For the phone you’re looking at iCloud for cloud or iTunes for local (via computer).
You can backup photos elsewhere, somewhere like Google Photos, and remove the photos from iCloud and downgrade to a lower price plan - 5GB is free.
iCloud backups are safe, don’t let the celebrity hacks fool you. Most were either done accidentally on purpose or the forgotten password info was guessed. First school, city your parents met, date of birth, all stuff available online for celebs really.
I find it easier to go on an iCloud family plan to average out the cost by letting four others use the data. Means my photos are backed up twice but that’s my preference.