GoKawiilThe truth is that the 5GB free tier is almost like a trial version of iCloud. You can get a glimpse of how it works, but you won't really get to take full advantage of it. Chances are your photo library alone takes up more than 5GB, unless you don't take many photos and videos. Apple mainly offers two iCloud+ plans: One with 50GB of storage and another with 200GB.
Maybe you're still unsure about paying for iCloud, or you're not a heavy user. If that's the case, start with 50GB, which costs just $0.99 per month. It's a solid plan for keeping your contacts, app settings, messages and documents synced across all your devices. Over time, that might not be enough — especially if you sync thousands of photos and videos to the cloud. This is when you'd go for the 200GB plan. It's the plan most people sign up for and it costs $2.99 a month.
There are plenty of benefits to using the smaller iCloud tiers, especially if you've tied yourself into the Apple ecosystem. Your apps, settings and media get synced across devices easily, so you don't have to worry when it's time to transfer your data to a new iPhone.