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Immich: Open Source alternative to Google Photos in 2026

Immich automatically backs up photos and videos from your phone to your own server, with facial recognition, smart search and shared albums, as an alternative to Google Photos.

ℹ️ Supports optional hardware acceleration for both video transcoding (NVENC, Quick Sync, VAAPI, RKMPP) and facial recognition/smart search (CUDA, OpenVINO, ROCm) — neither is required, both are enabled separately in Settings.

Alternative to Google Photos
License AGPL-3.0116.1k starsWebsite GitHub Repository

Audit Snapshot

View notes →

  • License — Matches GitHub

  • GitHub — Active

  • Latest release — v3.3.1 · 4 days ago

  • Docker Compose — Not verified

  • Production — Not production-tested by AltFreeStack

Immich vs. Google Photos

Pros

  • The mobile app rivals Google Photos in quality

Things to consider

  • Facial and object recognition benefit from having a GPU

Quick Docker installation guide

Copy this docker-compose.yml, adjust the example passwords and run docker compose up -d on your server. See the full step-by-step guide →

💡 Official SaaS or self-hosted with AltFreeStack?

  • On the official cloud: a recurring monthly fee and usage limits on Google Photos.
  • On your own VPS: 100% free software on your own server, with no artificial row, project or user limits.
docker-compose.yml
version: "3.9"
services:
  immich-server:
    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-server:release
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "2283:2283"
    environment:
      - DB_HOSTNAME=immich-db
      - DB_USERNAME=immich
      - DB_PASSWORD=change-me-db-password # REQUIRED: generate a random secret before first run
      - REDIS_HOSTNAME=immich-redis
    volumes:
      - immich_uploads:/usr/src/app/upload # CHANGE THIS to a real disk path with enough space for your photo library
    depends_on:
      - immich-db
      - immich-redis
  immich-db:
    image: tensorchord/pgvecto-rs:pg15-v0.2.0
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER=immich
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=change-me-db-password # must match DB_PASSWORD above
      - POSTGRES_DB=immich
    volumes:
      - immich_pg_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
  immich-redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
volumes:
  immich_uploads:
  immich_pg_data:

🚀 Deploy in 1 command

Recommended for beginners

Copy this single command and paste it into your freshly created VPS's console (Vultr, DigitalOcean...). It downloads the script, prints it to your screen so you can see exactly what it's about to do (never a blind direct pipe), and only then installs Docker if needed, writes the files with secrets already generated, and starts everything — no nano, no pasting code blocks.

curl -sSL ".../api/deploy?stack=immich" -o deploy.sh && cat deploy.sh && bash deploy.sh
See what this script does →

This docker-compose corresponds to an actively maintained project — last commit today.

This docker-compose not working for you? Report it on GitHub →

Technical profile

License
AGPL-3.0
Category
Storage
Replaces
Google Photos
Tech stack
NestJSFlutterPostgreSQL

Under the hood

Database

PostgreSQL

Language

TypeScript (Node.js) / Dart (mobile app)

Platforms

Web · Mobile (iOS/Android)

Key features

  • Automatic backup from mobile apps
  • Facial recognition and object search
  • Shared albums and family timeline

Frequently asked questions

What is Immich?

An open source tool (AGPL-3.0) that automatically backs up photos and videos from your phone to your own server, with facial recognition, smart search, and shared albums — a self-hosted alternative to Google Photos.

Does Immich need a GPU?

No, it's optional. It supports optional hardware acceleration for both video transcoding (NVENC, Quick Sync, VAAPI, RKMPP) and facial recognition/smart search (CUDA, OpenVINO, ROCm) — both are enabled separately in Settings; everything still works on CPU without them.

How do you deploy Immich with Docker?

With several services: the main server, a machine-learning container, PostgreSQL (with the pgvecto-rs extension for vector search), and Redis. The upload volume should point to a disk with real space for your whole photo library, not the system disk.

Preview

Immich interface preview

Public image provided by Immich on its own website.

💾 Backups in 3 steps (Day 2)

As long as the ./data folder (the "volume" mapped into the container) exists on your server, your data survives any restart or container update — that's the only thing you need to back up.

1. Create a compressed backup on the server

tar -czvf backup-$(date +%F).tar.gz ./data

2. Download it to your computer

From your computer's terminal (not your server's):

scp root@YOUR_IP:~/app/backup-*.tar.gz ./

3. Restore in case of emergency

tar -xzvf backup-file.tar.gz
🌐 Connect your domain with free SSL

Step 1 — Set up the DNS

In your domain registrar's dashboard (Cloudflare, Namecheap, GoDaddy...), create a record:

Type
A
Name/Host
@ (root domain) or a subdomain, e.g. app
Content/Value
Your server's public IP

Wait 5 to 15 minutes for the record to propagate across the internet.

Step 2 — Automatic reverse proxy with Caddy

One single file, no Nginx config or manual certificates — Caddy issues and renews Let's Encrypt HTTPS on its own.

Create a file called Caddyfile:

yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:2283
}

Start Caddy with this command (pulls the image and runs it in the background):

docker run -d -p 80:80 -p 443:443 --name caddy --restart always -v $PWD/Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile -v caddy_data:/data caddy