GoKawiilModern cloud storage, the way we know it, has been around commercially since 2006, when Amazon launched its Simple Storage Service (S3). In the following years, personal cloud storage rose in popularity thanks to services like Dropbox and Google Drive. Back then, the idea of being able to access a few of your most important files on any computer felt remarkably convenient. Nowadays, cloud storage has become more of a necessity, often requiring a subscription if you want to store more than a few gigabytes.
Apple's iCloud notoriously only offers 5GB of storage for free. In addition to backing up your photos and videos, you're somehow supposed to accommodate device backups from your iPhone, iPad and Mac. Although the 50GB monthly subscription may not seem costly at $0.99, that amount of cloud storage isn't really sufficient if you also want to transfer large amounts of files stored on your computer.
If you're searching for a backup option and don't necessarily need your computer's files accessible from the cloud, you don't need to look beyond what macOS has to offer.
Time Machine is a utility that's been available on the Mac for years. It lets you create a local backup of your apps, photos, videos and other documents and transfer them to an external hard drive or SSD for safekeeping. It's normal for the first run to take a while, but subsequent snapshots will be much quicker and can be scheduled to run hourly, daily or weekly.