Ente vs Immich Kiosk
| Tagline | End-to-end encrypted self-hosted photo backup with native mobile apps | Lightweight Immich-powered photo slideshow for kiosk displays and browsers |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| Replaces | Google Photos, iCloud Photos | Google Photos, iCloud Photos |
| GitHub stars | 27k | 1.6k |
| Language | Docker | Docker |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 3/5 Moderate | 2/5 Easy |
| Deploy options | Docker Docker Compose | Docker |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | today | today |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
Ente
- No AI-based automatic photo tagging, scene recognition, or search by content due to E2E encryption
- Self-hosted setup requires configuring S3-compatible object storage separately
- Smaller ecosystem of third-party integrations compared to Google Photos
- Collaborative album features are less mature than Google Photos shared libraries
Immich Kiosk
- Requires a running Immich server — not a standalone photo solution
- No built-in photo management, editing, or upload capabilities
- Slideshow customisation is limited to what Immich exposes via its API
- No offline mode; depends entirely on network access to the Immich backend
Bottom line
Choose Immich Kiosk if you want the lower-effort setup; choose Ente for the larger community and ecosystem. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.
Immich Kiosk
Lightweight Immich-powered photo slideshow for kiosk displays and browsers