Why I Finally Replaced Google Photos With Self-Hosted Immich
Google Photos has long been considered the gold standard of photo management. Its seamless backups, intelligent search, facial recognition, and polished mobile experience have set expectations so high that abandoning it often feels impractical, if not reckless. Yet, in a world increasingly shaped by subscription fatigue, data monetization, and opaque cloud policies, the appeal of self-hosting has never been stronger. As someone deeply invested in self-hosted infrastructure, I’ve spent years migrating away from recurring cloud services in favor of local alternatives powered by my own hardware. Streaming, file storage, media libraries, and backups have all found new homes on my … Read more