Nextcloud vs. Immich: Which Self-Hosted Option Is Best For Mobile Phone Photo Backups?

When it comes to backing up our photos from our mobile phone, there are quite a few options that we can consider, most of which are paid. As part of our Build your own homelab series, we want to focus on taking control of our data, and more importantly, saving us some money. (to at least offset the cost of the homelab itself – which is pretty small anyways). Self-hosting a solution to take care of our mobile phone photo backups is very easy and the two best options are Nextcloud and Immich. Nextcloud provides a mature, all‑in‑one collaboration platform with a built‑in auto‑upload feature for mobile photos and videos, while Immich delivers a Google Photos‑style interface complete with AI‑powered tagging, facial recognition, and advanced search. As part of our ongoing series, we will be installing BOTH options so that users can select the one that works best for them – keep an eye on the site for the next instalments of the Build your own homelab series

But let’s first explain why self-hosting is the way to go.

What Is Self‑Hosting and Why It’s Great

Self‑hosting means running software on your own physical or virtual servers at home (or in a hosted VPS), rather than relying on third‑party cloud services. In our case, it will be running on our Homelab server running Proxmox.

Privacy & Control: You decide who accesses your data and where it’s stored, eliminating worries about corporate data mining or vendor lock‑in.
Cost Efficiency: After initial hardware costs, you avoid recurring subscription fees for storage. This can save thousands for large photo libraries.
Customization & Extensibility: Open‑source platforms let you add plugins, integrate with other homelab services, and tailor features to your needs.
Scalability: With hosting your library at home, adding more disk space and/or features becomes a lot easier than cloud services with different payment tiers. No longer will you need to pay for a feature you don’t need or will never use (especially on higher tiers).

Nextcloud: Your All‑In‑One Cloud Hub

Overview

Nextcloud is a self‑hosted content collaboration platform that handles files, calendars, contacts, and photos all in one place. Its mobile apps for Android and iOS include an auto‑upload feature that detects new photos and videos on your device and synchronizes them to your server, with options for Wi‑Fi‑only uploads, custom folder structures, and HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) support.

Pros of Nextcloud for Photo Backups

Integrated Ecosystem: Photos live alongside documents, calendar events, and chats. This is ideal if you already use Nextcloud for collaboration, or if you want to backup more than just photos.
Rich Gallery Features: Nextcloud Photos offers timeline views, map integration, and galleries, plus optional AI tagging and facial recognition via community apps like Recognize and Memories. Note that these features are add-ons and not part of the standard install, so extra work will need to be put in to your installation for features that might be standard with Immich.
Granular Access Controls: Share individual folders or albums with friends, family, or team members, with password protection and expiration settings.
Mature Community & Support: Active forums, extensive documentation, and numerous third‑party apps ensure long‑term stability and feature sets that can extend the functionality of Nextcloud to your exact needs.

Cons of Nextcloud for Photo Backups

Basic Photo‑First Features: While functional, Nextcloud’s gallery UI and search are less polished than dedicated photo managers like Immich.
Mobile App Battery Usage: Historically, Nextcloud’s auto‑upload feature has been reported to drain battery more than specialized backup apps. This seems to have been resolved for the most part, but is something to take into account
Less Frequent Core Updates: New photo‑centric features can lag behind specialized projects, as Nextcloud balances many use cases. After all, it is much more than a photo backup utility, so other document types, collaboration and chat features also needs to be worked on by the Development team.

Immich: A Google Photos‑Style Alternative

Overview

Immich is a free, open‑source, self‑hosted photo and video backup solution designed to mimic the look and feel of Google Photos while keeping everything on your own server. You install an Immich server (easily via Docker or LXC Container) and then use its Android or iOS apps to auto‑upload, browse, search, and share media. The main appeal of Immich the familiar look and feel of Google Photos, so this option is mostly a lot easier to understand for less-technical users.

Pros of Immich

Specialized Photo UI: Offers albums, maps view, “Memories” (just like Google Photos), and draggable scrubbers for fast browsing.
Advanced Search & AI: Metadata, object, and facial recognition powered by on‑premise ML models let you find photos by people, places, or things without external services or installing any extra add-ons or features.
Deduplication & Selective Backup: Prevents duplicate uploads and lets you choose specific albums or folders to sync.
Frequent Feature Releases: Under active development with regular updates, bringing new capabilities quickly. However, this also means that it is less mature than Nextcloud.

Cons of Immich

Rapid, Breaking Changes: Fast release cadence sometimes causes version mismatches between server and mobile apps, requiring extra maintenance. Although this can be an annoyance, it is luckily easily fixed and does not happen often, but can lead to some disruptions.
Narrow Scope: Focuses on photos and videos only. Immich lacks Nextcloud’s broader collaboration tools (documents, chat, calendar).
Data Storage Practices: Stores media unencrypted by default, so physical security of your server is critical. When we look at the installation, we will also look at some security tips as well, but this is worth mentioning if security of your photos is important (and it should be!)
Relatively Young Project: While promising, Immich’s community and ecosystem are still growing compared to Nextcloud’s decades‑long history.

Feature Comparison at a Glance

Auto‑Upload: Both support background sync, but Immich offers more selective control (per‑album).
Apps: Both support Android and iOS apps, so both will be easy-to-use with your mobile device.
Gallery & Browsing: Nextcloud covers basics; Immich delivers a richer, Google‑Photos‑like experience.
AI & Search: Nextcloud needs extra apps for tagging; Immich has built‑in ML-based search and facial recognition.
Ecosystem: Nextcloud integrates with many homelab services like chat and collboration; Immich stays focused on media.
Install: Both can be installed as a Docker container or as an LXC container and easily integrates as an LXC in Proxmox.

Which to Choose? Homelab Use‑Cases

Choose Nextcloud if: you want a single self‑hosted hub for files, photos, calendar, contacts, and chat. It is ideal for families or teams already running a Nextcloud server or that needs a bit more than just a photo backup solution.
Choose Immich if: your primary goal is photo/video management with a slick UI, powerful AI search, and dedicated mobile apps. It is perfect for homelabs focused on media curation that does not necessarily need other services.

Some Frequently Asked Questions

What is the main difference between Nextcloud and Immich?

Nextcloud is a generalist content collaboration suite with basic photo features, while Immich is a photo‑first management tool with advanced AI search and limited features outside of photo/video management.

Do I need special hardware to self‑host?

No. Both run on low‑power ARM devices (e.g., Raspberry Pi) or any x86_64 server, with 2 GB RAM recommended for small photo libraries.

Is self‑hosting secure?

Self‑hosting puts security in your hands: use HTTPS (Let’s Encrypt), firewall rules, and regular backups to keep your data safe.

Conclusion

Self‑hosting your mobile photo backups is a powerful way to reclaim privacy, cut costs, and tailor features to your exact needs. Nextcloud and Immich each excel in different homelab scenarios. Choose the one that aligns with your priorities, whether it’s broad collaboration or photo‑centric excellence. In future articles, we will be looking at installing both options, so stay tuned for a more hands-on install guide for each.

Homelab