Google Photos solves a problem Apple Photos structurally can't: a household that isn't all one platform. If your family is a mix of iPhones, Android phones, and Windows laptops, Google Photos is the only major option that doesn't force someone to be the odd one out. That is a real strength, and it counts before any comparison about archiving decades of photos starts.
Where your photos actually live
Google Photos
Uploads a copy to Google's cloud, organized by its own library and AI search
All Our Years
Reads your existing folders in place, on your own drive, nothing uploaded
Google Photos is a cloud photo service: sync from any device, search from anywhere, no local storage to manage. It is also the source of everything below. Your archive's home is Google's infrastructure and Google's pricing, for as long as you want it accessible.
Where Google Photos wins outright
- True cross-platform reach. iPhone, Android, Windows, or a browser on any machine, all showing the same library.
- Search is excellent. Typing "dog at the beach" and getting the right ten-year-old photo back is a real strength of Google's AI.
- Free tier for smaller libraries, with a straightforward paid upgrade path if you need more.
- Automatic backup from a phone as photos are taken, which is the job it's built for.
Where a family archive strains Google Photos
| What matters for an archive | Google Photos | All Our Years |
|---|---|---|
| Where the originals live | Uploaded to Google's servers | Stay on your own drive, read in place |
| Existing folder structure | Not used as organization; Google's own library model replaces it | Read directly; folder names become event names |
| Ongoing cost as it grows | Google One subscription past the free cap, indefinitely | One-time purchase |
| Multiple contributors, years apart | Built around one Google account's library, sharing as an add-on | Built to read a shared drive several people already added to over time |
| Leaving later | Google Takeout export is possible, but a real project at scale | Nothing to export; files never left your drive |
What it actually looks like
Instead of a library that lives on Google's servers, All Our Years builds its view of your archive by reading the drive directly, with no upload step, no account, and no sync status to check.
The app's real interface, running on stock photos and made-up names, never a real family's archive.
How to actually decide
- Mixed-platform household, want automatic phone backup and best-in-class search: Google Photos is the right call.
- Decades of photos already sitting in folders on a Mac, and you'd rather not pay a cloud company indefinitely to keep reading your own files: that's what All Our Years is for.
- Both: many families run Google Photos for the day-to-day stream and point All Our Years at the older archive separately. The two don't conflict, since All Our Years never uploads or touches what Google Photos owns.
FAQ
Is Google Photos really free?
Free up to a storage cap shared across your Google account. A family archive of real size will eventually cross that cap, at which point staying synced means a Google One subscription, ongoing.
Does Google Photos work on Windows and Android, not just Apple devices?
Yes, that is its core strength. It works in a browser and in apps across every major platform, which makes it the more practical choice for a household with a mix of device types.
Can Google Photos read a folder structure I already organized by hand?
Not as its organizing structure. Uploaded files join Google's own library, searchable by its AI rather than organized by the folder and file names you already used for years.
What if I want to stop paying for Google One?
You can, but storage over the free cap that isn't freed up puts new uploads, and eventually existing content, at risk. A full-fidelity export via Google Takeout is possible but is its own project.