#1★ TOP PICK
Immich
A self-hosted photo and video backup that feels like Google Photos.
94
OPEN SOURCEAGPL-3.0SELF-HOSTLOCAL-FIRST
Immich is an open-source, self-hosted photo and video platform built specifically as a Google Photos-style experience you run yourself. Its mobile apps back up your camera roll automatically in the background, and the web app offers timeline browsing, albums, sharing, map view, and on-device-style machine learning for face grouping and object/text search. Your photos are stored as ordinary files on your own server, so you keep full ownership; the trade-off is that you operate the stack (server, database, and backups) yourself.
⌁ Runs on a mini-PC, NAS, or Raspberry Pi 4/5, but the face-recognition and search features are happier with 4 GB+ of RAM; storage scales with the size of your library.
Strengths
- +Closest Google Photos-like experience among the open options
- +Automatic background camera-roll backup on iOS and Android
- +Fully open-source (AGPL-3.0), backed by FUTO
- +Photos stored as normal files on hardware you own
- +Very active development and a large community
Trade-offs
- −You run and back up the server, database, and storage
- −Fast release pace means occasional breaking changes to watch for on upgrade
- −Machine-learning features (face/object search) want a few GB of RAM to run smoothly
- −No hosted option — self-hosting is the only path
Free and open-source (self-host); you provide the hardware and storage #2
Ente Photos
End-to-end encrypted photo backup, open-source and self-hostable.
90
OPEN SOURCEAGPL-3.0SELF-HOST
Ente Photos is an open-source photo service whose defining feature is end-to-end encryption: your library is encrypted on your device before it ever reaches a server, so even the host cannot see your photos. It offers polished apps across iOS, Android, web, macOS, Windows, and Linux with automatic background backup, face recognition, albums, and shared links. Most people use Ente's audited paid cloud, but the same server is fully open-source and can be self-hosted for those who want to run everything themselves.
⌁ Self-hosting needs a PostgreSQL database and S3-compatible object storage (e.g. MinIO or Garage) alongside the server; a small VPS or home server handles personal or family use.
Strengths
- +End-to-end encrypted by design — the host cannot read your photos
- +Independently audited (Cure53, Symbolic Software, Fallible)
- +Polished apps on every major platform with automatic backup
- +Fully open-source (AGPL-3.0) and self-hostable
Trade-offs
- −Self-hosting is more involved — multiple containers plus object storage
- −The most frictionless path is the paid hosted cloud, not self-hosting
- −Encrypted design means photos aren't plain browsable files on disk
- −Free hosted tier is 10 GB
10 GB free on the hosted cloud; paid plans for more storage; self-host free and open-source #3
PhotoPrism
AI-powered, self-hosted photo management for your own server.
88
OPEN SOURCEAGPL-3.0SELF-HOSTLOCAL-FIRST
PhotoPrism is an open-source, self-hosted photo manager that indexes an existing folder of photos and adds automatic tagging, face recognition, powerful search, maps, and albums. It is a strong fit when you already keep your photos as files and want a fast web gallery and organization layer on top, with your originals staying untouched on disk. It has no native background-backup app of its own; phone backup is handled by pointing a WebDAV-capable sync app (or Syncthing) at it.
⌁ Runs on a mini-PC, NAS, or Raspberry Pi, but initial indexing and TensorFlow-based recognition benefit from more CPU and RAM; a common setup pairs it with Syncthing for phone backup.
Strengths
- +Works directly on your existing folders of photo files
- +Strong search, tagging, face recognition, and map view
- +Fully open-source (AGPL-3.0), mature and stable
- +Your original files stay as-is on disk
Trade-offs
- −No native mobile app for automatic background backup — relies on WebDAV sync apps or Syncthing
- −Some conveniences and early features are tied to a paid membership
- −Indexing large libraries and face recognition are resource-intensive
- −Less of a turnkey Google Photos replacement than Immich for phone backup
Free and open-source (self-host); optional paid membership funds development and unlocks some extras #4
LibrePhotos
A permissively licensed, fully self-hosted photo manager.
80
OPEN SOURCEMITSELF-HOSTLOCAL-FIRST
LibrePhotos is a self-hosted photo management service, originally inspired by the discontinued Google PhotoScan/Google Photos experience, offering timeline browsing, face recognition, object and scene tagging, and search over your own library. Its MIT license makes it the most permissively licensed option here, and it is a community-driven project. It is capable but less polished than Immich or PhotoPrism, with a smaller community and a slower development pace.
⌁ Best on a machine with several GB of RAM; the initial face/object training pass is CPU- and memory-intensive before day-to-day browsing settles down.
Strengths
- +Permissive MIT license
- +Face recognition, tagging, and search on your own server
- +Photos remain files on hardware you own
- +Community-driven and free to run
Trade-offs
- −Smaller community and slower development than Immich or PhotoPrism
- −Rougher, less polished interface
- −Resource-hungry during initial scanning and training
- −No first-party mobile backup app as seamless as Immich's
Free and open-source (self-host)