Immich vs Photonix
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
Photonix
Self-hosted photo gallery with face and location detection
| Feature | Immich | Photonix |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 63 · Good |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 114,920 | ★ 1,956 |
| First released | 2022 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Google Photos, iCloud Photos | Google Photos |
What are Immich and Photonix?
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
Photonix
Photonix is a self-hosted photo manager that organizes and tags your collection automatically. It uses AI to recognize objects, faces, and locations and offers powerful filtered search.
- AI object and face recognition
- Location-based browsing
- Powerful filtered search
- Multi-user support
Immich vs Photonix: key differences
Immich is written in TypeScript, while Photonix is built with Python. Photonix is the more established project (first released 2019), while Immich arrived in 2022. Immich has the considerably larger community, at 114,920 GitHub stars versus 1,956.
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 Photonix if…
- Strong AI tagging
- Good search experience
Watch out for
- Resource intensive
- Development can be slow
Frequently asked questions
Is Immich or Photonix 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 Photonix free and open-source?
Yes. Immich is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Photonix under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Immich and Photonix with Docker?
Immich: yes. Photonix: yes.