16 votes

Open-source self-hosted Google photos alternative

Posted by guissmo
Tags: ask.recommendations, open source, hosting.self, photos

Hello, every now and then I find myself looking for open-source "self-hosted" (VPS accepted) Google photos alternatives.

I have searched every now and then but I have never found something I felt that suits my needs.

I don't mind setting it up myself with command lines and stuff from an empty VPS as long as the monthly fees are pushed to a minimum.

I do have a certain set of constraints and I was wondering what would be the best app to do it. Any app that I end up trying fail one of these somehow. Or it is an app that I couldn't test adequately on my 2GB RAM VPS. Should I be upgrading first and then testing them?

Here are my constraints:

I would like to be able to share photos privately to friends and family. Like maybe a secret link to share photos or albums with friends.

I would like to be able to view photos on mobile, using Internet. I don't mind opening a mobile web app but I would like to be able to show it.

I would like to have some privacy-respecting face recognition. This also opens up the question of what RAM of VPS I should be using.

I would like to leave the file and folder structure untouched. I have already somehow arranged the files into albums by using folders so bonus points if the app figures that out. However, I would bite the bullet if there is a good solution that asks to "copy" the files into a new folder thereby doubling the storage needed. But I hope to avoid it.

Any help towards the right direction would be appreciated!

10 comments

  1. [3]
    shiruken
    Link
    Immich using an External Library

    Immich using an External Library

    7 votes
    1. [2]
      BlockerBrews
      Link Parent
      I’ve been testing Immich and it is pretty great. It’s under massive development so check update notes before updating. That being said you’ll need a “beefy” vps to run it. Think in the ~$15/mo...

      I’ve been testing Immich and it is pretty great. It’s under massive development so check update notes before updating.

      That being said you’ll need a “beefy” vps to run it. Think in the ~$15/mo range to get the correct specs

      4 votes
      1. guissmo
        Link Parent
        Has anyone tried Immich with the « minimum » specs ? How is it ?

        Has anyone tried Immich with the « minimum » specs ? How is it ?

        1 vote
  2. [5]
    devilized
    Link
    NextCloud has a photo plugin that should tick most, if not all of those boxes: https://github.com/nextcloud/photos I haven't tried it myself but I did self-host my own nextcloud instance for a while.

    NextCloud has a photo plugin that should tick most, if not all of those boxes: https://github.com/nextcloud/photos

    I haven't tried it myself but I did self-host my own nextcloud instance for a while.

    6 votes
    1. [3]
      BlockerBrews
      Link Parent
      I’ve been using Nextcloud for years and by extension Nextcloud photos. I’ve always found it rather slow and clunky. It works in a pinch to find a photo but I wouldn’t describe using it as joyous

      I’ve been using Nextcloud for years and by extension Nextcloud photos. I’ve always found it rather slow and clunky. It works in a pinch to find a photo but I wouldn’t describe using it as joyous

      4 votes
      1. creesch
        Link Parent
        Agreed, for documents and other files nextcloud is absolutely fine but I don't use it for photos as it is indeed rather clunky.

        Agreed, for documents and other files nextcloud is absolutely fine but I don't use it for photos as it is indeed rather clunky.

        2 votes
      2. arch
        Link Parent
        Interesting, for a counter point I have also been using it for years and I find it at least close to Google Photos. It is a little slower than Google Photos on my setup, but not by much. That's...

        Interesting, for a counter point I have also been using it for years and I find it at least close to Google Photos. It is a little slower than Google Photos on my setup, but not by much. That's probably because I have my photos on a 5400rpm drive. They have plugins for Face Recognition as well as Geolocation data that can be put on a map. I made the switch over when Google started begging me for a monthly subscription to backup my photos and threatened to shutoff my Gmail account if I didn't sign up or delete my photos.

        It's far from perfect, but for something running on a server that I would have running anyway, and preventing me from losing my photos if I lose my phone, I am very happy with it.

        1 vote
    2. Pistos
      Link Parent
      Nextcloud's core offering of cloud file storage and sharing can also be a more general-purpose application for OP (beyond photos alone).

      Nextcloud's core offering of cloud file storage and sharing can also be a more general-purpose application for OP (beyond photos alone).

      1 vote
  4. Oxalis
    (edited )
    Link
    I personally use PhotoPrism since it has a nice responsive UI, can handle collections in the tens of thousands of photos/videos, and supports tagging along with albums. Here's the demo:...

    I personally use PhotoPrism since it has a nice responsive UI, can handle collections in the tens of thousands of photos/videos, and supports tagging along with albums.

    Here's the demo: https://demo.photoprism.app/library/browse

    It's worth noting that it does have a somewhat annoyingly gimped FOSS tier versus monthly-supported tiers and they admit that their face detection system has a hard time with children and "Asian-looking faces"

    Additionally, the devs have been dragging their feet on adding core features like bulk metadata editing for over 4 years now. At least it's now funded and on their kanban board as a "priority" feature.

    2 votes