The ultimate comparison of Google Photos vs Synology Photos
With smartphones being accessible to almost everybody, it is common to take numerous photos to capture life every day. While the photos are gradually taking up mobile storage space, even Google Photos has canceled its free unlimited space. People are consequently frustrated with either to continue using Google Photos, or other photo management software. In fact, we have discovered a strong application, Synology Photos, a private cloud application designed for either home or business users, who own a large number of photos and videos, and value data privacy. Today, we want to share with you the comprehensive comparison of these two solutions, to give you a better illustration to decide which service you should choose.
A table to understand which photo management tool best suits you
What specific feature of Synology Photos makes it more suitable for users than Google Photos? Let us look at the below differences:
| Synology Photos | Google Photos | |
| Privacy | Build your own private data center through a private cloud, and obtain 100% data ownership. Synology values users’ privacy and will not access users’ data. | The public cloud is operated on cloud servers. This means the users’ data could be read and saved, or even review your uploaded photos to improve the algorithm |
| Performance | The uploading performance is unlimited. Backup during your sleep is allowed upon setting up, and over 20,000 photos can be backed up during nighttime. Handling a large number of photos will no longer be an issue. The browsing experience is more stable and enhanced by having the process run on the same network (LAN). | Storing and accessing your photos on the public cloud, your browsing experience is determined by your internet speed and budget. |
| Cost | Only pay for one-time hardware upfront costs. There is no subscription fee and no distracting ads. Customized storage allocation based on users’ needs is also allowed. | Subscription service that costs over USD$100 per year. No customization is allowed and the storage is limited to up to 2TB. |
| Smart Album | Currently, people, location, and tag albums are supported. More feature of Smart Album is to be launched in 2023. | People, locations, event, pets and other smart albums are supported. |
| Editing | Simple rotation function is available. | More in-depth editing tool is available. |
| Management/search | From the users’ perspective, diverse viewing methods are provided. For example, users can choose to view chronologically or in file mode are available. In addition, powerful metadata filters, drill down by camera, lens, location, faces, and more, in different usage scenarios to accommodate professional needs. | Only chronological views are available. Users generally search with their memory, which often causes frustration of not being able to find the photo they need. |
| Maintenance cost | Maintenance is done by users. However, the failure rate of NAS is very low. Even when the problem occurs, a 3-5 years warranty is provided based on the model. A thorough online technical support is available on the official website. | Maintenance is handled by Google; no additional maintenance is required from the users. However, when the third-party service is affected due to an inevitable event, which further leads to service downtime or maintenance, users have no choice but to wait. All usage would be interrupted. |
| Large screen experience | Supported Apple TV and Android TV. The operation interface is easy and intuitive. Users from ages 8 to 80 can get hands-on easily. | Only Chromecast is available. |
According to the graph, it can be concluded that Google Photo could be more suitable for users when there were less amount of photos to be stored and more editing functions were demanded when the affordability of the continuous subscription fee is not much of an issue. On the other hand, if the users commonly find the storage to be insufficient as a large number of photos need to be managed; or when the data to be stored is important and sensitive business information, which makes privacy a priority for the photo management application, then Synology Photos will be the right choice.
Synology Photos not only allows full data ownership, but the packages also fulfill diverse usage scenarios. It can be run on the computer web, mobile devices, and TV applications. Synology Photos will continue focusing on design and features, and bring the best solution for users to store their precious memories.
To learn more about Synology Photos, please visit: https://sy.to/1pihl
