Pluto Photos vs Immich: Which Self-Hosted-Style Photo Tool Fits You?
Immich is a free, open-source, self-hosted photo server built around automatic mobile backup. Pluto Photos is a desktop app you install once, with no server to maintain.
Immich and Pluto Photos both keep your photos off the big cloud providers, but they get there differently. Immich is a self-hosted server: you run it (typically via Docker) on a machine you keep online, and your phone backs up to it automatically, similar to how Google Photos works but on infrastructure you control. Pluto Photos is a desktop app: install it, point it at a folder, and it works — no server, no containers, no "keep a machine running 24/7" requirement.
Who Immich is best for. Someone comfortable running Docker and keeping a server online, who wants Google-Photos-style automatic mobile backup but self-hosted, and who's happy with Immich being free and open source in exchange for being the one responsible for maintaining it.
Who Pluto Photos is best for. Someone who wants a normal desktop application experience: install it, use it, no server administration. Pluto Photos also includes a full desktop-class photo and video editor built in, which is outside Immich's scope as a backup-and-gallery tool.
Both run AI face detection and search locally to the infrastructure you control (Immich on your server, Pluto Photos on your own computer) rather than a big-tech cloud — the real choice is server-you-maintain versus app-you-install, plus whether you need a real editor in the same tool.
Immich vs Pluto Photos
| Immich | Pluto Photos | |
|---|---|---|
| How it runs | Self-hosted server, typically via Docker | Native desktop app (Windows, Mac, Linux); optional Docker server mode on Linux |
| Setup complexity | Requires setting up and maintaining a server | Install and open the app |
| Cost | Free and open source (you provide the hardware) | $29 once for Pro; free tier up to 500 photos |
| Automatic mobile backup | Yes, over the internet if the server is exposed, or LAN/VPN | Over your own Wi-Fi via Mobile Companion |
| AI search & face detection | Runs on your server | Runs on your desktop machine |
| Built-in photo/video editor | Not included | Full layer-based photo editor and multi-clip video editor |
| Duplicate finding | Basic duplicate detection | Perceptual-hash duplicate finder with side-by-side review |
| Ongoing maintenance | You maintain the server, updates, backups | Standard desktop app updates |
| Open source | Yes (AGPL) | No — commercial software, built on open-source components (see Licenses) |
Questions
Is Immich free?
Yes, Immich is free and open source. You provide and maintain the server it runs on.
Does Pluto Photos need a server like Immich does?
No for normal desktop use. On Linux, Pluto Photos can optionally run as a self-hosted Docker server too, similar in spirit to Immich, but that's an option, not a requirement.
Which has better editing tools?
Pluto Photos — Immich is focused on backup, organizing and gallery browsing, not photo/video editing.
Can I run both?
There's nothing stopping you from using Immich for automatic mobile backup and Pluto Photos for organizing, search and editing against the same photo files, though they'd be separate libraries unless you point both at the same folder.
Try it before you decide
Free up to 500 photos, no account needed. Windows, macOS and Linux. Pro is $29, once.