Self-Hosted Google Photos Alternatives
Why Replace Google Photos?
Google Photos stopped offering free unlimited storage in June 2021. The free tier now gives you 15 GB shared across Gmail, Drive, and Photos. After that, you’re paying $3/month for 100 GB or $10/month for 2 TB through Google One.
But cost is only part of the story:
- Privacy. Google scans every photo you upload for object recognition, location tagging, and face grouping — all feeding into their advertising profile of you. Your most intimate family moments are training data.
- Storage limits. 2 TB sounds like a lot until you’re shooting 4K video. A family with multiple devices can burn through that in a year.
- Lock-in. Google Takeout exports work, but they’re clunky. Your albums, favorites, and metadata don’t always come along cleanly.
- Policy changes. Google has a track record of changing terms, raising prices, and sunsetting products. You have zero control over the platform your memories live on.
Self-hosting puts you back in control. You own the hardware, you own the data, and there’s no monthly fee beyond electricity and the one-time cost of storage.
Best Alternatives
1. Immich — Best Overall Replacement
Immich is the closest thing to a full Google Photos replacement that exists in the self-hosted world. It has native iOS and Android apps with automatic background upload, AI-powered facial recognition, CLIP-based smart search (search “dog on beach” and it works), map view, shared albums, and a polished web UI.
With 90,000+ GitHub stars and extremely active development, Immich is the clear frontrunner. It handles the features most people actually use Google Photos for: auto-upload from phone, browse by date, search by face or content, and share albums with family.
Best for: Anyone who wants the full Google Photos experience, self-hosted. Families who want shared libraries with mobile auto-upload.
Trade-offs: Requires 4-8 GB RAM for ML features. Under very active development — expect breaking changes between versions.
Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Immich
2. PhotoPrism — Best for Large Existing Libraries
PhotoPrism excels at indexing and organizing massive existing photo collections. Its AI-powered classification, map view, and search are mature and stable. It works well for people who already have terabytes of photos on a NAS and want a smart interface on top.
PhotoPrism is more mature than Immich and has been stable longer. It supports browsing by location, color, camera model, and auto-generated categories. The web UI is clean and functional.
Best for: Users with large existing libraries who want powerful browsing and search. People who prioritize stability over cutting-edge features.
Trade-offs: No native mobile app for auto-upload (use Photosync as a third-party workaround). The free version (AGPL) has some features gated behind the paid “Essentials” tier. Requires 4 GB swap minimum for indexing.
Read our full guide: How to Self-Host PhotoPrism
3. LibrePhotos — Best for Privacy-First Users
LibrePhotos is a fully open-source photo management system with face recognition, auto-tagging, and timeline views. It’s a fork of the discontinued OwnPhotos project and focuses on being completely free without any paid tiers.
LibrePhotos has a functional web UI, supports face grouping, location-based browsing, and automatic photo scanning. Development has slowed compared to Immich and PhotoPrism, but it remains a solid option for users who want a completely FOSS solution.
Best for: Users who want a fully open-source solution with no paid tier. Privacy-focused users who value the FOSS commitment.
Trade-offs: Slower development pace. No native mobile app. Fewer features than Immich or PhotoPrism. Requires 4 GB RAM minimum.
Read our full guide: How to Self-Host LibrePhotos
4. Lychee — Best Lightweight Gallery
Lychee is a sleek, fast photo management tool that focuses on being a beautiful gallery rather than a Google Photos clone. It’s lighter weight than the alternatives above and works well as a portfolio or sharing tool.
Lychee doesn’t try to replicate Google Photos’ AI features. Instead, it gives you a fast, organized gallery with albums, tags, sharing, and user management. If you don’t need face recognition or smart search, Lychee is simpler to run and maintain.
Best for: Users who want a clean photo gallery without heavy ML features. Photographers who want a portfolio-style sharing tool. Users with limited server resources.
Trade-offs: No AI features (no face recognition, no smart search). No native mobile app with auto-upload. Not a full Google Photos replacement — more of a gallery.
Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Lychee
Migration Guide
Exporting from Google Photos
- Go to Google Takeout
- Deselect all products, then select only Google Photos
- Choose your export format (recommended:
.zip, 50 GB file size) - Request the export — Google will email you download links within hours to days
What You Get
Google Takeout exports include:
- Original-quality photos and videos
- JSON metadata files alongside each photo (contains date, location, description)
- Album folder structure
Importing to Immich
Immich has a dedicated CLI tool for bulk imports:
# Install the Immich CLI
npm i -g @immich/cli
# Authenticate with your Immich server
immich login http://your-server:2283 your-api-key
# Upload your Google Takeout photos
immich upload --recursive /path/to/takeout/Google\ Photos/The CLI handles deduplication automatically and preserves EXIF metadata. For Google Takeout JSON metadata, use the immich-go tool which merges Google’s JSON metadata back into the photos before upload.
Importing to PhotoPrism
Copy your photos into PhotoPrism’s originals directory, then trigger an index:
# Copy photos to PhotoPrism originals
cp -r /path/to/takeout/Google\ Photos/* /opt/photoprism/originals/
# Trigger indexing via CLI
docker compose exec photoprism photoprism indexPhotoPrism reads EXIF data directly from files. For Google Takeout JSON metadata, use google-photos-takeout-helper to merge metadata back into photo EXIF before importing.
Cost Comparison
| Google Photos | Self-Hosted (Immich) | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost (2 TB) | $10/month | $5-15/month (electricity) |
| Annual cost | $120/year | $60-180/year |
| 3-year cost | $360 | $250-400 + $100-300 hardware |
| Storage limit | 2 TB (paid) | Unlimited (your hardware) |
| Additional storage | $50/year per TB | $25-40 per TB (one-time HDD cost) |
| Privacy | Google scans all photos | Full control — your server, your data |
| Mobile app | Native (excellent) | Native iOS/Android (very good) |
| AI features | Face recognition, search, memories | Face recognition, CLIP search, map view |
| Sharing | Google-ecosystem sharing | Album sharing via link or user accounts |
| Availability | 99.99% uptime | Depends on your setup |
Break-even point: If you already have a home server or NAS, self-hosting is cheaper from day one. If you need to buy hardware, you break even within 1-2 years compared to Google Photos at the 2 TB tier. Every year after that, you save $120+ while getting unlimited storage.
What You Give Up
Be honest about the trade-offs:
- Seamless Google integration. Google Photos works effortlessly with Android, Chrome, Gmail. Self-hosted apps require manual setup for mobile auto-upload.
- Guaranteed uptime. Google Photos is always available. Your home server can go down during power outages or hardware failures. A UPS and RAID help but add cost.
- Zero maintenance. Google Photos just works. Self-hosted solutions need Docker updates, backup management, and occasional troubleshooting.
- Sharing convenience. Sharing a Google Photos album with someone is trivial. Self-hosted sharing requires your server to be accessible remotely (via Tailscale, Cloudflare Tunnel, or port forwarding).
- Google Lens integration. The tight integration between Google Photos and Google Lens for text recognition, product lookup, etc., has no self-hosted equivalent.
For most tech-comfortable users, these trade-offs are worth it. You get unlimited storage, full privacy, no monthly fees (after hardware), and no risk of Google changing terms or raising prices.
FAQ
Can I use Immich as a complete Google Photos replacement?
Yes, for most use cases. Immich has mobile auto-upload, face recognition, smart search, shared albums, and a timeline view. The main gaps are Google Lens integration and the seamless Google ecosystem sharing. For personal and family photo management, Immich covers 90%+ of what Google Photos does.
How much storage do I need?
A typical smartphone user generates 50-100 GB of photos per year. A family of four might need 200-400 GB per year. Budget for at least 2 TB to start, with room to expand. A 4 TB external drive costs $80-100 and holds roughly 10-20 years of family photos.
Can I access my photos remotely?
Yes, through a reverse proxy with a domain name, Tailscale, Cloudflare Tunnel, or WireGuard VPN. Immich and PhotoPrism both work well over remote connections. See our Remote Access guide for setup instructions.
Is face recognition as good as Google Photos?
Immich’s face recognition is good and improving rapidly. It groups faces accurately for most photos. It’s not quite at Google’s level for edge cases (children aging, unusual angles, low light), but it handles the core use case well. PhotoPrism’s face recognition is also solid, especially on large libraries.
What happens if my server dies?
If you follow the 3-2-1 backup strategy, your photos are safe. Keep at least one off-site backup (cloud backup service or a drive at a friend’s house). Your photo library is just files on disk — they’re easy to back up and restore.
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