Self-host Immich on a VPS: your own private Google Photos

Phone galleries fill up, and the easy fix — a cloud that auto-backs-up everything — means a third party now holds every photo you've ever taken and quietly runs AI over them. Immich gives you the same experience — auto-backup, timeline, albums, face and object search — on a server you control. Run it on a VPS with Docker and pay for the server in crypto, no KYC.

What Immich needs

• A dedicated IPv4, a domain and HTTPS. The mobile app connects to https://photos.yourdomain.com, so you need a domain, valid TLS and inbound 443 — a dedicated-IP plan. NAT plans don't take inbound. A Medium plan is a sensible start.
• Disk for the library. Photos and videos add up fast — pick a plan whose NVMe fits your collection with headroom.
• RAM for machine-learning. Face/object recognition and smart search want memory; more RAM = faster indexing on big libraries.

Set it up (Ubuntu 24.04, Docker)

# docker-compose.yml — Immich (server + machine-learning + Redis + Postgres/pgvecto)
services:
  immich-server:
    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-server:release
    restart: always
    ports: ["127.0.0.1:2283:2283"]
    volumes: ["/srv/immich/library:/usr/src/app/upload"]
    env_file: [.env]
    depends_on: [redis, database]
  immich-ml:
    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-machine-learning:release
    restart: always
    volumes: ["ml-cache:/cache"]
    env_file: [.env]
  redis:
    image: redis:alpine
    restart: always
  database:
    image: tensorchord/pgvecto-rs:pg16-v0.2.0
    restart: always
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: immich
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: change-me-strong
      POSTGRES_DB: immich
    volumes: ["/srv/immich/db:/var/lib/postgresql/data"]
volumes: { ml-cache: {} }

Put a TLS reverse proxy in front:

# TLS + reverse proxy (dedicated IPv4 + domain + inbound 443)
apt install -y caddy
echo 'photos.yourdomain.com { reverse_proxy 127.0.0.1:2283 }' > /etc/caddy/Caddyfile
systemctl restart caddy && ufw allow 80,443/tcp

Open https://photos.yourdomain.com, create the admin user, install the mobile app and point it at your server — your camera roll now backs up to storage you own.

Make it yours

• Local AI: face and object recognition run in the ML container on your VPS — nothing leaves the box.
• Auto-backup from iOS/Android, background upload, and originals kept byte-for-byte.
• Albums, sharing links, timeline and map — the features you expect, self-hosted.
• Keep Postgres and Redis on localhost; expose only 443.

Why EQVPS for Immich

• Dedicated IPv4 from $8/mo, domain + HTTPS friendly, all ports, self-service rDNS.
• EU locations (Germany, Finland) — clean routes, real data-protection law.
• No KYC, crypto payment. Email to register, USDC/USDT to pay — fitting for a photo library you actually own.
• Root in ~60 seconds, NVMe. Bring up the stack, add Caddy, and your private photo cloud is live.

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