I believe that everyone is already aware of Google's tracking records as one of the most privacy-invading company of all time, given their terrible privacy policy, business choices, and ongoing user tracking. However, Google does have certain products that are pretty good, like Google Photos app is one of its better ones. I can see why people would use it It's quick, packed with incredible features, and makes finding photos simple.
However, it is awful for privacy given Google's track history. Recently, though, I found a upon a fantastic alternative called Ente. With real privacy and it doesn't steal your data, it offers nearly all of the features of Google Photos. It is open source, features easy sharing, end-to-end encryption, and allows you to view, organize, and download your data in its original quality across all of its platforms with consistency.
Unfortunately, if you are someone who frequently takes images and has pictures of years and years worth of stuff, you may have to pay for more storage, although the costs are not too high. To minimize space while using Ente, I would consider copying a bunch of images to an external hard drive or SSD. You can also delete unnecessary old screenshots or photos that you don't want to keep saved in your memories to save up storage.
Not the OP, but looked some things up because I was curious. Ente has a 2Tb storage option that costs $300/year or $30/mo; not sure how much you pay for that much storage in Google Photos. Their FAQ says they have an easy import process from Google Photos via Google Takeout (bulk download your data from all Google services). No idea if ente respects the geotags but I imagine they would (seems like an important feature for a Google photos killer).
Thanks for the info. Thats approx 2x what im paying currently for 2tb plus email (im using Google Business Standard plan) so if i were to switch, id also need to find a cheaper email host as well, otherwise id be paying for two services.
In all likelihood im probably not the target market. It works, it works well enough, and i guess im entrenched enough that my momentum isnt going to cause me to leave.