--- title: "Deploy Immich | Open Source Google Photos Alternative" description: "Self-host Immich. Facial recognition, mobile backup, smart search & more" category: "Storage" url: https://railway.com/deploy/immich-gphotos-alternative --- # Deploy Immich | Open Source Google Photos Alternative Self-host Immich. Facial recognition, mobile backup, smart search & more **[Deploy Immich | Open Source Google Photos Alternative on Railway](https://railway.com/template/immich-gphotos-alternative)** - **Creator:** Heimdall - **Category:** Storage - **Total deploys:** 7 ## Template content ### Postgres https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/homarr-labs/dashboard-icons/svg/postgres.svg - **Image:** ghcr.io/immich-app/postgres:14-vectorchord0.4.3-pgvectors0.2.0 ### Redis https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/homarr-labs/dashboard-icons/svg/redis.svg - **Image:** valkey/valkey:9 ### Immich-ML https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/homarr-labs/dashboard-icons/svg/immich.svg - **Image:** ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-machine-learning:release ### Immich-Server https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/homarr-labs/dashboard-icons/svg/immich.svg - **Image:** ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-server:release - **Public domain:** Yes ## Documentation ![Immich logo](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT7puTG_BvfwN8yS9uBCIT39XFPkML2ahWk3A&s) # Deploy and Host Immich on Railway Deploy Immich on Railway to run a self-hosted Google Photos alternative with full privacy control. Immich is an open-source photo and video management platform with automatic mobile backup, facial recognition, smart search, and a polished web interface that rivals commercial cloud services. This Railway template pre-configures four services: **Immich-Server** (API + web UI + background workers), **Immich-ML** (machine learning for facial recognition and smart search), **PostgreSQL** with pgvector/VectorChord extensions for vector embeddings, and **Valkey** (Redis-compatible cache). All services communicate over Railway's private network with volumes attached for persistent media and database storage. ![Immich Railway architecture](https://res.cloudinary.com/asset-cloudinary/image/upload/v1776530008/immich-railwa-arch_rhrpdb.png) ## Getting Started with Immich on Railway After deployment completes, open the Immich-Server public URL in your browser. You'll see Immich's first-time setup wizard — create your admin account with an email and password. Once logged in, navigate to the **Administration** panel to configure storage, user accounts, and machine learning settings. Download the official Immich mobile app ([iOS](https://apps.apple.com/app/immich/id1613945686) / [Android](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.alextran.immich)) and connect it to your Railway URL to start backing up photos automatically. Your first upload will trigger ML processing for facial recognition and smart search indexing. ![Immich dashboard screenshot](https://res.cloudinary.com/asset-cloudinary/image/upload/v1776530008/immich-dashboard_mvtpqz.png) ## About Hosting Immich Immich is a high-performance, self-hosted photo and video management solution built with Node.js (server) and Python (machine learning). It provides a complete replacement for Google Photos with full data ownership. - **Automatic mobile backup** with background sync on iOS and Android - **AI-powered features** — facial recognition, object detection, CLIP-based smart search, OCR - **Timeline and map views** with reverse geocoding - **Multi-user support** with sharing, albums, and granular permissions - **External library scanning** for existing photo collections - **REST API** with OpenAPI specs for automation and integrations - **Memory feature** — resurface photos from past dates The architecture separates the API/web server from the ML pipeline, allowing independent scaling. PostgreSQL stores metadata and vector embeddings for similarity search; Valkey handles caching and job queues. ## Why Deploy Immich on Railway Railway makes self-hosting Immich simple with zero infrastructure management: - One-click deployment of all four services with private networking pre-configured - Persistent volumes for media storage and database with automatic backups - Auto-generated HTTPS domain — no certificate management - Scale ML workers independently from the web server - No Docker or server administration required ## Common Use Cases for Self-Hosted Immich - **Family photo hub** — centralize photos from multiple family members' phones with multi-user accounts and shared albums - **Google Photos migration** — import your Google Takeout archive using `immich-go` CLI tool and maintain the same automatic backup workflow - **Photography workflow** — organize large RAW and HEIC collections with metadata search, facial recognition, and location-based browsing - **Privacy-first backup** — keep sensitive photos on infrastructure you control instead of third-party cloud storage ## Dependencies for Self-Hosted Immich on Railway This template deploys four services: - **Immich-Server** — `ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-server:release` — API server, web UI, and background microservices - **Immich-ML** — `ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-machine-learning:release` — machine learning inference (facial recognition, CLIP, OCR) - **PostgreSQL** — `ghcr.io/immich-app/postgres:14-vectorchord0.4.3-pgvectors0.2.0` — database with pgvector and VectorChord extensions for vector similarity search - **Valkey** — `valkey/valkey:9` — Redis-compatible in-memory cache for job queues and sessions ### Environment Variables Reference for Immich on Railway | Variable | Service | Description | |----------|---------|-------------| | `PORT` | Immich-Server | HTTP listening port (2283) | | `DB_HOSTNAME` | Immich-Server | PostgreSQL host via private network | | `DB_PASSWORD` | Immich-Server | Database password (references Postgres service) | | `DB_DATABASE_NAME` | Immich-Server | Database name | | `REDIS_HOSTNAME` | Immich-Server | Valkey/Redis host via private network | | `IMMICH_MACHINE_LEARNING_URL` | Immich-Server | ML service endpoint on private network | | `IMMICH_LOG_LEVEL` | Immich-Server | Log verbosity (log, debug, verbose, warn, error) | | `POSTGRES_PASSWORD` | Postgres | Database superuser password | | `POSTGRES_DB` | Postgres | Default database name | | `PGDATA` | Postgres | Data directory (must be volume subdirectory) | ### Deployment Dependencies - **Runtime:** Node.js (server), Python (ML), PostgreSQL 14+ - **GitHub:** [immich-app/immich](https://github.com/immich-app/immich) (98k+ stars, AGPL-3.0) - **Docker Hub:** [ghcr.io/immich-app](https://github.com/orgs/immich-app/packages) - **Docs:** [docs.immich.app](https://docs.immich.app/) ## Hardware Requirements for Self-Hosting Immich | Resource | Minimum | Recommended | |----------|---------|-------------| | CPU | 2 cores | 4+ cores | | RAM | 4 GB (ML disabled) | 6–8 GB | | Storage | Depends on library size | SSD required for database | | Runtime | Docker 20+ | Docker Compose v2+ | The ML service uses ~2–4 GB RAM for model inference. For large libraries (100k+ photos), allocate additional CPU for background processing. On Railway, the default container resources are sufficient for personal use; scale up for multi-user or large libraries. ## Self-Hosting Immich with Docker Compose The quickest way to self-host Immich outside Railway: ``` mkdir immich && cd immich curl -Lo docker-compose.yml https://github.com/immich-app/immich/releases/latest/download/docker-compose.yml curl -Lo .env https://github.com/immich-app/immich/releases/latest/download/example.env ``` Edit `.env` to set a strong `DB_PASSWORD` and your upload location: ``` UPLOAD_LOCATION=/path/to/your/photos DB_PASSWORD=your-secure-password-here DB_DATA_LOCATION=/path/to/postgres/data ``` ```bash compose up -d ``` Access Immich at `http://localhost:2283` and create your admin account. ## Is Immich Free to Self-Host? Immich is 100% free and open-source under the AGPL-3.0 license. All features — facial recognition, smart search, mobile backup, multi-user support — are available without payment. Optional product keys ($25 individual / $100 server lifetime) exist purely to support development and unlock zero additional functionality. When deployed on Railway, your only cost is Railway infrastructure usage. ## Immich vs PhotoPrism vs Google Photos | Feature | Immich | PhotoPrism | Google Photos | |---------|--------|------------|---------------| | Self-hosted | Yes | Yes | No | | Mobile app | Official iOS + Android | Third-party only | Official | | Auto backup | Yes (background sync) | No | Yes | | Facial recognition | Yes (on-device ML) | Yes | Yes (cloud) | | Smart search (CLIP) | Yes | No | Yes (cloud) | | Multi-user | Yes | Limited | Yes | | Open source | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 | Proprietary | | Price | Free | Free + paid tiers | Free (15GB) + paid | Immich is the strongest self-hosted Google Photos alternative due to its mobile app parity, active development pace, and comprehensive AI features running entirely on your hardware. ## FAQ **What is Immich and why should I self-host it?** Immich is an open-source photo and video management platform that replaces Google Photos. Self-hosting gives you full ownership of your media, no storage limits, no subscription fees, and complete privacy — your photos never leave your server. **What does this Railway template deploy for Immich?** This template deploys four interconnected services: Immich-Server (web UI and API), Immich-ML (machine learning for facial recognition and smart search), PostgreSQL with vector extensions (metadata and embeddings), and Valkey (Redis-compatible cache for job queues). **Why does Immich need a custom PostgreSQL image instead of standard Postgres?** Immich uses pgvector and VectorChord extensions for vector similarity search — this powers facial recognition matching and CLIP-based smart search. The custom image (`ghcr.io/immich-app/postgres:14-vectorchord0.4.3-pgvectors0.2.0`) ships with these extensions pre-installed. Standard Railway-managed Postgres does not include them. **Can I disable the machine learning service to save resources on Railway?** Yes. Remove or stop the Immich-ML service. Immich will continue working for uploads, browsing, and sharing — you'll just lose facial recognition, smart search, and object detection. This reduces RAM usage by 2–4 GB. **How do I import my Google Photos library into self-hosted Immich?** Use the community tool [immich-go](https://github.com/simulot/immich-go) to import a Google Takeout archive directly into Immich. It preserves album structure, metadata, and timestamps. Run it from your local machine pointing at your Railway Immich URL. **How much storage does Immich need on Railway?** Storage depends entirely on your photo/video library size. A typical phone backup of 50,000 photos uses 100–200 GB. Railway volumes support up to 1 TB on the Pro plan. Videos consume significantly more space than photos. ## Similar templates - [Garage S3 Storage](https://railway.com/deploy/garage-s3-storage) — Ultra-light S3 server: fast, open-source, plug-and-play. - [Redis](https://railway.com/deploy/redis-1) — Self Host Latest Redis with Railway - [EasyImg](https://railway.com/deploy/easyimg) — Simple self-hostable Nuxt.js personal image hosting system. Open this page in a browser: https://railway.com/deploy/immich-gphotos-alternative