iCloud Storage Cost Calculator
Work out how big your photo library really is, which iCloud+ tier that puts you on, what it costs a month and a year, and how much a cleanup would save you. 2026 US pricing.
iCloud Storage Cost Calculator
Photos
Open Settings, then Photos, to see your library count.
HEIC is the iPhone default and runs about half the size of JPEG.
Video
Total, not per month.
Backups and growth
iPhone and iPad backups only, counted at about 5 GB each. Macs do not back up to iCloud.
Most iPhone users shoot 100 to 300 photos a month.
Based on your photo growth rate only. New video would shorten this.
Clean up instead of upgrading
Roughly 1,728 HEIC photos, or the video equivalent, to drop to the 50 GB plan. The saving repeats every year you stay there.
You fit in Apple's free 5 GB. Keep it that way.
Free up the gigabytes instead of paying for them
Swipe44 makes cleanup a few minutes of swiping: right to keep, left to delete. It groups duplicates on your phone, then wipes everything you marked behind one delete confirmation and tells you how much space came back.
iCloud+ plans, 2026 US pricing
| Plan | Per month | Per year | Fits your library? |
|---|
US pricing, verified against apple.com/icloud. Apple's prices vary by country.
What actually fills up your iCloud storage
Four things eat your iCloud quota: how many photos you keep, what format they were shot in, how many minutes of video you have and at what quality, and your device backups. How fast the library grows then decides how long your current plan lasts.
Video is the cost nobody sees coming. One minute of 4K is worth almost 70 HEIC photos. People blame the camera roll count, then discover that a handful of long clips were the real problem. Here are the per-unit figures this calculator uses:
| Item | Size | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HEIC / HEIF photo (iPhone default) | 2.5 MB | Typical 12 to 24 MP iPhone capture |
| JPEG photo (Most Compatible) | 5 MB | Apple: HEIF is about half the size of JPEG |
| Apple ProRAW photo (12 MP) | 25 MB | Apple. 48 MP ProRAW Max runs 75 to 100 MB |
| 1080p HD video, 30 fps | 60 MB per minute | Apple in-device estimate (HEVC) |
| 4K video, 30 fps | 170 MB per minute | Apple in-device estimate (HEVC). 4K/60 is about 400 MB per minute |
| Device backup (iPhone or iPad) | About 5 GB | Reported range 2 to 20 GB; backups exclude anything already synced to iCloud |
Backups matter more than most calculators admit. They are why a library that looks like it fits in 50 GB quietly needs 200 GB. One thing in your favor: if iCloud Photos is switched on, the backup does not copy your photos again, because they already live in iCloud.
iCloud+ plans and prices in 2026
Apple bills iCloud+ monthly, and only monthly. There is no discounted annual plan, so the yearly figure is just twelve times the monthly price. Every paid tier includes iCloud Private Relay, Hide My Email, and HomeKit Secure Video, and any plan can be shared with up to five family members through Family Sharing.
| Plan | Capacity | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 5 GB | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| iCloud+ 50 GB | 50 GB | $0.99 | $11.88 |
| iCloud+ 200 GB | 200 GB | $2.99 | $35.88 |
| iCloud+ 2 TB | 2,048 GB | $9.99 | $119.88 |
| iCloud+ 6 TB | 6,144 GB | $29.99 | $359.88 |
| iCloud+ 12 TB | 12,288 GB | $59.99 | $719.88 |
Watch the cliff between 200 GB and 2 TB. Capacity goes up about 10 times; the price goes up 3.3 times, from $2.99 to $9.99 a month. That gap is why staying under 200 GB is worth real money: $84 a year, and again the year after that. These are US prices, and Apple charges differently by country.
Clean up instead of upgrading
An upgrade is forever, but so is a saving. Staying on 200 GB instead of 2 TB keeps $84 a year in your pocket. Dropping from 200 GB to 50 GB keeps $24. The only question is whether the gigabytes are there to find, and in most libraries they are: duplicates, near identical burst shots, screenshots of things you dealt with months ago, videos you have never rewatched once.
That is what Swipe44 is for. You go through the camera roll by swiping, right to keep and left to delete, working from Recents, Random, or a single month at a time so it never turns into one giant chore. Duplicates get hashed on-device and grouped for you to review. Everything you mark piles up, and then the whole batch goes at once behind one system confirmation, with a tally of the space you got back. Nothing is uploaded and iCloud originals are never downloaded. The work happens on your phone.
And if deleting photos has not budged your storage number yet, the Recently Deleted album is usually the culprit.
How this calculator estimates your library size
The math is straightforward:
- Photos: photo count times MB per photo, divided by 1,024.
- Video: minutes times MB per minute, divided by 1,024.
- Backups: devices times 5 GB.
- Recommended plan: the smallest tier whose capacity covers the total.
- Months to outgrow: headroom divided by monthly photo growth, floored.
- Cleanup savings: the annual price gap between your tier and the one below it, paired with the GB you would need to clear to get there.
Treat the output as an estimate, give or take 20% either way. Real libraries are mixed format, and compression depends on what is in the frame: a photo of a blank wall is far smaller than a photo of a forest. One MB-per-photo constant is a model, not a measurement. For your actual number, open Settings, then General, then iPhone Storage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about icloud storage cost calculator
How much does iCloud storage cost per month?
As of 2026, Apple's US iCloud+ pricing is: 5 GB free, 50 GB for $0.99/month, 200 GB for $2.99/month, 2 TB for $9.99/month, 6 TB for $29.99/month, and 12 TB for $59.99/month. Apple bills monthly only, so there is no discounted annual plan: a year of 200 GB is $35.88 and a year of 2 TB is $119.88.
How much iCloud storage do I need for my photos?
Depends on your format, and on how much video you shoot. Using iPhone-default HEIC at about 2.5 MB per photo, 10,000 photos is roughly 24 GB and 20,000 photos is roughly 49 GB. Video takes over as soon as it enters the picture: one minute of 4K at 30 fps is about 170 MB, so 10 hours of 4K on its own is around 100 GB. If you have 10,000 to 20,000 photos and shoot video only now and then, the 200 GB plan usually covers it. Heavy video shooters end up on 2 TB.
How many photos fit in 50 GB, 200 GB, or 2 TB?
Photos only, HEIC at about 2.5 MB each: roughly 20,000 in 50 GB, roughly 82,000 in 200 GB, roughly 839,000 in 2 TB. Halve those numbers for JPEG at about 5 MB each. Bear in mind that video and device backups draw on the same pool, so these are ceilings, not targets.
Is 5 GB of free iCloud storage enough?
Not if you take photos. The free 5 GB is shared across iCloud Photos, iCloud Drive, Mail, and device backups, and one iPhone backup on its own often runs 5 GB or more. At about 2.5 MB per HEIC photo, 5 GB holds roughly 2,000 photos before anything else is counted.
Do iCloud backups count toward my storage?
Yes, but device backups exclude anything already synced to iCloud. If iCloud Photos is on, your photos live in iCloud Photos and are not duplicated inside the backup. A typical iPhone backup runs 2 to 20 GB depending on apps and data. This calculator uses 5 GB per device as a working estimate.
How much space does a minute of iPhone video use?
Going by Apple's own in-device estimates (HEVC): 1080p HD at 30 fps is about 60 MB per minute, and 4K at 30 fps is about 170 MB per minute. 4K at 60 fps roughly doubles that, to around 400 MB per minute. Video is usually the thing that pushes people onto a bigger plan.
How big is a ProRAW photo compared to HEIC?
A 12 MP Apple ProRAW file is about 25 MB, roughly ten times an HEIC. On 48 MP ProRAW Max (iPhone 15 Pro and later), one file can run 75 to 100 MB. Shoot ProRAW for everything and a 2 TB plan fills up faster than you would think.
How do I lower my iCloud bill without losing photos?
Get under the next tier's ceiling. The gigabytes are almost always hiding in duplicates, burst shots, screenshots, and videos you forgot you took. Clear those and you move down a tier for good. Dropping from 2 TB to 200 GB saves $84 a year; dropping from 200 GB to 50 GB saves $24 a year. The calculator above shows how many GB you would have to clear to make the jump.