fgallery vs Immich
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Immich
High-performance self-hosted photo and video backup
| Feature | fgallery | Immich |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | ≈5-minute setup |
| Health score | 9 · At risk | 100 · Excellent |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 248 | ★ 114,920 |
| First released | 2013 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Flickr, Google Photos | Google Photos, iCloud Photos |
What are fgallery and Immich?
fgallery
fgallery is a static photo gallery generator that produces a minimalist, self-contained HTML gallery from a folder of images. The generated gallery is fully static, privacy-respecting, and can be hosted on any web server.
- Minimalist static galleries
- Self-contained output
- Mobile friendly
- No tracking
Immich
Immich is a high-performance, self-hosted photo and video backup solution with mobile apps, AI search, and face recognition. It targets users wanting a private Google Photos alternative. It is deployed via Docker Compose.
- Automatic phone backup
- AI-powered search and face recognition
- Timeline and album views
- Multi-user with sharing
fgallery vs Immich: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: fgallery's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Immich is actively maintained. Fgallery is written in JavaScript, while Immich is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — MIT for fgallery versus AGPL-3.0 for Immich. Fgallery is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Immich. Fgallery is the more established project (first released 2013), while Immich arrived in 2022. Immich has the considerably larger community, at 114,920 GitHub stars versus 248. Immich lists first-class Docker deployment; fgallery does not.
Why pick each one
Choose fgallery if…
- Clean simple design
- Privacy respecting
Watch out for
- Command-line only
- Minimal features
Choose Immich if…
- Excellent mobile apps
- Fast and feature-rich
- Very active development
Watch out for
- Resource intensive
- Breaking changes still occur
Frequently asked questions
Is fgallery or Immich better?
Neither is universally better. Immich has the larger community, while fgallery is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are fgallery and Immich free and open-source?
Yes. fgallery is licensed under MIT and Immich under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run fgallery and Immich with Docker?
fgallery: check the project docs for container support. Immich: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, fgallery or Immich?
fgallery has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Immich. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.