Alternatives / Apple Photos
Looking for an open source Apple Photos alternative? We compared 4 open source photo backup and gallery tools by license, self-hosting, encryption, mobile apps, and features. They range from automatic phone backup with face recognition to encrypted cloud storage and classic web galleries.
Written by Maxime DERAME
Last updated:
| Alternative | Best for | License |
|---|---|---|
| Immich | Closest self-hosted photo backup with smart search | AGPL-3.0 |
| Ente | End-to-end encrypted photo storage | AGPL-3.0 |
| Lychee | Self-hosted gallery and sharing (has a paid Supporter Edition) | MIT |
| Piwigo | Large photo galleries with metadata | GPL-2.0 |
We looked for open-source tools that overlap with Apple Photos' core: backing up photos and videos from your phone, browsing and searching them, and sharing albums. We verified each project's license, recent activity, stars, and self-hosting in its repository. Apple Photos is deeply tied to Apple devices and iCloud, so we separate full backup-and-sync apps from web gallery tools. See our methodology for the full criteria.
Immich and Ente are backup-and-sync apps with mobile clients that upload your photos automatically, which is the closest to Apple Photos. Lychee and Piwigo are web galleries for organizing and sharing photos you add through a browser or import tools, and they are less suited to automatic phone backup.
Immich is the closest, with automatic phone backup, face recognition, smart search, a map view, and RAW support, though it is self-hosted only. Ente focuses on end-to-end encryption: your photos are encrypted on your device before upload, and it can be used as a paid hosted service or self-hosted.
Immich has no official hosted service, so you run it on your own server and are responsible for backups. Ente Photos is a paid service with a small free storage tier, and you can also clone the repository and self-host. Lychee and Piwigo are lightweight to host, and Piwigo also offers managed hosting.
Immich and Ente are AGPL-3.0, Lychee is MIT, and Piwigo is GPL-2.0. Lychee also offers a paid Supporter Edition with additional features.
A self-hosted photo server is not a backup by itself. Keep a second copy of your library on separate storage, and test restores, especially with fast-moving projects such as Immich.
All four projects were updated within days of this update.
Apple Photos stores your library in iCloud, which is free for only 5 GB and then billed monthly, and the experience is best inside the Apple ecosystem. Open-source alternatives let you back up to your own server or an encrypted service, avoid storage subscriptions and lock-in, and keep access across Android, iOS, and the web, at the cost of running a server or paying for hosting.
| Alternative | Type | License | Self-hosted | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Immich | Photo backup and sync | AGPL-3.0 | Yes (only) | Phone backup and search |
| Ente | Encrypted photo storage | AGPL-3.0 | Yes or hosted | Privacy |
| Lychee | Web gallery | MIT | Yes | Sharing albums |
| Piwigo | Web gallery | GPL-2.0 | Yes or hosted | Large libraries |
Want the closest self-hosted replacement
Immich offers automatic phone backup, face recognition, smart search, a map view, and RAW support, but you host it yourself.
Want encrypted photos without running a server
Ente encrypts photos end to end and syncs across devices, as a paid hosted service with a free tier or self-hosted.
Want a simple self-hosted gallery to share albums
Lychee is an MIT-licensed gallery with EXIF support, sharing, and Docker deployment, with extra features in a paid Supporter Edition.
Manage a very large photo collection
Piwigo has handled large libraries since 2002, with metadata support, plugins, mobile apps, and optional managed hosting.