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Robert Triggs \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n
I love Google Photos; its ease of use and feature set are unrivaled in my opinion. However, I\u2019m an even bigger fan of self-hosting \u2014 I use my DIY NAS<\/a> to replace a considerable range of overpriced subscription services. However, so far, I haven\u2019t been able to replace Google Photos completely, but I might have finally found a way to truly cut the cord.<\/p>\n See, I\u2019m loath to fork out for Google One when I have 10TB of hard drive space on my NAS. Still, I use Google Photos to make the occasional quick edit, to help share snaps with friends and family quickly, and even duplicate a few of my most cherished memories as part of the recommended 3-2-1 backup rule<\/a>. For storing most of my older snaps, I\u2019ve been using PhotoPrism, but as good as it is as a photo library, it lacks the rich feature set of Photos, especially for managing multiple users in my home.<\/p>\n Would you consider hosting your own Google Photos alternative?<\/p>\n 206 votes<\/p>\n I’m already doing it.<\/p>\n 33%<\/p>\n Yes, but it would need to be simple.<\/p>\n 46%<\/p>\n No, Google Photos is amazing.<\/p>\n 17%<\/p>\n I use a different cloud service.<\/p>\n 3%<\/p>\n As a replacement that\u2019ll come much closer to Google\u2019s feature set and setup, I\u2019ve had my eye on Immich<\/a> for a long time. This self-hosted photo library and organization tool certainly evokes a familiar look and feel, and has definitely been inspired by many of the cloud platform\u2019s classic features.<\/p>\n The service reached its first stable build towards the end of 2025, and I\u2019ve finally had the time to spin it up and see if it will replace Photos for me. Here\u2019s how I got it working and whether you should bother spinning it up, too.<\/p>\n How and where can you run Immich?<\/p>\n Robert Triggs \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n The first question to consider when thinking about moving away from a popular service like Google Photos is: Where and how will I run my alternative?<\/p>\n If you have your own NAS<\/a> or a little DIY mini-PC alternative, you can certainly host it yourself. The alternative, which is particularly useful if you want internet access to your photos, is to host on a virtual private server (VPS). However, the costs of a VPS plus significant online storage could be higher than paying for Google One, so the only reason to go down this route would be the privacy option.<\/p>\n Immich has guides<\/a> for quick setup on popular NAS services<\/a> and self-hosting options, including one-click installs for Synology, TruNAS, Unraid, DigitalOcean, Vultr, and more. I opted for the recommended Docker Compose route on my DIY NAS because I love a good container; however, the point is that you should be well-equipped to get started on whatever platform you prefer.<\/p>\n Immich is much like Google Photos, but you host the server on your own private network.<\/p>\n The other half of the equation is how to transfer photos from your phone to your library. Immich provides a web UI for desktop environments, which is a nice start. Thankfully, there are also dedicated apps for both Android and iOS that can handle backups and library browsing. The app is free too (though you can support the project<\/a>), which is something that can\u2019t be said for some alternative self-hosting setups.<\/p>\n The final and completely optional piece of the puzzle is deciding whether you want to access Immich outside of your home. This is a helpful option if you travel a lot and is an essential step if you want to share albums with friends and family via URL links. However, exposing any service to the web is always a risk, so I\u2019ll leave you to conduct your own research to ensure you fully understand what you\u2019re doing. I\u2019ve left mine offline for now, as the app stores a cache and can update when you\u2019re back on your home Wi-Fi, which is more than good enough for me.<\/p>\n How does it really compare with Google Photos?<\/p>\n Robert Triggs \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n Now, Immich is not a direct Google Photos alternative \u2014 self-hosting obviously isn\u2019t for everybody, after all. Still, it does aim to emulate its look and some of its more quintessential features, but it does this with more advanced admin features to help store and manage all your family\u2019s photos without merging everything together. And that\u2019s the big difference here: Immich is as much about managing users as it is about organizing your photos.<\/p>\n Setting up accounts is as simple as specifying an email address and a password; each user instantly receives their own private photo library, complete with the option of a password-protected locked folder. You can instantly share albums between other Immich users on your instance, which is a significant boon for my household. Plus, you can share your entire library with a partner account. So while each account is private and unique, just like Google, you can easily share snaps and memories across accounts on your system.<\/p>\n Speaking of administration, Immich is packed with metrics to help you quickly visualize the size of your library, the breakdown of photos to video, and your overall storage or remaining quota. It\u2019s not overly complex, but there\u2019s just enough detail here to help you plan as your storage gradually fills up.<\/p>\n There are even more advanced features, but these require additional setup, such as OAuth logins, email notifications, and time-limited public\/external image sharing. Speaking of sharing, other accounts can contribute to shared albums, and you can even accept public uploads for shared links. I haven\u2019t got around to setting these up yet, but it just goes to show how top-tier you can make your Immich setup if you want to go deeper than a \u201cbasic\u201d self-hosted library.<\/p>\n Thankfully, the mobile app makes backing up your phone\u2019s photos as seamless as ever, aping the familiar backup folder configuration and data or Wi-Fi toggles. So, if you want a system that is very simple for your family to use, Immich still fits the bill, despite the wide range of deeper configuration options that you might want to explore as the system administrator.<\/p>\n For Google Photos fans, Immich boasts several familiar and useful features. There\u2019s a geotagged map to view photos around the globe, motion photo support, machine-learning-based Memories to relive moments, and Locked Folders to keep photos out of the reach of prying eyes. Speaking of machine learning, Immich\u2019s search function also works with identified people, places, objects, and other broad search terms, such as beaches, cars, and food. It\u2019s not quite as robust as Google\u2019s powerful cloud service, but it\u2019s pretty powerful for a self-hosted platform.<\/p>\n I won\u2019t list all of Immich\u2019s user features here (you can read about them on the roadmap<\/a>), but metadata editing, 360-degree photos, a native HDR video player, and more are all included. Having played around with most of what Immich has to offer, I think it definitely provides one of the most robust sets of library tools that\u2019ll suit even the most demanding archivers.<\/p>\n Photos fans will find tons of familiar features, from map view to collaborative album sharing.<\/p>\n Most of these features are shared between the mobile and web apps, but there are a few minor differences. For instance, Immich doesn\u2019t boast much in the way of photo editing capabilities here. The mobile app supports basic cropping, rotating, and a few filters, but the web app has nothing. Additional basic editor tools are planned for a future release, but if you love Magic Editor<\/a>, stick with Google\u2019s suite.<\/p>\n Still, for managing mobile backups and multiple users, I genuinely think it\u2019s both the easiest to use and most powerful Google Photos alternative out there.<\/p>\n So, do I like Immich?<\/p>\n Robert Triggs \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n I do, I really like Immich. It manages to do something that my existing setup can\u2019t; it makes it as effortless to manage multiple users as it is to back up my photos. Thanks to a compelling feature set, Immich can probably do 90% of what I like about Google Photos; it\u2019s just missing the editing capabilities that I can still use on my phone anyway.<\/p>\n I will say that the sheer range of configuration options and deep settings menus can be confusing, especially if you\u2019re trying to unlock hardware acceleration for video transcoding or machine learning. This level of depth might put some users off, but it\u2019s thankfully entirely optional. Importing a new library is also very slow on my N100 machine, taking many hours to generate thumbnails and collect face data, which is to be expected in an energy-efficient NAS setup. Desktop-class PCs will be much faster.<\/p>\n External file management aside, Immich is a powerful yet simple alternative to cloud photo backups.<\/p>\n If I have one bigger complaint with Immich, it\u2019s the file management structure. Ideally, I\u2019d like the system to seamlessly integrate and adopt my existing file structure, scanning the library for updated files regardless of how they are added. I\u2019m accustomed to this approach from Photoprism and other media managers like Plex and Jellyfin<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not how Immich works; likely owing to user management requirements. Instead, it creates its own folder structure for user uploads, thumbnails, video transcodes, and more. Now, in fairness, you can import data from external libraries directly into your timeline (which I used for my existing albums), set the library folder structure template to your preferred style, and even configure the various storage locations<\/a> if you\u2019re comfortable with a more advanced Docker setup.<\/p>\n However, none of those quite suits my needs, as I split my shooting between my smartphone and mirrorless camera. I sometimes edit my existing pictures, and I\u2019m accustomed to occasionally dropping new files directly into my networked photos folder from my PC. However, with Immich, you shouldn\u2019t make changes to the library folder directly; all file management should be done through the app\u2019s interface. I could certainly learn to add in that extra step, but it\u2019s also just annoying to have multiple file structures for old and new files.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t want to miss the best from Android Authority?<\/p>\n![\"DIY](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/DIY-NAS-NUC-top.jpg\"\/ "\\"DIY")
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