HomeGallery vs Immich
| Tagline | Self-hosted photo gallery with automatic face and object recognition | High-performance self-hosted photo and video backup, a Google Photos alternative |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| Replaces | Google Photos, iCloud Photos | Google Photos, iCloud Photos |
| GitHub stars | 1k | 104k |
| Language | JavaScript | Docker |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 2/5 Easy | 3/5 Moderate |
| Deploy options | Docker Docker Compose Manual | Docker Docker Compose |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 1 month ago | 5 days ago |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
HomeGallery
- Initial indexing and AI processing of large libraries is CPU-intensive
- No multi-user support with individual photo collections
- No mobile backup app; relies on external sync tools
Immich
- Requires multi-container Docker Compose setup with GPU/CPU for ML; more resource-intensive than cloud alternatives
- Project is still pre-1.0 and explicitly warns against using as the sole backup solution
- No built-in CDN or geo-redundant storage; relies on local disk or manually configured object storage
- Collaborative shared albums lack the polish and third-party integrations of Google Photos
Bottom line
Choose HomeGallery if you want the lower-effort setup; choose Immich for the larger community and ecosystem. Immich has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.
Immich
High-performance self-hosted photo and video backup, a Google Photos alternative