Comparison
A Google Photos alternative for your event.
Google Photos looks after a personal library extremely well. Collecting the photos of a wedding from several dozen guests is a different job: a shared album remains one shelf inside somebody's photo library, with that person's account, that person's storage and that person's quality setting.
Medley starts from the other end: an album made for one evening, a QR code, no account for the guests, and original quality whatever phone the picture came from.
Where Google Photos gives way at an event
Quality depends on each person's setting
In Storage saver, Google's help states that a photo above 16 MP is resized to 16 MP and that a video above 1080p is brought down to 1080p. You will never go round setting up forty guests' phones, and you will never know which ones needed it.
Everything lands on one Google account's storage
Original quality counts against the storage of the account doing the backing up, of which 15 GB comes free. An evening filmed by a dozen people reaches that quickly, and then it is a subscription to pay or a switch to reduced quality.
Your memories on an advertising company's servers
Google is a US company subject to the Cloud Act, and its business model rests on making use of data. The faces at a wedding, the children, the people closest to you, deserve better than an advertising ecosystem.
Built for a library, not for a party
No page in the name of your event, no sign to put on the tables, and nothing to gather words: a comment under a photo is not a guest book, where each guest leaves a written note, their voice or a short video.
What changes, point by point
Photo and video quality
- Google Photos
- Down to each person's setting: in Storage saver, photos are resized to 16 MP and videos to 1080p
- Medley
- Original quality, always, whatever the phone
Storage
- Google Photos
- Counted against the Google account doing the backing up (15 GB included)
- Medley
- Nothing to manage: the storage comes with the album
Accounts
- Google Photos
- A Google account to create and manage the shared album
- Medley
- An account for the organiser; a first name for the guests
QR code
- Google Photos
- Yes, Show QR Code from album sharing (screenshot it if you want to print it)
- Medley
- QR code and a print-ready sign, generated along with the album
On the day
- Google Photos
- A library album, with no event dressing around it
- Medley
- A page in the name of the party, and a live slideshow on the screen
Guest book (written, voice, video)
- Google Photos
- None: commenting under a photo is not leaving a message for the hosts
- Medley
- A written note, a voice message or a short video, behind the same QR code as the photos
Hosting and business model
- Google Photos
- US company (Cloud Act), advertising ecosystem
- Medley
- Hosted in the European Union (France, OVH), GDPR, zero advertising
Sources, checked on 7 August 2026Google Photos: choose your backup quality · Google Photos: share photos and videosThe same help page states that anyone with the link can view the photos and add to the album. Services change: check their current terms before you decide.
When Google Photos is still the right choice
For a personal library (automatic backup, search that finds a face in a decade of pictures, memories resurfacing on their own), Google Photos is remarkable, and nothing here is an argument for leaving it. If your guests all have a Google account and the app on their phone, a shared album is perfectly fine for a small gathering. Medley takes over when the guests are many, when half of them are not in that ecosystem, and when you want original quality without depending on anybody's settings.
Frequently asked questions
- Can people add photos to a shared Google Photos album without an account?
- Yes: Google's help states that anyone with the link can view the photos and add to the album. The difference lies elsewhere. The album is still one shelf of somebody's library, tied to their Google account, their storage allowance and their quality setting, and it has no page in the name of your event.
- Does Google Photos compress photos?
- It depends on each account's setting. In Storage saver, Google's help resizes a photo above 16 MP to 16 MP and a video above 1080p to 1080p. Medley keeps the original quality without asking anything of anyone.
- Do the photos in a shared album count against Google storage?
- Yes: according to Google's help, original quality counts against the storage of the account doing the backing up, of which 15 GB comes free. With Medley the storage is part of the album, so nobody has a quota to watch during the party.
- Why does it matter where event photos are hosted?
- Event photos are sensitive personal data: faces, children, the people closest to you. Hosting inside the European Union places them under the GDPR and out of reach of the Cloud Act. Medley hosts in the European Union, in France with OVH, and makes no advertising use of any of it.
Read on
Wedding photo sharing
A QR code on the tables, and every photo your guests took, gathered in full quality.
An alternative to the WhatsApp group
WhatsApp compresses photos and videos and drowns your memories in the thread. There is better.
Getting the wedding photos your guests took
The 6 methods compared honestly, from the USB stick to the QR code: before or after the day.
Event photos hosted in the EU
Where your guests' photos live, who can read them, and how long they stay. Named, not implied.
An album for the evening, not a folder in a library.
One QR code, no account for your guests, and original quality with no setting to check.
Create an album