Can Immich fully replace Google Photos?
For most families, yes. Immich has automatic mobile backup, albums, sharing, facial recognition, map view and search by content. Because it is under…
Immich: Self-Hosted Google Photos Alternative
Immich provides automatic mobile backup, AI-powered search, facial recognition, and a polished timeline for managing photos and videos on your own hardware.
Compare with similar apps
How Immich stacks up against other photos apps. Add or remove apps to change the comparison.
| Requirement | Immich | PhotoPrism | LibrePhotos |
|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture | x86 + ARM | x86 + ARM | x86 + ARM |
| Min hardware | 2 cores · 6 GB RAM | Not stated | 2 cores · 4 GB RAM · 10 GB |
| Price | Free | Free + Membership | Free |
| Containers | Worth checking: 4 (app, Postgres +2) | 2 (app, MariaDB) | 1 (app only) |
| Database | Postgres | MariaDB | PostgreSQL |
| Runtime | Node | Go | Python |
| Install options | Docker only | Docker + Linux | Docker + Kubernetes, Windows |
| Clients | iOSAndroid | – | – |
Common questions
How do I back up Immich?
Back up both the photo library folder and the Postgres database. The database holds albums, faces and metadata, so the photos alone are not enough…
Does Immich need a lot of hardware?
The server runs on modest hardware, but machine learning for faces and smart search is the heavy part. The first scan of a large library can take…
How do I move my Google Photos library to Immich?
Export your library with Google Takeout, then upload it with the community tool immich-go. Takeout stores metadata in separate JSON files, and…
Alternatives to Immich
More apps in Photos.
PhotoPrism
A privacy-first app for browsing, organising and sharing photos and videos, with automatic labels and face recognition.
Free + Membershipx86 + ARMGo
LibrePhotos
A photo management service with automatic face recognition, object detection and semantic search powered by machine learning.
Freex86 + ARMPython