Immich vs Memories
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
Memories
Photo management app for Nextcloud with timeline and AI
| Feature | Immich | Memories |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 114,920 | ★ 3,843 |
| First released | 2022 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Google Photos, iCloud Photos | Google Photos, iCloud Photos |
What are Immich and Memories?
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
Memories
Memories is a photo and video management application that runs as a Nextcloud app, offering a fast timeline view of your media. It supports face recognition, maps, albums, and metadata-aware search.
- Fast timeline view
- Face recognition and maps
- Albums and tagging
- Nextcloud integration
Immich vs Memories: key differences
Immich is written in TypeScript, while Memories is built with PHP. Memories is the lighter option, starting around 1,024 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Immich. Immich has the considerably larger community, at 114,920 GitHub stars versus 3,843.
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 Memories if…
- Leverages existing Nextcloud
- Polished mobile experience
Watch out for
- Requires Nextcloud
- AI features need extra setup
Frequently asked questions
Is Immich or Memories 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 Memories free and open-source?
Yes. Immich is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Memories under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Immich and Memories with Docker?
Immich: yes. Memories: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Immich or Memories?
Memories has the smaller minimum footprint at 1,024 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Immich. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.