Immich vs LibrePhotos
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
VS
LibrePhotos
Self-hosted smart photo management
| Feature | Immich | LibrePhotos |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 92 · Excellent |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 114,920 | ★ 8,083 |
| First released | 2022 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Google Photos, iCloud Photos | Google Photos |
What are Immich and LibrePhotos?
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
LibrePhotos
LibrePhotos is a self-hosted photo management service with face recognition, object detection, and automatic albums. It targets users wanting an open Google Photos alternative. It is deployed via Docker.
- Face and object recognition
- Automatic event albums
- Map of photo locations
- Multi-user support
Immich vs LibrePhotos: key differences
Immich is written in TypeScript, while LibrePhotos is built with Python. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Immich versus MIT for LibrePhotos. LibrePhotos is the more established project (first released 2020), while Immich arrived in 2022. Immich has the considerably larger community, at 114,920 GitHub stars versus 8,083.
Why pick each one
Choose Immich if…
- Excellent mobile apps
- Fast and feature-rich
- Very active development
Watch out for
- Resource intensive
- Breaking changes still occur
Choose LibrePhotos if…
- Smart organization features
- Permissive license
- Privacy-friendly
Watch out for
- Heavy on resources
- Setup can be fiddly
Frequently asked questions
Is Immich or LibrePhotos 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 Immich and LibrePhotos free and open-source?
Yes. Immich is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and LibrePhotos under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Immich and LibrePhotos with Docker?
Immich: yes. LibrePhotos: yes.