I used Google photos just to have my pictures and videos automatically uploaded from my phone when I took them and to the cloud, with the added perk that they could be viewed and shared online if I felt like it. I'm not sure if there's anything more to it?
If not, I recomend Nextcloud managed by some hosting provider. Hetzner is German and probably the cheapest option out there. I use Murena from France, as I'm fine paying a little more because they develop my phone OS. It's still a lot cheaper for me than my Dropbox subscription was, and I couldn't be happier with how Nextcloud works.
The fact that it's the same apps and functionality between different providers also makes it easier to switch down the road if necessary, whereas other providers might try to lock you into their app ecosystems in order to make you stick with them even as they increase prices or make their services worse.