1mo ago

Nextcloud or Immich?

I want to get into selfhosting since I control of my data and not having to worry about copying my files everytime I flash a new is on my phone. The question is, should I use immich or next cloud? If immich is superior for photos, I don't mind not having my files on the cloud. I will be self hosting on a rpi4 I have (if it's possible)

Edit: Thank you all very much for the replies! I will install immich for now and probably setup nextcloud at a later date.

20 comments

I don't really see Immich and NextCloud as being completing products, it just depends on what you're trying to do. Do you want to self-host your own files regardless of file type? Use NextCloud. Do you want a self-hosted tool similar to Google Photos for use with images only? Use Immich. I use both.
- Thank you, your reply made me understand the two services better. I will setup immich for now and I will install nextcloud for my files at a later date.
  
  Simply put, nextcloud = Google drive. Immich = Google photos

If you decide to use Nextcloud don't use the default photos app. It's trash. Use the Memories app.
- I use both Nextcloud's Memories app and Immich simultaneously for now, with the same photos. Immich is pointed at a read-only bind-mount of my Nextcloud photos folder on the server side, so they see the same photos. My photos are a mess and I absolutely need the local AI stuff, and right now, neither is perfect, so I have both running and bounce back and forth. If one of them clearly pulls ahead, I'll probably settle on that one in isolation.

Install both. An RPi4 can handle both. Immich for photos and NextCloud for your files.

On nextcloud you'll get opinions that it either works perfectly fine or is the slowest thing ever. My experience is the second one and I had it on an RPI4 as well. Well, it wasn't terribly slow but not fast either. And for photos it wasn't useful at all, there is some app, I think called memories? Came out some time ago, that one worked better, but not great either.
Don't recall details anymore though because that's when I installed Immich. I was worried the machine learning is too much for the pi, so I switched it off, but never tested if its necessary. Other than that it works great.
People will criticise there are tons of upgrades, but then you don't need to update all the time. Just watch the changelog before updating.
- Had identical experience, went with immich and never looked back
- OK than you for your reply. I will look more into immich.

Server building wise, Immich uses AI based facial recognition and need a bit more GPU power for that.

@simopjo Well, I've only tested Nextcloud so far on my Raspberry Pi 5, but I would definitely use Immich if I had the budget for a NAS right now.
I want the Google Photos experience, which is most likely the intended target audience for this service.
They're not really comparable IMO, different feature sets for different use cases.
Nextcloud is more like a budget Google all-in-one that has fewer features, looks and behaves differently, while dedicated services such as Immich (alternative to Google Photos), FileRun (alternative to Google Drive) aim to be the hyper-specific, ultra-seamless alternatives you can plop in and not feel that you're missing any feature, and that look and feel the same.

I use Nextcloud, never tried Immich. Nextcloud has a lot of features—calendar, file hosting, photos app. Also has an instant messenger with video conferencing I think, never used that feature though. I just use it as it's easier as separately setting up a calendar service and photo hosting.

I don't trust myself to handle secure encryption. Nextcloud has given up on providing client-side encryption at all... So the obvious choice for me is Immich.
Although since I've fallen for Ente, I'd probably use that instead.
Unfortunately, Nextcloud has given me so much pain in my attempt to make it E2E that I've basically given up on using it at all. For stuff that's not images or passwords or notes - which is a fleetingly small list of things - I tend to use either Filen or Proton's services.
- FYI, Immich doesn't do encryption either.
  
  Thank you for letting me know! I can't believe I assumed it did for so long. I guess it's not a deal breaker for OP, but it is for me.

I went for nextcloud myself. Also storing files. Managing my calandar and contacts and sync via davx
- Both why not both if you are really into photography?

Nextcloud. It is a AiO solution for every type of file you want (except for audio/video files, then use Jellyfin).

Why not both? I've exposed my Nextcloud instance to www but don't want to expose Immich. The Memories plugin for Nextcloud is great for sharing photos to family (I tend to share only photos from special events rather than everything).
I have Nextcloud on a Pi5 8GB running an SSD. Immich currently on a Pi4B 4GB with external HDD.
- I only have one pi4 and an older pi3b. I don't know if the pi3 can run one of them.

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