Apple may primarily be known as a hardware company, but it has also built up a portfolio of software products, many of which are available as subscription-based services. Since many of Apple’s ecosystem features are free to use, these services are how the company generates recurring revenue from its existing customers. At the forefront of Apple’s software services is iCloud — a solution that lets you back up photos, videos, and other files to the cloud that you can access at any time on any device.

The service also lets you back up your iPhone, which includes app data, home and lock screen layouts, settings, and passwords. If you have more than a handful of apps installed, though, there’s a good chance you’ve run into the “iPhone Backup Failed” warning — signaling you’ve run out of iCloud storage. This is likely by design; the free tier of iCloud only offers 5GB of storage, which isn’t enough to store a lot of data, especially if you have media backup enabled as well.

You can always upgrade to iCloud+, which gets you more storage space and features like Private Relay and full access to the Apple Invites app. Pricing starts at $1/month for 50GB and goes up to $60 monthly for 12TB. You don’t have to stick with iCloud, though; if you’re open to non-Apple solutions, then cheaper or better-value alternatives to iCloud do exist.

If you primarily use a Windows computer, chances are that you’re familiar with the Office suite. Every Microsoft account also gets 5GB of free cloud storage through OneDrive, and 15GB of mailbox storage. If you’re looking for slightly more storage, the $2/month Microsoft 365 Basic plan offers 100GB of cloud storage, which isn’t a storage tier that iCloud+ offers; if you need anything more than 50GB from Apple, you’ll end up having to pay $3 a month for 200GB of cloud storage. 

If you’re pretty sure you’ll never need more than 100GB, Microsoft’s cloud storage will technically be the cheaper option. That said, if you use apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint daily, you might want to consider subscribing to the Microsoft 365 Personal plan instead of paying for these apps separately. It costs $10 a month, gets you access to the essential Office apps, and has 1TB of cloud storage. This is a worse value for pure storage, though, as Apple’s $10 iCloud+ plan offers 2TB.

The Microsoft 365 Basic plan also offers ransomware protection for files. You can install the Microsoft 365 app on your Android or iOS smartphone or on your Windows or Mac computer and access your files at any time. If you’re looking for an affordable cloud storage solution between iCloud+’s two lowest tiers, then Microsoft 365 is worth considering.

Google Drive is undeniably one of the most popular cloud storage services in existence, and there’s a good reason. You get 15GB of free storage with every Google account, which you already have if you use Gmail like most people, without needing any extra setup. Google Drive’s 15GB can go a very long way. For starters, if you mostly use it to back up important documents, you could very well be just fine with the free tier. 15GB also lets you upload many more photos and videos at reduced resolution on Google Photos before you run out of storage.

If you need more storage, Google One lets you upgrade to a higher storage tier. Like Microsoft 365 Basic, you have a cheaper $2 monthly plan that gets you 100GB of storage space, shared across your emails, photos, and file backups. You can download the Google Drive and Google Photos apps on both Android and iOS, or access them via a browser on any computer. The Google AI Plus tier gets you 2TB of cloud storage at $10/month, like Apple’s equivalent iCloud+ plan. However, this tier also doubles your usage limits for Google’s Gemini AI assistant.

Both Google One and Microsoft 365 are good alternatives that are deeply integrated with Android and Windows, respectively. However, if you just want a place to store files online, you could always turn to dedicated cloud storage providers like IDrive. What you give up in terms of AI features or ecosystem advantages, you gain back in raw storage capacity. Even with a free account, IDrive offers you 10GB of cloud storage. Those seeking more storage will definitely find the $12/month IDrive Personal plan extremely appealing, since it offers a massive 5TB of cloud storage.

The closest storage tier in iCloud+ is 6TB, which costs considerably more at $30 monthly. For the same price, you can get 20TB from IDrive. Switching to yearly payments unlocks a more economical IDrive plan, too. The IDrive Mini tier offers 100GB of cloud storage space and costs just $2.95 a year, which works out to 25 cents a month.

A yearly payment that gets you access to 100GB of storage for just a little more than what iCloud+ or Google One ask for monthly is probably as good as it gets. For $10 a year, you can bump that 100GB plan to 500GB.

Mega is another popular cloud storage service and file transfer tool that’s an option if you’re switching away from iCloud. Mega’s free plan offers the most storage on this list, with 20GB. If you manage to fill that up, you can choose one of three paid storage tiers. The Mega Pro I plan is priced at $11.65 per month and offers 3TB of cloud storage. This is a good balance between the $10 and $30 iCloud+ plans, which get you 2TB and 6TB of space, respectively.

A Mega Pro plan also gets you access to a few other goodies, including a VPN service, a password manager, and online file transfers. Plans with 10TB and 20TB of cloud storage also exist, both of which — at $23.28 and $34.92, respectively — are considerably cheaper per terabyte than iCloud+. Paying yearly offers you discounts, of course, but also opens up some cheaper plans as well. For instance, Mega’s yearly-only Pro Lite subscription offers 750GB of storage space and costs just under $6 a month when billed annually.

Another cloud storage solution is pCloud, which offers the same 2TB of space for $10 a month as iCloud+. However, pCloud has a cheaper $5/month tier with 500GB. Like Mega, pCloud also lets you share and stream files with anyone online. PDrive can integrate with services like Dropbox and Google Photos, and even lets you stream music and video files that you’ve uploaded to the cloud.

One of pCloud’s most unique offerings is a one-time payment for permanent cloud storage. Granted, $300 (before any discounts) for 500GB doesn’t seem like good value, but you do need to consider the fact that this isn’t a recurring subscription. Once you’ve paid for the storage, it’s yours forever. Some quick math says you’ll hit the break-even point in six years, after which every month you continue using your pCloud storage is effectively free.

If you have been paying for other cloud storage services on and off for years, it might be worth switching to a lifetime plan overall. Think of it as owning a hard drive that’s always connected to the internet, just without all the hassle of maintaining your own server or worrying about drive failure years down the line.