Install Immich: Self-Host Your Own Google Photos Alternative 2026

15 GB of free storage on Google Photos fills up fast. After that: €2/month for 100 GB, €10 for 2 TB. And your photos are training Google's AI on the side.

The math: With 50,000 photos you need ~500 GB. Google One costs €10/month for that. A VPS (Virtual Private Server – your own server in the cloud) with 400 GB storage starts at €8.99 – and you can run other apps on it too.

Immich is the solution: A Google Photos alternative with all the features – auto-upload, face recognition, map view – completely self-hosted. This guide shows you step by step how to install Immich on your own server.

Prerequisites

What you need:

• A VPS with at least 8 GB RAM for face recognition (without ML, 4 GB is enough). Don't have one? Find suitable servers starting at €8.99/month here →
• Enough storage for your photos (see calculator below)
• Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04
• Docker & Docker Compose
• Optional: Domain for HTTPS

Storage Calculator

For face recognition you need at least 8 GB RAM – without ML, 4 GB is enough. Contabo offers the best storage-per-euro ratio, Hetzner has the fastest NVMe SSDs for smooth thumbnail loading.

Step 1: Install Docker

If Docker isn't installed yet:

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
# Log out and back in, or: newgrp docker

Check Docker Compose:

docker compose version
# Should show v2.x

Step 2: Install Immich

Immich provides an official installation script:

mkdir -p ~/immich && cd ~/immich
curl -fsSL https://get.immich.app | bash

What the script does:

• Downloads docker-compose.yml
• Creates .env with secure passwords
• Creates upload/ directory for photos

Start Immich:

docker compose up -d

The first start takes a few minutes – several containers are being downloaded (Web, Server, ML, Redis, PostgreSQL).

Important: Note the automatically generated password from the .env file!

Step 3: Initial Setup

Open http://YOUR-SERVER-IP:2283 in your browser:

1. Click 'Getting Started'
2. Create the admin account (email + password)
3. Optional: Create additional users for family
4. Done! You can now upload photos

Tip: The admin can later invite more users and set storage quotas.

Step 4: Add External Library (Optional)

If you already have photos on the server, modify docker-compose.yml:

services:
  immich-server:
    volumes:
      - ${UPLOAD_LOCATION}:/usr/src/app/upload
      - /path/to/your/photos:/usr/src/app/external:ro  # Read-only

Then:

1. Restart containers: docker compose up -d
2. In Immich: Administration → External Libraries → Add Library
3. Enter path /usr/src/app/external
4. Start scan – Immich indexes all photos

Step 5: Set Up Mobile App

The Immich app is available in the App Store and Play Store:

1. Install the app (search: 'Immich')
2. Enter server URL: http://YOUR-IP:2283
3. Log in with your account
4. Enable backup: Settings → Backup → Enable Background Backup

Tip: For backup only over WiFi: Disable 'Use cellular data'

Warning: Without HTTPS, photos are transmitted unencrypted! For use outside your home network: Set up HTTPS (next step).

Step 6: Set Up HTTPS with Caddy

For secure access from anywhere, we'll set up a reverse proxy. Caddy is simpler than Nginx/Traefik:

Add Caddy to docker-compose.yml:

services:
  # ... existing Immich services ...

  caddy:
    image: caddy:latest
    restart: always
    ports:
      - 80:80
      - 443:443
    volumes:
      - ./Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile
      - caddy_data:/data
    depends_on:
      - immich-server

volumes:
  caddy_data:

Create Caddyfile:

photos.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy immich-server:2283
}

Restart:

docker compose up -d

Caddy automatically obtains an SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt. Make sure your domain points to the server IP.

Step 7: Migrate from Google Photos

Here's how to import your complete Google Photos library:

1. Google Takeout Export

1. Go to takeout.google.com
2. Select only 'Google Photos'
3. Format: ZIP, Size: 10 GB (or larger)
4. Start export – can take hours

2. Transfer ZIPs to Server

scp ~/Downloads/takeout-*.zip user@server:~/immich/import/

3. Extract

cd ~/immich/import
for f in takeout-*.zip; do unzip "$f"; done

4. Immich CLI for Import with Metadata

docker exec -it immich-server immich upload --recursive /usr/src/app/import/Takeout

Tip: The CLI tool carries over date and GPS data from Google's JSON sidecar files.

Configure Machine Learning

Immich uses ML for face recognition and object search. For large libraries, tuning is worthwhile:

Disable ML (saves ~2 GB RAM)

Set in .env:

IMMICH_MACHINE_LEARNING_ENABLED=false

Change ML Model

Smaller model for less RAM:

MACHINE_LEARNING_CLIP_MODEL=ViT-B-32::openai

Warning: The initial ML scan can take several days for 50,000+ photos. The server remains usable though.

Backup Strategy

Your photos are important – definitely set up backups:

Daily: PostgreSQL database

docker exec immich_postgres pg_dumpall > backup.sql

Weekly: Upload directory (photos) with rsync to backup server or storage box

Example cronjob:

# Daily DB backup
0 3 * * * docker exec immich_postgres pg_dumpall > /backup/immich-db-$(date +\%Y\%m\%d).sql

# Weekly photo backup (incremental)
0 4 * * 0 rsync -avz ~/immich/upload/ [email protected]:/immich-backup/

Common Issues

ML Container Won't Start (OOM)

Not enough RAM. Either upgrade VPS or disable ML.

Photos Appear Twice

Enable 'Detect duplicate assets' in Administration → Jobs before the next import.

Mobile App Can't Find Server

Check:

1. Is firewall port 2283 open?
2. URL correct (don't forget http://)?
3. Is server on the same network?

Thumbnails Load Slowly

NVMe storage helps. Or: Reduce thumbnail size in Administration → Settings.

Faces Not Recognized

Start ML job manually: Administration → Jobs → Face Detection → Run

Conclusion

You now have a complete Google Photos alternative on your own server. Your photos are safe, private, and you only pay for the server – not per gigabyte.

Cost comparison: Google One for 2 TB costs €100/year. A VPS with enough storage for 100,000+ photos costs ~€108/year – and you can also run Paperless for documents or Vaultwarden as a password manager on it.

More Self-Hosting Guides

Paperless-ngx Guide

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Bitwarden auf eigenem Server

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