Immich — Self-hosted photo and video backup library with mobile auto-upload and fast search
What it is
Immich is a self-hosted alternative to Google Photos: mobile apps back up photos and videos automatically to your own server, which indexes them into timelines, albums, face groups and search. Typical use is a family photo vault on a NAS or home server. The project is under very active development, so updates can include breaking changes, and its own docs recommend reading release notes before upgrading.
Editor's review
Long-form introduction by the BetterPicker editors · checked against the official site · Oct 9, 2026
Immich is the photo library to pick when you want Google Photos' convenience without Google's copy of your life. It runs on your own hardware through Docker, pulls full-quality backups from your phone automatically, and adds machine-learning search and face recognition across everything you have ever shot. It is open source under AGPL 3.0 and free to run. Recent releases have concentrated on stability, which is what you want from the place your memories live. The trade is that you have become the administrator of a small but real service.
What it does well
Automatic phone backup just works. The mobile apps watch your camera roll and upload originals in the background, so family photos land on your server the same evening, and the originals stay full quality on your own disks. Version 3.3.1 shipped in October 2026, and the release pace over the past two years has been fast without abandoning older installs.
Search actually finds things. Machine learning indexes scenes and text in photos, and face recognition groups people across years of shots. Searching for a place name or an object and getting results from a decade of camera rolls changes how you use an archive.
Sharing stays under your rules. Albums, shared links, and partner accounts let a spouse or a friend see selected photos without an account on someone else's platform, and permissions are granular, which matters more than it sounds once relatives arrive. Videos about replacing Google Photos with approx 211,000 and approx 202,000 views show how common the migration has become.
Who it's for
Families and hobbyist photographers with a NAS, a mini PC, or a home server, who want their photos on hardware they control. Photographers who shoot RAW will appreciate originals staying originals. It fits people comfortable with Docker and occasional updates. It fits badly for someone who wants zero administration; a paid cloud service remains the honest choice there.
Where it falls short
You own the whole stack now. Storage growth, backups of the backup, version upgrades, and the day the disk fills are all your calendar items. Immich documents each step well, but none of the work disappears the way it does behind a Google login.
Machine learning wants hardware. Face recognition and semantic search need CPU and RAM during indexing, and initial runs over a large library take hours on modest machines. The documentation lists recommended specifications; read them first. Plan the hardware before the first import rather than after.
Mobile behavior has quirks. Background upload on iOS is constrained by the platform, so large backlogs sometimes need the app open, and battery-sensitive phones may delay uploads. Nothing is lost, but test the app on one phone for a week before moving a family's whole library.
Specs at a glance
Facts from the official site · not editorial opinion
| License | AGPL 3.0, open source |
|---|---|
| Latest release | v3.3.1 (October 2026) |
| Cost | Free to self-host; optional product key supports development |
| Deployment | Docker Compose on your own server or NAS |
| Mobile apps | iOS and Android with automatic background backup |
| Key features | Machine-learning search, face recognition, albums, shared links |
| Storage | Originals stay on your disks at full quality |
Frequently asked questions
▸What is Immich?
Immich is a self-hosted photo and video backup service with mobile apps, web albums, and machine-learning search. Your phone uploads originals to a server you run, and the web interface organizes them like a private Google Photos. It is open source under AGPL 3.0.
▸Is Immich free?
The server and apps are free and open source, and self-hosting costs nothing beyond your hardware. The project also sells an optional product key as a way to fund development, which is worth doing if the software replaces a paid cloud plan for you.
▸Can Immich really replace Google Photos?
For backup, browsing, search, and sharing, most self-hosters say yes, and migration videos with approx 211,000 views document the move. What you give up is zero administration, since updates and storage become yours to manage. If your household expects it to run forever untouched, weigh that honestly.
▸What hardware do I need to run Immich?
Anything that runs Docker and has storage for your library: an old PC, a mini PC, or a NAS all work. Face recognition and search benefit from a few CPU cores and 8 GB or more of RAM. Start with the storage math first: count your photos and add headroom.
Reviews on YouTube
4 review videos aggregated · praise and criticism included alike · click through to the original video
Channels that covered it
Channels are aggregated as sources only — we don’t rate creators
Related tools
Where to go next
External links open in a new tab; external content is independent of this site.
Link down? Every object page is re-checked monthly.