Immich vs Google Photos: Can Self-Hosted Replace Google?
Quick Verdict
Immich covers 85-90% of what Google Photos does. Auto-upload, face recognition, smart search, shared albums, timeline, and map view all work well. What’s missing: Google’s superior AI (Google Lens, Magic Eraser, generative editing), seamless integration with the Google ecosystem, and the zero-maintenance convenience of a managed cloud service. If privacy and ownership matter to you, Immich is a genuine replacement. If Google’s AI editing tools are essential to your workflow, nothing self-hosted matches them.
Overview
Google Photos is the most widely used photo management service, with over 1 billion users. It offers 15 GB of free storage (shared with Gmail and Drive), automatic organization with industry-leading AI, mobile apps with background upload, and deep integration with the Google ecosystem. Paid plans (Google One) start at $1.99/month for 100 GB.
Immich is a self-hosted photo management platform that explicitly aims to be a Google Photos replacement. It has native iOS and Android apps with background upload, face recognition, CLIP-based smart search, shared albums, timeline view, and a polished web interface. Immich is free, open-source (AGPL-3.0), and has 90,000+ GitHub stars.
This comparison is between a cloud service backed by Google’s multi-billion-dollar AI infrastructure and a self-hosted open-source project. The fact that Immich competes at all is remarkable.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Immich | Google Photos |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (self-hosted) | Free (15 GB) / $1.99-9.99/month |
| Storage | Unlimited (your hardware) | 15 GB free, then paid |
| Mobile auto-upload | Yes (iOS + Android) | Yes (iOS + Android) |
| Face recognition | Yes (good) | Yes (industry-leading) |
| Smart search | Yes (CLIP — “dog on beach”) | Yes (Google AI — superior) |
| Object detection | Yes (via CLIP) | Yes (detailed labels, scenes) |
| Photo editing | No | Yes (Magic Eraser, filters, AI editing) |
| Google Lens integration | No | Yes |
| Memories/flashbacks | Yes | Yes (more sophisticated) |
| Map view | Yes | Yes |
| Shared albums | Yes | Yes |
| Partner sharing | Yes (shared libraries) | Yes (partner accounts) |
| Multi-user | Yes (full user management) | Tied to Google account |
| Timeline view | Yes | Yes |
| Video support | Yes (playback + transcoding) | Yes (playback + basic editing) |
| RAW support | Yes | Yes |
| Offline access | Via mobile app download | Via mobile app download |
| API | REST API | Limited (Google Photos API) |
| Privacy | Full control (your server) | Google scans all content |
| Data portability | Full access to originals | Google Takeout (clunky for large libraries) |
| Backup redundancy | You manage backups | Google’s infrastructure |
Where Immich Wins
Privacy and Ownership
This is the fundamental advantage. Google Photos scans every image with AI to build advertising profiles, train models, and extract data. Google has admitted that Photos data informs ad targeting. Your most personal moments — family, children, medical documents you photographed — are processed by Google’s systems.
Immich stores everything on your server. No external connections for AI processing (the ML runs locally). No telemetry. No data mining. Your photos never leave your network.
Storage Costs
Google gives 15 GB free (shared with Gmail and Drive), then charges $1.99/month for 100 GB up to $9.99/month for 2 TB. Over 5 years, a 2 TB plan costs $600.
A self-hosted Immich server with a 4 TB drive costs ~$300-500 for hardware plus $5/month for electricity. After the initial investment, storage expansion costs only the price of a hard drive ($80 for 4 TB). For large photo libraries, self-hosting is significantly cheaper long-term.
No Vendor Lock-In
If Google changes pricing, reduces free storage (they already did in 2021), or discontinues Google Photos, your library is at risk. With Immich, your photos are standard files on your filesystem. You can switch tools, access them directly, or use any backup strategy you choose.
Unlimited Users
Immich supports unlimited users for free. Google Photos requires separate Google accounts, and sharing features are limited to specific Google-defined structures.
Where Google Photos Wins
AI Capabilities
Google’s AI is years ahead. Google Lens can identify objects, landmarks, text in images, and even plant species from your photos. Magic Eraser removes unwanted objects. Best Take picks the best facial expressions in group photos. Generative AI can change backgrounds and lighting. Immich has face recognition and CLIP search — solid, but not in the same league.
Zero Maintenance
Google Photos requires zero technical knowledge. No server setup, no Docker, no backups to manage, no updates to apply. It just works. Immich requires a server, Docker knowledge, regular updates, and a backup strategy. For non-technical users, this is a significant barrier.
Ecosystem Integration
Google Photos integrates with Gmail, Google Drive, Android, Chromecast, Google Home displays, and Google’s assistant. Sharing a photo in Google Chat, setting a Chromecast backdrop, or asking Google Assistant to “show my photos from Italy” — these integrations don’t exist with Immich.
Reliability
Google’s infrastructure has 99.99%+ uptime, automatic redundancy, and disaster recovery. A self-hosted server depends on your hardware, your power, your internet, and your backups. Hardware failure without a backup means lost photos.
Cost Comparison
| Google Photos (Free) | Google Photos (2 TB) | Self-Hosted (Immich) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | $0 | $9.99 | ~$5-10 (electricity) |
| Annual cost | $0 | $119.88 | ~$60-120 |
| 3-year cost | $0 | $359.64 | ~$180-360 + hardware |
| Storage | 15 GB (shared) | 2 TB | 4+ TB (expandable) |
| AI features | Full Google AI | Full Google AI | CLIP search, face recognition |
| Privacy | Google scans everything | Same | Full control |
| Maintenance | Zero | Zero | Server management required |
Use Cases
Switch to Immich If…
- Privacy is a priority — you don’t want Google scanning your personal photos
- You’re already paying for Google One storage and want to stop
- You have a server (NAS, mini PC, or VPS) and are comfortable with Docker
- You want unlimited storage for your household
- You want to own your data permanently with no subscription
- You’re in the homelab/self-hosting ecosystem already
Stay with Google Photos If…
- You rely on Google’s AI editing tools (Magic Eraser, Best Take)
- You’re deeply integrated with the Google ecosystem (Chromecast, Google Home)
- You’re non-technical and don’t want to manage a server
- The free 15 GB tier covers your needs
- Zero-maintenance convenience is more important than privacy
- You’re not comfortable with backup management
Final Verdict
Immich is a genuine Google Photos replacement for self-hosters. The core experience — auto-upload from mobile, face recognition, smart search, shared albums, timeline browsing — works well. If you’re motivated by privacy, cost savings, or ownership, Immich delivers.
It’s not a 1:1 replacement. Google’s AI capabilities, ecosystem integration, and zero-maintenance convenience are real advantages. But for the 85-90% of Google Photos features that most people actually use daily (upload, browse, share), Immich matches or exceeds the experience — with full privacy and no subscription.
The self-hosting trade-off is real: you need hardware, Docker knowledge, and a backup strategy. If that’s acceptable, Immich is the best path away from Google Photos.
FAQ
Can I use both during migration?
Yes. Run Immich alongside Google Photos. Configure mobile auto-upload to send photos to both services during a transition period. Once you’re confident in Immich, disable Google Photos upload.
How do I migrate from Google Photos?
- Use Google Takeout to export your library
- Google Takeout exports photos with separate JSON sidecar files for metadata
- Use the Immich CLI or community migration tools to import — they handle the JSON metadata merging
- Verify the import, then clean up Google Photos
Does Immich’s face recognition match Google’s?
It’s close but not equal. Google’s face recognition is more accurate with difficult angles, lighting conditions, and children (who change quickly). Immich’s recognition is good for most cases and improves as you label faces. For a typical family library, both work well enough.
What about video storage?
Google Photos compresses video (unless you’re on the original quality setting, which consumes storage quota). Immich stores original quality always — no compression, no quality loss. For large video libraries, Immich is better if you have the storage.
Is Immich stable enough for my only photo backup?
Immich should never be your only backup. It stores photos on your local filesystem, which means a drive failure could lose everything. Follow the 3-2-1 backup rule: 3 copies, 2 different media types, 1 offsite. Use Immich as your primary system, but maintain backups.
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