iCloud Storage Plans: Prices, Tiers, and Which One You Need

Quick answer: every Apple account gets 5GB of iCloud storage free. Beyond that, iCloud+ costs $0.99 a month for 50GB, $2.99 for 200GB, $9.99 for 2TB, $29.99 for 6TB, or $59.99 for 12TB (US prices as of October 2026). Every paid plan can be shared with up to five family members and adds Private Relay and Hide My Email.

The rest of this guide covers what fills iCloud, how to free it up, how to change plans, which tier fits which household, and how iCloud+ compares with BlueHammer Drive.

iCloud+ plans and prices

Here are the US prices from Apple’s iCloud+ plans and pricing page, as of October 2026. Apple bills monthly; the yearly column is simply twelve months added up.

Plan	Monthly price	Twelve months	HomeKit Secure Video cameras
iCloud, 5GB	Free	Free	None
iCloud+ 50GB	$0.99	$11.88	1
iCloud+ 200GB	$2.99	$35.88	Up to 5
iCloud+ 2TB	$9.99	$119.88	Unlimited
iCloud+ 6TB	$29.99	$359.88	Unlimited
iCloud+ 12TB	$59.99	$719.88	Unlimited

Residents of some US states pay sales tax on top. Prices differ in other countries, and Apple’s page lists them all.

What iCloud+ includes besides storage

Every paid tier includes the same extras:

• iCloud Private Relay, which helps protect your privacy when you browse in Safari. It’s not a full VPN; see iCloud Private Relay vs. a VPN for the difference.
• Hide My Email, which creates unique, random addresses that forward to your personal inbox.
• Custom Email Domain for iCloud Mail.
• Apple Invites.
• HomeKit Secure Video recording, with the camera limits shown above.
• Family Sharing of the whole plan with up to five other people.

Not every feature is available in every country or region.

Why the free 5GB fills up so fast

The free 5GB is shared by everything iCloud stores: your device backups, iCloud Photos, iCloud Drive, Messages in iCloud, and iCloud Mail. One iPhone with a few years of photos outgrows it quickly.

When iCloud is full, Apple’s guide to managing iCloud storage lists what stops working:

• Your iPhone no longer backs up to iCloud.
• New photos and videos don’t upload to iCloud Photos.
• iCloud Drive and other iCloud apps stop staying up to date across devices.
• You can’t send or receive email at your iCloud address.

Syncing and backups resume once there’s room again. One catch while you’re over the limit: photos and videos you delete skip Recently Deleted and are removed immediately, so there’s no 30-day safety net.

What fills iCloud storage

To see the breakdown, open Settings, tap your name, then tap iCloud. Usage appears at the top of the screen. The usual suspects:

• Photos and videos. With iCloud Photos on, your whole library lives in iCloud. For most people this is the biggest category by far.
• Backups. Each device has its own backup, and backups of phones you no longer use can linger.
• Messages. With Messages in iCloud on, the texts and attachments you send and receive count.
• iCloud Drive. Files and folders you’ve saved there.
• Mail. Messages and attachments in your iCloud Mail account.

One change in version 27 of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS: photos added to a shared album now count toward the storage of the person who created the album.

How to free up iCloud storage

Work through these in order, biggest wins first.

1. Check Recommended for You. Open Settings, tap your name, tap iCloud, then tap Recommended for You. It suggests things like large files, old backups, and photos to review.
2. Delete old backups. In Settings > [your name] > iCloud, tap Storage (or Manage Account Storage), then Backups. Tap an old device and choose Turn Off and Delete from iCloud.
3. Trim your current backup. In the same Backups screen, tap this iPhone and turn off apps you don’t need backed up.
4. Clear duplicate and unwanted photos. Duplicates and bursts add up fast; our guide to deleting duplicate photos on iPhone walks through it. Items in Recently Deleted don’t count toward iCloud storage.
5. Delete large attachments in Messages from conversations you don’t need.
6. Clean up iCloud Drive in the Files app under Browse > iCloud Drive.

Before deleting, remember that iCloud Photos and iCloud Drive are synced: deleting there removes the item from every device. Copy anything you want to keep first, and if you need a refresher on keeping copies, see how to back up an iPhone.

Freeing iCloud space doesn’t free space on your iPhone, and the reverse is true too. If the phone itself is full, that’s a different fix: see what to do when iPhone storage is full.

How to upgrade or downgrade your iCloud plan

To upgrade in iOS 27, open Settings and tap the iCloud Storage Almost Full notification if you see one. Otherwise, tap your name, tap iCloud, then tap Manage Plan under iCloud+ Features. If you don’t subscribe yet, tap iCloud, then Storage, then Get More Storage. On iOS 18.4 to iOS 26, Apple puts plan changes under your name in Subscriptions > iCloud+.

To downgrade or cancel, Apple’s downgrade guide lists the steps for each device. On an iPhone with iOS 18.4 or later:

1. Open Settings and tap your name.
2. Tap Subscriptions, then tap iCloud+ under Active.
3. Tap See All Plans to pick a smaller plan, or Cancel Subscription to go back to the free 5GB.

Before you downgrade, download or remove whatever won’t fit in the new plan. The change takes effect at the end of your current billing period. If you’re still over the limit after that, iCloud stops syncing and backing up until you make room. Dropping to the free plan also removes Private Relay, Hide My Email, and the other iCloud+ features. If you recently changed plans, Apple says to contact it within 14 days for a refund.

If you pay for both Apple One and a separate iCloud+ plan, Apple notes you can cancel the separate plan and use the storage included in Apple One.

iCloud Family Sharing storage

Any iCloud+ plan, including 50GB, can be shared with up to five other people in your Family Sharing group. Apple’s guide to sharing iCloud+ covers the details:

• Everyone keeps their own Apple Account, so photos and documents stay private. Only the space and features are shared.
• To share, open Settings > Family > Subscriptions > iCloud+ and follow the steps.
• Family members on the free 5GB plan join automatically. Anyone paying for their own plan can switch and get a refund for the unused part, but can’t keep both.
• When the shared plan runs low, everyone gets a notification. The organizer or whoever bought the plan can upgrade, up to 12TB.

For a family of four, one shared 2TB plan ($9.99 a month) costs less than four separate 200GB plans ($11.96), and gives everyone far more room.

Which iCloud storage plan do you need?

These are rough starting points, not rules. Check your actual usage in Settings > [your name] > iCloud and pick the tier above it with some room to grow.

Your situation	Plan that usually fits	Why
iCloud Photos off, contacts and notes only	Free 5GB	A settings-and-app-data backup often fits, barely
One person, iCloud Photos on, a few thousand photos	50GB	Room for a modest library plus one backup
One person with years of photos and video, or a couple	200GB	Libraries with video grow past 50GB quickly
A family sharing iCloud Photos and backups	2TB	Several libraries and backups under one shared plan
Heavy 4K video, large archives, or a creative business	6TB or 12TB	Only if your real usage is already past 2TB

If you’re near the edge of a tier, try the cleanup steps above before paying for the next one up.

iCloud+ vs. BlueHammer Drive: an honest comparison

On price per gigabyte, iCloud+ usually wins. Twelve months of iCloud+ 2TB comes to $119.88, while BlueHammer’s 1TB plan is $119.99 for twelve months. Twelve months of iCloud+ 200GB is $35.88, while BlueHammer’s smallest plan is 100GB for $39.99. If you only need cloud storage and everyone in your home uses an iPhone, iCloud+ is the straightforward choice.

BlueHammer Drive makes a different case:

• One plan covers more than storage. Each 12-month plan (100GB for $39.99, 500GB for $79.99, or 1TB for $119.99) includes Drive along with BlueHammer VPN, Security, and Cleaner.
• It works across platforms. Drive runs on iPhone, Android, and Mac, so it suits households with a mix of phones and anyone planning to move off iPhone.
• It’s encrypted storage for photos, videos, and documents, with automatic backup, sync across devices, and sharing links that expire.

The two also aren’t either-or. Keeping iCloud for device backups and Drive as a second, independent copy of your photos is a reasonable setup.

What a bigger plan won’t fix

More iCloud storage solves one problem: running out of room in iCloud. It doesn’t free space on your iPhone, it doesn’t turn synced photos into a backup, and it doesn’t stop deletions from spreading across your devices.

Prices also change. The figures here are Apple’s US prices as of October 2026; check Apple’s pricing page before you buy, especially outside the US.

If your iCloud is full, clean it up first, then pick the smallest tier that fits with room to grow. Most people need less than they think, and families almost always do better sharing one plan.