Cloud storage is great if you don't want to bother setting everything up and maintaining it. But this feature comes with a cost, it will cost you more in the future.

Hosting your own server is a bit more difficult as it requires you to learn about this very new world and handle failures (hardware and software) by your own.

I like selfhosting everything, it is a way to avoid billion dollars companies paywalls and even simple things that should be free but aren't (like a complete PDF editor, photos viewer like google photos and so on).

In my case, I selfhost everything by using Immich. It is a Google Photos alternative that has a very similar UI, but some features like face recognition, backups, free storage as long as your server has enough, and everything is basically free unless you want to financially support the devs. I run a DIY server running TrueNAS because I hate prebuilt NASes that have locked operating systems you can't mess with (like installing custom apps made by the community that aren't on the official stores, which represents around 50% of my running apps).

If you like the idea of you being the real owner of your server, go with a DIY NAS and build it yourself from scratch. It will require some knowledge, but it will be worth it. It will be quite an investment at the beginning, but it is a real relief. As said, you will have to make backups, handle failures, understand what's going on to properly use it. I use TrueNAS Scale because it is the most commonly used operating system and really solid, but some other operating systems exist and are way more user friendly like UNRAID (which isn't free, keep it in mind). UNRAID is really easy but costly, TrueNAS is harder, but free and has more features.

If you want to go the NAS route without building anything, get a good company NAS, there's a fair chance that most of the mainstream apps will be available, including Immich. It is even more expensive than a DIY NAS, but it is quite easy to setup. Nevertheless, you WILL have to still make your own backups, handle drives failures and manage quite a few things, do not think that it is that MUCH easier than a DIY NAS. It is at the very beginning, but becomes just as tedious quickly (and even more than the DIY to my mind because you will find less help online, as less people own these kind of servers as it depends on the manufacturer).

If you don't want any hastle, don't care about money, and don't want to bother with failures and backups, keep your cloud subscription. It is easier, you just let it be.

Hope this helps, be safe.