I’m having a hard time dealing with and figuring out the best way to manage iCloud vs device storage.

Tinaspeed201 wrote:

I have an iPhone, MacBook Air and an iPad. My iPad currently has a ton of storage but because of my basic iCloud, nothing is getting backed up. At the end of the day, I want my iPad to cover off on all backup related items but iCloud won’t let this happen because overall stored items are bigger than the 5GB basic free set up I have with iCloud. Is there a better way to manage this?

A synced Apple system, ie: iPad, iPhone and iCloud will be limited by the device with the least amount of storage.

Get more iCloud storage or reduce what you are syncing.

If backups aren't being done - If you can't back up to iCloud or restore from iCloud backup failed - Apple Support.