"Might" == "Have been for some time, just that we're now getting to the obvious point"
this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2026
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One word: Immich
photoprism is another option.
Do it now while you can still buy a Pi and a hard drive for less than $500 each.
Ugh it's going to be a pain to stop using Google, but it's time. Long gone are the days of "don't be evil"
If you're interested in a self-hosted alternative, I can highly recommend immich. The UI is clean and fast (relative to Photoprism), has android and iOS apps, auto phone->server uploading, sharable albums, and more features. I don't know anyone that has been disappointed after switching, and I see why
The biggest pain if you want to set it up is starting your home server if you don't already have one. Otherwise I found setting up immich itself on a server pretty easy
Hadn't heard of immich, I already run a plex server so shouldn't be too bad to set up. That just leaves the big problem of switching all my existing accounts off gmail.
Also, use Google takeout and the helper to keep meta and exif data intact, it will take hours and hours to run but it does a perfect job!
The only problem with Immich is that it's a fascism-supporting FUTO project. It's excellent software, but don't give them your money, because they'll send it to fascists.
2nd this. Have it on a NAS box and the biggest task was just download and re uploading to Immich. Once on I find the UI pleasant and the face tagging is a nice touch.
Yo for years I had that stupid fucking Google warning about running out of space and got so sick and tired of it, now I get kinda giddy when I see "150gb/6tb used"
Ente worked for me. More pricey, yes. But you do not pay with your data... Also e2e encrypted, good family plans and sharing works good.
And one of their backup locations is an underground bunker
I love Ente, you can have 5 people spread across so it works out cheaper too. So in reality it's like £2/person/month for ~200GB or £1 each for 40GB each.
I love supporting their cause though.
There are other alternatives, I recently saw a really good one but I don't remember it. Let me look for it and I'll send it to you as soon as I find it, we use it at work
Always assume Google will scan whatever you store or access through them for advertisement targeting.
I kinda assumed it already did, so I stopped using Google photos, now it's time to exit google drive as well. The only transition I think might be hard for me is Gmail and maybe Keep, but I'll figure something out
They aren't already?
I was about to move all my photos to Proton, and then... I guess it's a vps and Immich after all that. Sheesh.
I have come to a similar conclusion, I think managed self hosting for certain services gives you the most control and privacy while still giving you all the benefits of an always on web service, and then I’ll make a home server from my old laptop for anything that needs to mostly run locally for even more control and zero cost
Another step is considering which things actually need to be an always on service, or how reachable it nerds to be. Reachability to limit Internet exposure, whether that's pulling everything back behind VPN or just local/at home only. I was starting to look at which of those services even really need to be a service vs just some files on a NAS. Simple files and simple access not tied to apps that need troubleshooting, and probably lesser hardware requirement (compute/memory->power)