Alternatives to Google Photos

4 self-hosted alternatives — 1 easy, 2 medium, 1 hard

Why people look for alternatives

Storage limits reduced from unlimited to 15GB shared
Privacy concerns with AI scanning all photos
No local/offline access to full library
Vendor lock-in makes export painful

App	Difficulty	Min RAM	Docker	Mobile	Active
Immich Self-hosted photo/video backup with mobile app, ML-powered search and facial recognition.	medium	4 GB		iOS & Android	Yes
LibrePhotos Self-hosted photo management with automatic grouping, face recognition, and geolocation.	hard	4 GB		—	Yes
Lychee Simple, lightweight photo management and sharing platform.	easy	0.5 GB		—	Yes
PhotoPrism AI-powered photo management with face recognition and auto-categorization.	medium	2 GB		—	Yes

Self-hosted photo/video backup with mobile app, ML-powered search and facial recognition.

Pros

+ Excellent mobile app
+ AI-powered search and face recognition
+ Active development with frequent updates
+ Supports RAW photos

Cons

- No stable API yet
- Heavy resource usage
- Breaking changes between versions

Self-hosted photo management with automatic grouping, face recognition, and geolocation.

Pros

+ Face recognition and auto-grouping
+ Geolocation mapping
+ Timeline view
+ Active development

Cons

- Heavy resource requirements
- Slower than Immich at indexing
- UI less polished than alternatives
- Initial setup is complex

Simple, lightweight photo management and sharing platform.

Pros

+ Very lightweight
+ Simple and clean UI
+ Easy to set up
+ Good sharing features

Cons

- No mobile app
- No AI features
- Limited organization tools

AI-powered photo management with face recognition and auto-categorization.

Pros

+ Powerful AI classification
+ Clean modern UI
+ Good search capabilities

Cons

- Some features require Pro license
- No native mobile app for backup
- Slower indexing on large libraries