Choose the privacy model before the photo app.
Managed encryption, a server you run, or a NAS you own.
Ente Photos is the cleanest managed move, Immich gives technical users the most control and the richest self-hosted search, and Synology Photos fits households prepared to buy and maintain a NAS. Google Photos remains rational when its search, Partner Sharing, and low operational burden matter more than provider-blind encryption.
Choose Ente for managed end-to-end encryption, Immich for maximum self-hosted control, and Synology Photos for a household NAS; stay with Google when migration fidelity and zero administration matter most.
Four different answers to the privacy-versus-effort trade-off
Ente uses one global price schedule but displays current amounts at checkout; Google One pricing is regional. Immich's product key is optional support funding, not a feature unlock. Synology's software price excludes the NAS, drives, backup destination, electricity, and administrator time.
Three different kinds of better
Ente Photos
Best for managed end-to-end encrypted photo backupEnte is the closest match for readers who want a private replacement without becoming a system administrator. It encrypts photos and metadata on the client, keeps redundant encrypted copies in three EU locations, and runs face recognition and natural-language search on mobile or desktop devices. Its Google Takeout importer is unusually well documented, but Google shared albums and Partner Sharing still need deliberate manual work.
Choose it when
- You want the provider to be unable to read the photo library or its encrypted metadata.
- Your household needs iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, and web access without operating a server.
- You can accept per-album sharing instead of a perfect copy of Google Partner Sharing.
Know the trade-offs
- Machine-learning search is unavailable in the web app, and first-time indexing downloads originals to a mobile or desktop device.
- Google shared albums, ownership, sharer identity, and photos only visible through Partner Sharing do not reliably survive Takeout.
- Losing the password and recovery key can make the library unrecoverable; Ente cannot decrypt it for the account holder.
Immich
Best for technical users who want self-hosted searchImmich is the strongest choice when the buyer wants a Google Photos-like interface and modern search while retaining control of the server and storage. It provides contextual CLIP search, face recognition, multi-user libraries, shared albums, Partner Sharing, and mobile backup. That control comes with real operational responsibility: secure remote access, updates, database and asset backups, capacity planning, and restore testing all belong to the operator.
Choose it when
- You already run Docker services or are willing to learn Linux server administration.
- You want contextual search, face recognition, and family sharing to run on infrastructure you control.
- You can maintain both a database backup and a separate backup of the original media files.
Know the trade-offs
- Immich is a server-processed photo system, not a provider-blind end-to-end encrypted vault; administrator and filesystem security are part of the threat model.
- The official Google Takeout guidance points to community-maintained immich-go rather than a first-party importer with preservation guarantees.
- Remote access, TLS or VPN configuration, updates, storage expansion, monitoring, and disaster recovery are ongoing household IT work.
Synology Photos
Best for families ready to own a NASSynology Photos is the middle path between a managed cloud and a hand-built photo server. The app is included without a subscription, stores the library on a compatible Synology NAS, and combines mobile backup, browser and TV access, face or object organization, Shared Space permissions, and protected links. It reduces software integration work compared with a DIY stack, but the household still owns the hardware lifecycle, security configuration, drive failures, off-site backup, and restore process.
Choose it when
- Your household wants local storage and is prepared to buy a compatible NAS and drives.
- You prefer an integrated appliance, support documentation, and mobile apps over assembling a Docker stack.
- Folder-based Shared Space permissions fit your family workflow better than Google Partner Sharing.
Know the trade-offs
- The Photos app is subscription-free, but the NAS, drives, replacement disks, power, and independent backup destination are real costs.
- Synology Photos is not documented as an end-to-end encrypted photo service; at-rest encryption support varies by model and DSM configuration.
- The official Takeout workflow addresses files and metadata, but current documentation does not promise transfer of Google face groups, Partner Sharing, comments, favorites, or link permissions.
A safer Google Photos migration
- 01
Inventory the library and its relationships
Record total storage, device folders, important albums, Partner Sharing rules, shared albums you own or joined, favorites, edited photos, motion or Live Photos, and any Locked Folder content. This separates transferable files from Google-only relationships that may need manual rebuilding.
- 02
Create a complete Takeout export
Export Google Photos through Google Takeout, choose ZIP archives, and download every part before links expire. Separately download shared albums that are not reliably represented in Takeout, and save Partner Sharing items to the correct owner's library before exporting.
- 03
Keep an immutable staging copy
Extract all archive parts into one parent folder without flattening subfolders, retain JSON sidecars, and keep at least two untouched copies on different storage devices. Generate file counts or checksums so a later import cannot silently become the only copy.
- 04
Pilot a mixed sample
Import a representative batch containing old and new photos, videos, edited images, RAW files, motion or Live Photos, multiple albums, unusual timestamps, and non-Latin filenames. Verify dates, locations, album membership, playback, search indexing, sharing, and export before committing the full library.
- 05
Run the full import and prove recovery
Complete the import, compare counts and spot-check years and albums, enable new mobile backups, and test an independent export or restore. Keep Google Photos intact for at least one billing cycle or 30–90 days; delete only after the destination, backup, and recovery path are all verified.
When you should stay with Google Photos
Search is the feature you use every day
Google Photos supports people, pets, places, things, dates, text, and descriptive queries across the managed library. Ente's private search requires local indexing, Immich requires server resources, and Synology's recognition features vary by model, so leaving can reduce convenience or increase compute work.
Partner Sharing is your family archive
Google can automatically share an entire library or selected people with one partner and can place saved partner photos into search and Memories. None of the three alternatives reproduces every ownership, storage, and automatic-sharing behavior during migration.
You do not want to own recovery operations
Google handles servers, indexing, device access, capacity, and service recovery. A private cloud still requires recovery-key discipline, and self-hosted or NAS choices require backups, updates, security, hardware planning, and restore tests that some households will not reliably perform.
What we checked—and what we didn't.
Official pricing, plan, security, privacy, platform, sharing, backup, export, import, system-requirement, remote-access, and recovery documentation for Google Photos, Ente Photos, Immich, Synology Photos, Proton Drive Photos, iCloud Photos, and Nextcloud Memories. The selected products were checked against live product and support pages, not search snippets.
No product was installed, benchmarked, penetration-tested, or migrated for this draft. Search quality, background-upload reliability, recognition accuracy, support response, hardware performance, and restore duration were not independently tested. Documentation gaps and conflicts are recorded in the evidence audit rather than resolved by assumption.
Pick the responsibility you are willing to own
Choose Ente Photos when provider-blind encryption and low administration matter most; choose Immich when you want the richest self-hosted search and can run a secure server; choose Synology Photos when your family wants local storage in a supported NAS appliance. Stay with Google Photos when Partner Sharing, mature managed search, and avoiding migration or recovery work are more valuable than end-to-end encryption or local control.
How we reached this decision →