Compare/Google Photos
GOvsOb
The Google Photos alternative

Obsydian vs Google Photos

Google Photos backs up your camera roll privately. Obsydian is the public page you share from — with protection built in.

★★★★★ Loved by privacy-first creators
Overview

What is Google Photos?

Google Photos is Google's personal photo backup and storage service: 15GB free (shared with Gmail and Drive), with paid Google One tiers from $1.99/mo for 100GB up to multi-terabyte AI-bundled plans. It's built for private backup and family sharing, not for presenting a public page to an audience — there's no creator profile, no link hub, and no watermarking or scrubbing on what you share out.

CategoryGallery & Storage
BackgroundLaunched 2015 · Mountain View, California
TaglinePersonal photo backup & cloud storage

We're biased — but honest.

Google Photos and Obsydian barely overlap — one is where your photos live privately, the other is the page you point an audience at. If you're using Google Photos (or a shared album link from it) as a stand-in for a creator page, you're missing the things a public-facing tool should do: watermarking, automatic metadata scrubbing before content leaves your hands, and a page that represents you rather than a raw camera roll. Obsydian is built for the sharing side; it's not a backup service and doesn't try to replace one.

Side by side

Obsydian vs Google Photos, feature by feature

FeatureObsydianGoogle Photos
Visible watermarkingText, tile, edge-frame & motion
Invisible (steganographic) watermarkYes — LSB stego
Automatic EXIF / GPS removalAlways on
Link-in-bio page includedYes — full profile
Creator-friendly content policiesYes — won't deplatform your nicheNot creator-focused — general consumer backup
PricingFree · £9 · £19Free (15GB) · from $1.99/mo

Comparison reflects each provider's publicly listed plans and features as of June 2026. Details change — check each provider for the latest.

Pricing

Google Photos pricing vs Obsydian

Google Photos
  • Free$015GB, shared across Photos, Gmail & Drive
  • Google One 100GB$1.99/mo
  • Google One 2TB$9.99/mo
  • AI-bundled plansfrom $19.99/mo5TB+, bundled with Gemini/Google AI features
Obsydian
  • Free£0Unlimited links · 10 protected files/mo · always-on scrubbing
  • Studio£9/moUnlimited watermarking · invisible watermark · analytics
  • Black£19/mo5 profiles · custom domain · priority support · vault (closed beta)
Full pricing

Comparison reflects each provider's publicly listed plans and features as of June 2026. Details change — check each provider for the latest.

The honest take

Google Photos: pros & cons

What Google Photos does well

  • Extremely cheap storage at scale, tightly integrated with Android/Gmail/Drive
  • Strong private backup, search and organization for personal libraries
  • Free 15GB covers casual users
  • Family sharing included on paid plans

Where it falls short

  • Not a public creator page — no profile, no link hub, no audience-facing design
  • No watermarking or metadata scrubbing on shared photos or albums
  • Shared album links expose originals with no protection layer
  • Not built for creators managing an audience or subscriber base

Choose Obsydian if…

  • You need a public page to share links and content with an audience, not just private backup
  • You want watermarking and automatic EXIF/GPS scrubbing before content goes out
  • You want a creator profile, not a camera-roll backup
Start free

Stick with Google Photos if…

  • You just want cheap, reliable private backup for your personal photo library
  • You're not presenting a public-facing page at all
Questions

Obsydian vs Google Photos, answered

Is Obsydian a Google Photos alternative?
Not really — Google Photos is private backup, Obsydian is a public creator page. Some creators use Google Photos to store originals and Obsydian to actually share and protect what goes out to an audience.
Can I use a Google Photos shared album as my link-in-bio?
You can share a link, but it won't watermark your images, strip metadata, or present a branded profile — it's just a folder. Obsydian gives you a proper page with protection built in.
How much does Google Photos cost?
Free for 15GB shared with Gmail/Drive, then Google One plans from $1.99/mo (100GB) up to multi-terabyte AI-bundled plans from $19.99/mo. Obsydian is a flat £9 Studio or £19 Black, unrelated to storage — it's about the page and protection, not GBs.
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