Beets vs Immich

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureBeetsImmich
CategoryMedia ServersPhoto Management
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguagePythonTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM256 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker
GitHub stars★ 15,509★ 109,945
First released20082022
ReplacesiTunesGoogle Photos, iCloud Photos

Why pick each one

Choose Beets if…

  • Excellent metadata accuracy
  • Highly scriptable
Beets details

Choose Immich if…

  • Excellent mobile apps
  • Fast and feature-rich
  • Very active development
Immich details

Frequently asked questions

Is Beets or Immich better?

Neither is universally better. Immich has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Beets and Immich free and open-source?

Yes. Beets is licensed under MIT and Immich under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Beets and Immich with Docker?

Beets: yes. Immich: yes.

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