Immich vs thumbsup
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
thumbsup
Static photo and video gallery generator
| Feature | Immich | thumbsup |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 56 · Fair |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 114,920 | ★ 865 |
| First released | 2022 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Google Photos, iCloud Photos | Google Photos, Flickr |
What are Immich and thumbsup?
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
thumbsup
thumbsup is a tool that builds a static HTML gallery from your photos and videos, requiring no server-side runtime. The generated site can be hosted anywhere and includes thumbnails, albums, and metadata.
- Static gallery generation
- No server runtime needed
- Thumbnails and albums
- Host anywhere
Immich vs thumbsup: key differences
Immich is written in TypeScript, while thumbsup is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Immich versus MIT for thumbsup. Thumbsup is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Immich. Thumbsup is the more established project (first released 2016), while Immich arrived in 2022. Immich has the considerably larger community, at 114,920 GitHub stars versus 865. Immich lists first-class Docker deployment; thumbsup does not.
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 thumbsup if…
- Extremely portable output
- No database
Watch out for
- No live uploads
- Regenerate to update
Frequently asked questions
Is Immich or thumbsup better?
Neither is universally better. Immich has the larger community, while thumbsup is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Immich and thumbsup free and open-source?
Yes. Immich is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and thumbsup under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Immich and thumbsup with Docker?
Immich: yes. thumbsup: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Immich or thumbsup?
thumbsup has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Immich. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.