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Self-host Google Photos
Photo backup / library / face search ·
Category: files, photos & sync
Google Photos backs up phone photos, runs face/object recognition, and serves a fast browsing UI. The self-hostable replacements have caught up sharply in 2024-2025 — Immich in particular ships face recognition, mobile auto-backup, and timeline scrubbing that match Google Photos for everyday use.
Google Photos pricing anchor: $1.99-9.99/mo for 100GB-2TB on Google One — bills jump fast once a family shares a plan.
- GitHub
- ★ 100.2k · last commit today · 669 open issues
- License
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AGPL-3.0 - Setup time
- 15min docker-compose
- Monthly cost
- $5-10 VPS for the app; storage cost dominates — a 1TB block-storage volume runs $5-10/mo on Hetzner or DO.
Migration sketch. Use Google Takeout to export your library (Settings → Data & privacy → Download your data → Photos). Takeout produces a folder of `.zip` archives with photos + sidecar `.json` per file. Run `immich-go` (community CLI) against the unzipped folder; it preserves album structure, timestamps, and GPS metadata from the JSON sidecars. Mobile app handles ongoing backup like Google Photos.
Good fit forAnyone wanting a near-feature-for-feature Google Photos clone — auto-backup, face search, shared albums, fast timeline.
Weak atAGPL spooks some employers; the project is moving fast and minor versions occasionally need re-deploys with breaking schema changes.
- GitHub
- ★ 39.7k · last commit today · 468 open issues
- License
-
AGPL-3.0 - Setup time
- 20min docker-compose (PhotoPrism + MariaDB)
- Monthly cost
- $5-10 VPS + storage; a TensorFlow model bundles in for tag/face inference (CPU is fine for personal use).
Migration sketch. Google Takeout → unzip → drop into PhotoPrism's `originals/` directory (`docker run -v ./photos:/photoprism/originals ...`). Trigger an Index from the web UI; PhotoPrism reads the Takeout `.json` sidecars for timestamps and GPS. Albums recreate semi-manually via search filters or the album importer.
Good fit forPower users who want a strong web UI, AI tagging, and a rich filter language; less mobile-first than Immich.
Weak atMobile app exists but is thinner than Immich's auto-backup; faces feature is in the paid tier of the cloud project (self-host is fine).
- GitHub
- ★ 7.98k · last commit 12d ago · 228 open issues
- License
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MIT - Setup time
- 20min docker-compose
- Monthly cost
- $10 VPS (face recognition + scene classification want some RAM); storage as above.
Migration sketch. Google Takeout export → drop into LibrePhotos' `data/photos` mount. The `Scan Photos` background job indexes EXIF + Takeout sidecars. Faces and event clustering recompute from scratch — there is no preserving Google's clusters. No first-class mobile backup app; pair with Syncthing or Resilio for phone → server sync.
Good fit forUsers who like the original OwnPhotos/LibrePhotos lineage and prefer MIT to AGPL.
Weak atSmaller team than Immich; slower release cadence; the mobile story is bring-your-own-Syncthing.
In a terminal? npx os-alt google-photos prints this table —
how the CLI works →