What is a good way to move away from Google Photos (and Google cloud) when you have a lot of photos/videos?

2026-05-09 09:51 UTC

My family heavily relies on Google One to sync our Google Photos. We have 4 iOS and 5 Android devices. Originally the iOS folks would pay and sync throuth iCloud. But to simplify the billing process and easy sharing, we switched all to Google Photos. Lets just say there is almost 2TB of photos/videos. We want to move away from this to a more controlled (self host) and non Google solution. We looked at Proton, their emails and vpns are great. However we dont want to move to a different cloud for photos and videos. We are not very tech savy to set things up. Can we just buy a big hard drive and somehow hook it to our wifi? This is consider self hosted right? Does that mean medias will only get synced when we are within the house’s wifi? Appreciate any inputs

Replies (13)

@banause@feddit.org 2026-05-09 10:04

I think the best idea would be to go with a Synology NAS. bee.synology.com/en-global/BeeStation

Open ##2280358
@INeedMana@piefed.zip 2026-05-09 10:53

We are not very tech savy to set things up I think, in such case, you should rather look for a service hosted for you For example https://www.hetzner.com/storage/storage-share/ Can we just buy a big hard drive and somehow hook it to our wifi? This is consider self hosted right? Does that mean medias will only get synced when we are within the house’s wifi? Yes, it’s called a NAS. Correct. Correct The thread might get locked here under “no support” rule, self-hosting comms will be a better fit https://piefed.social/f/selfhost

Open ##2280874
@Zachariah@lemmy.world 2026-05-09 11:54

www.pikapods.com/apps#photos Immich is very popular, but there are more options there to check out. Immich is a Google Photos alternative to manage and share your photos and videos. PikaPods is a managed hosting solution for open source server apps. Their homepage explains a lot, and if you do some web searches, you can see they’ve got a good reputation.

Open ##2281583
@hexagonwin@lemmy.today 2026-05-09 12:10

immich and photoprism looks good to me

Open ##2281669
@dev_null@lemmy.ml 2026-05-09 20:02

Everyone is suggesting Immich, which is the answer if you want to self-host. But you say you are not very tech savvy, so you might want a service you don’t need to self-host, and in that case take a look at Ente Photos. You get end to end encrypted photos and don’t need to do anything. They have guides on how to move your photos from Google Photos as well.

Open ##2304707
@swelter_spark@reddthat.com 2026-05-09 22:28

I’ve used Nextcloud for photo syncing, and that worked well.

Open ##2316055
@daannii@lemmy.world 2026-05-10 02:32

Buy hard drives.

Open ##2324313
@zemon@lemmy.ml 2026-05-10 17:23

Syncthing seems to be for you. A little setting up is needed, nothing too advanced IMO. It works on LAN / WiFi and syncs your shared folder to another device. No cloud, no middlemen, not even internet (when it is set up) needed.

Open ##2350449
@MrKoyun@lemmy.world 2026-05-10 19:10

Download all of your Google Photos data from Google Takeout. Then, upload said data either to something like Ente Photos with a subscription, or an immich server if you're willing to self-host. An Immich server isn't too overly complicated to set up. You just need a big hard drive, and either an old computer that's just lying around or a cheap and small new computer. It may still take you some headaches and a period of time to properly set up, switch to and get accustomed to but the Immich documentation is pretty good and easy to follow. That plus a bit of googling should be enough of a guide to get properly set up. Beware though, self hosting is something you need take continuous care of and there may be a lot to learn. If that sounds scary I would just say go with Ente. You can still self host Ente, but you can also just pay a subscription and it would be no different or more complicated than switching from iCloud to Google Photos plus you wouldnt have to worry about actually doing the work and maintenance of running a server.

Open ##2384330
@fox2263@lemmy.world 2026-05-10 06:29

So far I’m very impressed with the ugreen NAS own photos capability. But there’s also Ente which is just a brilliant service.

Open ##2384331
@Nighed@feddit.uk 2026-05-09 18:14

As others have said, Immich is probably the go to DIY self hosted option. BUT! Please ensure that if you self host that you have an off site BACKUP. You don't want to lose ALL of your families photos if the house burns down etc.

Open ##2384332
@url@feddit.fr 2026-05-09 10:52

Ente photos is a great choice if you don't want to self host. I remember you can also host ente yourself with just one script that they provide. Also look at immich and photoprism to see if you can host them.

Open ##2384333
@FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 2026-05-09 10:17

>We are not very tech savy to set things up. Find somebody near you who is. A family member who cannot ghost you would be best. I migrated my Photos to a more expensive service called Ente. It's been a mixed bag for me. The backup function works well but both their desktop and mobile apps are causing me trouble. Ask me about the details if you care, I won't bore you with that chat. But in me this has brought me to plan a switch to something self-hosted when my plan expires. I still have lots of time but I'm definitely bookmarking your post.

Open ##2384334