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Comparison · Collab
Immich vs LibrePhotos
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Immich and LibrePhotos — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:self-hostedphoto-management
Immich vs LibrePhotos: at a glance
What is Immich?
Immich's v3.2 RC ships a new search UI and face clustering, advancing self-hosted photo discovery.
Immich is in active release cadence: v3.0 landed workflows, plugins, mobile editing, HLS streaming, and OCR; v3.2 is now in its third RC with a new search UI, face cluster groups, and a rebuilt search API. The RC turnaround pace suggests the team is in cleanup mode ahead of a stable release. It's a self-hosted Google Photos alternative with a large community of contributors across server, mobile, and web.
What is LibrePhotos?
LibrePhotos ships five releases in a month and makes sharing with family a first-class job.
LibrePhotos went from 1.2.1 to 1.5.1 between late September and the end of October. Release 1.3.0 moved tagging and search onto one OpenCLIP model and fixed two code execution bugs. Release 1.4.0 writes edits back to files and adds search filters, and 1.5.0 adds whole-library, per-person and collaborative album sharing, a Places map, 360° photo spheres and a self-updating Windows app. Release 1.5.1 repairs a stuck SQLite upgrade step.
Immich vs LibrePhotos: editorial side-by-side
Immich
6.3COLLAB
Immich's v3.2 RC ships a new search UI and face clustering, advancing self-hosted photo discovery.
◆ Current state
Immich is in active release cadence: v3.0 landed workflows, plugins, mobile editing, HLS streaming, and OCR; v3.2 is now in its third RC with a new search UI, face cluster groups, and a rebuilt search API. The RC turnaround pace suggests the team is in cleanup mode ahead of a stable release. It's a self-hosted Google Photos alternative with a large community of contributors across server, mobile, and web.
◆ Where it's heading
The product is moving from Google Photos parity toward differentiation through extensibility and AI-assisted organization. Workflows and plugins opened the automation surface in v3.0; the new search UI and cluster groups in v3.2 close the discovery gap. That combination — automation plus better semantic search — is the basis for a self-hosted photo library that replaces cloud products in daily use rather than just archiving them.
◆ Prediction
v3.2 stable will ship within days given the current RC pace. After that, expect the workflow engine to get additional triggers and actions, and possibly AI-assisted album creation tied to the new cluster groups and search API.
LibrePhotos
5.0COLLAB
LibrePhotos ships five releases in a month and makes sharing with family a first-class job.
◆ Current state
LibrePhotos went from 1.2.1 to 1.5.1 between late September and the end of October. Release 1.3.0 moved tagging and search onto one OpenCLIP model and fixed two code execution bugs. Release 1.4.0 writes edits back to files and adds search filters, and 1.5.0 adds whole-library, per-person and collaborative album sharing, a Places map, 360° photo spheres and a self-updating Windows app. Release 1.5.1 repairs a stuck SQLite upgrade step.
◆ Where it's heading
The summer's shared-instance plumbing now has a household-level payoff: a parent can share one child's photos with the grandparents instead of creating a whole shared setup. The project is also shedding complexity, with one vision model, one Docker image for any GPU and upgrade work run from an admin card. Security fixes appear in each of the last three feature releases, so anyone hosting for others has a reason to keep up with this pace.
◆ Prediction
With the Finish the upgrade card and self-update in place, expect more point releases like 1.5.1 that repair upgrade edge cases. Sharing should keep expanding, and further public-link and permission fixes are likely.
Alternatives to Immich and LibrePhotos
Other Collab products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Immich or LibrePhotos.
Whimsical
Whimsical's pitch to Miro and Lucid users: paste your work in and keep editing it
Staffbase
Staffbase's feed turns from employer brand to AI positioning, still with no release notes
HumHub
HumHub 1.19 has left beta, and its first patches are already carrying security fixes.
Pydio Cells
Cells 5.1 gives tag values their own access policies and endpoints.
Memos
Memos adopts calendar versions and rebuilds writing around one block editor.
See all Immich alternatives → · See all LibrePhotos alternatives →
Recent activity from Immich and LibrePhotos
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoLibrePhotosLibrePhotos 1.5.1: SQLite upgrade fix, faces on turned photos
- 4d agoLibrePhotosLibrePhotos 1.5.0: library sharing, Places map, 360° photos
- 10d agoLibrePhotosPrebuilt Windows wheels for the backend
- 15d agoLibrePhotosLibrePhotos 1.4.0: edits reach your files, search filters
- 21d agoLibrePhotosLibrePhotos 1.3.0: one OpenCLIP model, faster, security fixes
- 1mo agoLibrePhotosLibrePhotos 1.2.1 repairs SQLite photo IDs
- 1mo agoImmichv3.2.0 RC3: bug fixes before stable release
- 2mo agoImmichv3.2.0 RC2: search UI and face merge bug fixes
- 2mo agoImmichv3.2.0 RC1: new search UI, face cluster groups, memories view ⚡
- 2mo agoImmichv3.2.0-rc.0: fix: build release branch images instead of re-tagging main (#31064)
- 4mo agoImmichv3.0.0 RC3: webhook actions and bug fixes
- 4mo agoImmichv3.0.0 RC2: bug fixes ahead of stable release
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Immich and LibrePhotos?
Both compete on the same themes — self-hosted, photo-management — within Collab. Immich is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Immich better than LibrePhotos?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Immich is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Collab products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Immich?
Top Immich alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Immich alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/immich for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to LibrePhotos?
Top LibrePhotos alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "LibrePhotos alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/librephotos for the full list with editorial commentary on each.