The best Photos & Media
Every option ranked — open-source, self-hostable, and commercial — by our transparent Sovereignty Score, with honest trade-offs so you choose what fits you, not us.
Back up and organize your photo library on storage you own instead of renting cloud space.
L5Applications — layer 5 of the AI stack- 1
Immich
Top pickOpen sourceA self-hosted photo and video backup that feels like Google Photos.
Free and open-source (self-host); you provide the hardware and storage · in our Google Photos comparison →
What is Immich? →94sovereignty - 2
Ente Photos
Open sourceEnd-to-end encrypted photo backup, open-source and self-hostable.
10 GB free on the hosted cloud; paid plans for more storage; self-host free and open-source · in our Google Photos comparison →
What is Ente Photos? →90sovereignty - 3
PhotoPrism
Open sourceAI-powered, self-hosted photo management for your own server.
Free and open-source (self-host); optional paid membership funds development and unlocks some extras · in our Google Photos comparison →
What is PhotoPrism? →88sovereignty - 4
LibrePhotos
Open sourceA permissively licensed, fully self-hosted photo manager.
Free and open-source (self-host) · in our Google Photos comparison →
What is LibrePhotos? →80sovereignty
Is it free?
The free tier, its real limits and where you start paying — read from each vendor's own pricing page and dated.
Run these yourself
What each one actually needs — real RAM, honest running cost, and the setup time nobody quotes.
- Self-hosting Immich 8 GB
- Self-hosting Ente Photos 2 GB for the server components
- Self-hosting PhotoPrism 4 GB, and 8 GB if you index a large library
- Self-hosting LibrePhotos 6 GB, and it will use more during face recognition
Replacing a specific tool?
Head-to-head comparisons for each popular photos & media product.
Straight head-to-heads
Two photos & media tools, side by side — verified facts and a plain verdict.