imaginary vs Immich
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
imaginary
Self-hosted microservice for on-demand image processing
VS
Immich
High-performance self-hosted photo and video backup
| Feature | imaginary | Immich |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,076 | ★ 109,945 |
| First released | 2015 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Cloudinary, imgix | Google Photos, iCloud Photos |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is imaginary 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 imaginary and Immich free and open-source?
Yes. imaginary is licensed under MIT and Immich under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run imaginary and Immich with Docker?
imaginary: yes. Immich: yes.