Install Immich for Media Backup as a Google Photos Alternative
I’ve set up a NAS to back up my data, and now I want to focus on organizing my media—photos and videos. For that, I decided to use Immich.
Immich
Immich is a free and open-source, self-hosted photo and video management solution.
It’s actively developed by a passionate group of engineers and has a vibrant community behind it.
Why Immich?
I came across Immich while searching for a Google Photos alternative.
Since I have a lot of media and don’t feel like paying for Google One every year, Immich caught my attention.
After giving it a try, I found it to be surprisingly satisfying!
Setting Up Immich Server
Installation
To install Immich, just head over to the official install guide:
👉 Immich Docker Compose Installation
The recommended setup is via Docker Compose—it’s simple and efficient.
Here’s a quick overview:
- Create a directory for the app
- Download the required files
- Customize the environment variables (especially important if you want to specify where your media will be stored)
- Start the containers
That’s it—you’ll have Immich up and running!
(Optional) Auto-Start Setup
You might want to configure Docker Compose to auto-start on server reboot, but that’s a topic I’ll revisit another day.
Post Installation
Once it's running, just follow the Post-Installation Steps.
Open your browser and visit your-machine-ip:2283, create an admin user, and you’re basically done!
I also recommend customizing the storage template—it helps organize your files, especially if you want to categorize them based on devices, people, or events.
User Accounts
One feature I really love is multi-user support.
You can create separate accounts for your family or different devices, and even assign specific storage limits to each one.
Machine Learning
Immich also includes built-in face recognition to help search through albums—just like Google Photos.
Although I haven’t explored much of the advanced tweaking, enabling it is as simple as modifying a few lines in the docker-compose.yml file.
Final Thoughts
If you're just looking for a basic and hassle-free media storage solution, sticking with Google Photos or another cloud service might be fine.
But I made the switch to Immich for three main reasons:
- No subscription fees
- Full control over my data and storage
- I enjoy setting up my own servers and playing with hardware
If that sounds like you, then definitely give Immich a try!