joining AP, I wrote for tech publications such as Gizbot in 2023 and iJunkie (formerly known as iPhoneHacks) from 2021 to 2022. I've never really needed much cloud storage. I use it for photos, documents, and files I want to have handy across my devices, but my storage needs have stayed modest. Most of the services I use give me some free space, and I'd rather not add another monthly subscription when I don't use enough storage to justify it. So I've never upgraded to a paid cloud storage plan. Instead, I've gotten a little more careful about what I keep online and where I keep it. It's not a complicated setup, and I'm not trying to avoid cloud storage altogether. I just haven't found a reason to pay for more of it yet. Here's what I do instead. I'm picky about my Google storage I made my 15GB go a little further Credit: Lucas Gouveia / Android Police Google gives every account up to 15GB of storage shared between Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. That sounds like a decent amount until you start letting everything back up automatically. Photos, videos, Gmail attachments, Drive files, and WhatsApp backups can eat into the same pool. That's why I try to be selective about what I save there. I use Google Drive for documents and files I know I'll want to access from different devices, rather than treating it as a second hard drive. If I download something large that I only need temporarily, I don't save it in Drive indefinitely. I don't let Google Photos back up my entire camera roll. I back up a handful of photos that I want available on my other devices. When there's something important, I select it in Google Photos and tap Back up now. I clean up Google storage before thinking about paying Check the storage before upgrading When my Google storage gets too full, I first check what's taking up space. The easiest way to do that is through the Google One website. I sign in and see my storage usage across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos in one place, rather than checking each service separately. Google's Storage Manager also shows the biggest space-hogging documents and suggests files and other items to review. On Android, open Google Drive, Google Photos, or Gmail, tap the profile picture icon, and choose Clean up space. Items in the Trash folder count toward your storage quota, so you must empty Trash after deleting unwanted files. In Gmail, I search for messages with large attachments by typing has:attachment larger:10M in the search bar. In Google Drive, I click Storage and sort my files by size, with the largest ones at the top. That's an easy way to spot an old video, ZIP file, or other large file I no longer need. Google Photos has a similar option. Its storage management tool finds large photos and videos, screenshots, and blurry photos, so I can review those without scrolling through my entire library. I also check Google Drive's Backups section occasionally. Device backups and hidden data from apps connected to Drive can show up under storage usage. OneDrive gives me another 5GB I don't ignore the storage I already have Credit: Lucas Gouveia / Android Police I also have a Microsoft account, which gives me another 5GB of free cloud storage through OneDrive. That free storage is shared across OneDrive files and photos, Outlook.com attachments, and some Microsoft 365 data. I use the extra space for files I might need on my Windows PC, documents I'm working on, or files I want to pull up without using my Google storage. Five gigabytes isn't a replacement for a proper large cloud-storage plan, but that's not really the point for me. It's another small pool of storage I have access to, and together with the other free space I use, it means I don't have to keep everything in one place. Already paying for Amazon Prime? Check Amazon Photos Don't overlook the storage that comes with Prime Credit: Unsplash If you pay for Amazon Prime, you may have overlooked another storage benefit: Amazon Photos. Prime members get unlimited full-resolution photo storage, and 5GB for videos and other files. That makes Amazon Photos worth checking before signing up for another storage plan. If you have a bunch of photos you want backed up but don't want them taking up your Google storage, Amazon Photos gives you somewhere else to put them. The unlimited photo benefit is available in select countries, so make sure it is included with your Prime plan. If you want even more free cloud storage A few other services are worth knowing about Credit: Lucas Gouveia / Android Police | Proton If the free storage that comes with the services you use still isn't enough, other options don't require another monthly bill. MEGA is one of the more generous options, with 20GB of free storage and end-to-end encryption. That's enough for larger files that don't fit comfortably into the smaller free allowances elsewhere. Proton Drive offers 5GB for free, with end-to-end encryption included. pCloud is another option, starting you off with 2GB of free storage. You can unlock more space by completing a few setup steps, such as verifying your email, uploading a file, and referring friends, bringing the total up to 10GB. I haven't needed to pay for more storage yet For me, the trick is not putting everything in the cloud. I keep the files I want to access easily online, use the free storage that comes with the services I already have, and clean things up when space starts getting tight. For anything especially important, I keep another copy on an external hard drive. So I don't need to back up each document everywhere. So far, that has been enough for me, and it means cloud storage isn't another monthly subscription I have to think about.