Self-Host Immich on a VPS: Replace Google Photos for $10/Month

What You Need

• A VPS with at least 4 GB RAM (6 GB recommended for machine learning features)
• Enough storage for your photo library — expect 50–100 GB per year of phone photos
• A domain name for HTTPS access

The Pro plan on NoctHost (4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 160 GB SSD) handles a family-sized library with room for the machine learning container that powers face recognition and smart search.

Step 1: Install Docker

apt update && apt upgrade -y
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
apt install -y docker-compose-plugin

Step 2: Download the Immich Docker Compose Files

mkdir ~/immich && cd ~/immich
wget -O docker-compose.yml https://github.com/immich-app/immich/releases/latest/download/docker-compose.yml
wget -O .env https://github.com/immich-app/immich/releases/latest/download/example.env

Step 3: Configure Environment Variables

Open .env and set these values:

nano .env

UPLOAD_LOCATION=/mnt/photos
DB_DATA_LOCATION=/mnt/immich-db
DB_PASSWORD=change_this_to_something_strong
TZ=Europe/Tallinn

Create the directories:

mkdir -p /mnt/photos /mnt/immich-db

Step 4: Start Immich

docker compose up -d
docker compose logs -f

First startup takes a few minutes while it pulls container images. Once you see the server listening message, Immich is running on port 2283.

Step 5: Set Up HTTPS with Nginx

apt install -y nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx
nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/immich

server {
    server_name photos.yourdomain.com;
    client_max_body_size 50000M;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:2283;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
    }
}

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/immich /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
certbot --nginx -d photos.yourdomain.com
nginx -t && systemctl reload nginx

Step 6: Create Your Account

Open https://photos.yourdomain.com in your browser. The first account you create becomes the admin.

Step 7: Set Up Mobile Backup

Install the Immich app on your phone — available on iOS and Android. Enter your server URL and log in. In the app settings:

• Enable background backup
• Set to Wi-Fi only to save mobile data
• Enable backup on charging

Your photos will start syncing automatically. For an existing library, the initial backup runs in the background over several hours.

Backups

Immich stores your photos in /mnt/photos. Back this up to a separate location — an S3-compatible bucket, another server, or external storage. Never rely on a single VPS as the only copy of your photos.

A simple nightly backup with rclone to Backblaze B2 costs around $0.006 per GB per month — nearly nothing for most personal libraries.

What You Get

The machine learning container processes your library in the background. After initial indexing (a few hours for a large collection), you get:

• Face recognition that groups photos by person automatically
• Smart search — type "beach" or "birthday party" and it finds matching photos
• Duplicate detection
• Location-based albums if your photos have GPS metadata

All of this runs on your server. Nothing is sent to external AI services.