How much storage do you actually need?
Answer four simple questions about how you use your device. We'll estimate what your photos, videos, games, and files will need over time and recommend a practical storage size.
Free · No account required · Takes under a minute
Storage sizes at a glance
128 GB – 2 TB+- 128 GB
- Light phone use, streaming media, and cloud-backed photos
- 256 GB
- Everyday smartphone or work laptop with moderate local files
- 512 GB
- Regular 4K video clips, large apps, or 4–6 modern games
- 1 TB
- Heavy photo/video libraries, creative work, or 10+ large games
- 2 TB+
- RAW photography, frequent 4K/60 filming, or large local archives
Storage questions, answered
A practical starting point for choosing storage across phones, computers, creative work, and backups.
How much storage should I choose for a new phone?
128 GB can suit light use with cloud-backed photos. 256 GB is a comfortable everyday starting point for many people, while 512 GB or 1 TB can help if you keep lots of photos, videos, games, or downloads on the device. Your camera habits and how often you offload files matter as much as the headline number.
Why can the recommendation differ from my estimated file total?
A file estimate describes possible future data growth. A recommendation also considers practical product sizes and usable free space, so it can suggest a different purchase size and explain when offloading or archiving is more realistic.
Why does the calculator leave free space?
Operating systems, apps, caches, updates, and temporary files need room too. The estimate includes a practical buffer rather than assuming every advertised gigabyte is available for your personal files.
What if my photos or video library is larger than my device?
Keep active projects on the device, then move older footage or originals to a separate drive or a backup service. For valuable files, keep more than one copy and check that your backups can be restored.
Does Storage Reality save my answers?
Calculator answers stay in your browser. If you use the share option, the profile is encoded in the link you choose to share. Optional analytics does not receive your answers or profile values. See the privacy page.
What can we help you with?
Choose what you're buying or planning for to start the calculator with tailored questions.
Phone
Apps, everyday photos, 4K video clips, offline downloads, and system updates.
Laptop
Desktop programs, work documents, local photo libraries, and project files.
Gaming
Console, PC, or handheld game libraries, modern AAA installs, and update patches.
Photography
High-resolution phone libraries, mirrorless JPEGs, and uncompressed RAW shoots.
Video
Regular 1080p, 4K, or 60fps video recording where footage adds up every month.
Cloud storage
Multi-year photo and video backups, family libraries, and synced document folders.
How it works
A straightforward three-step process designed for normal buyers, not storage engineers.
- 1
Tell us how you use storage
Pick what you're choosing storage for and answer a few plain-English questions about your habits and how long you plan to keep the device.
- 2
We estimate what you'll need
Our model calculates your current library, monthly additions over 1–5 years, realistic file-size ranges, and 20% working headroom.
- 3
Get a practical recommendation
See the exact storage tier to buy (from 64 GB to 4 TB+), how adjacent sizes compare, and a full category-by-category breakdown.
Why Storage Reality?
Most storage calculators ask for technical information normal people don't know—like video bitrates in Mbps, codec efficiency, or raw file sizes in megabytes.
Storage Reality turns everyday usage into a practical storage recommendation, while keeping every underlying formula and source open for inspection.
What every estimate accounts for
- Photos
- Current photo library plus new photos added each month (HEIC, JPEG, or RAW).
- Videos
- Monthly recording duration scaled by resolution (720p to 8K) and frame rate.
- Games
- Installed library across indie titles, mid-size games, and 100 GB+ AAA releases.
- Apps
- Everyday apps, creative or developer tools, and local application caches.
- Documents
- PDFs, office files, project archives, and offline downloads.
- Future growth
- How your files accumulate over your chosen 1, 2, 3, or 5-year horizon.
- Free space & headroom
- A practical 20% buffer for OS updates, temporary caches, and drive health.
Tools
Practical utilities for planning device and backup capacity.
Storage Reality Calculator
Interactive plannerEstimate how much storage you need across photos, videos, games, apps, and documents over 1 to 5+ years, with optional advanced controls for custom photo formats and video bitrates.