Immich Hosting: Ranked by Storage & ML Cost
Immich stores photos and runs face recognition on your server. Here's what each VPS costs: ranked by €/GB storage, ML overhead, and total monthly spend. Just data.
Hetzner — Best €/GB Storage + ML CPU in Our Immich Chart
$7.50/mo for 8 GB RAM and 40 GB NVMe. Our chart of 5 providers ranks Hetzner first on storage-per-dollar for Immich's photo library and face-recognition workload.
Get Hetzner VPS →Immich — Photo Count Drives Storage & ML Cost
Immich is a Google Photos replacement that syncs photos from your phone, auto-generates albums, and runs face recognition locally on your VPS. No cloud vendor owns your images.
Every 1,000 photos = ~2–3 GB of storage + RAM for ML inference. Face recognition CPU spikes when you import batches. Our chart emphasizes 8 GB RAM (the ML threshold) and storage cost per GB because growth is predictable: 50k photos = ~100 GB, 100k photos = ~200 GB.
This guide ranks 5 providers' photo-suitable tiers (8 GB RAM, 40–55 GB NVMe, $7.50–$12/mo). All handle 50k+ photo libraries with responsive face tagging on 2 vCPU. Scale storage as your library expands.
Minimum Server Requirements for Immich
| Resource | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| RAM | 4 GB | 8 GB |
| CPU | 2 vCPU | 2+ vCPUs |
| Storage | 100 GB | 40+ GB NVMe |
| OS | Ubuntu 22.04+ | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS |
Top 5 VPS Providers for Immich Compared
We deployed Immich on each provider and measured startup time, response latency, and resource usage. Here are the results:
Pros
- Unbeatable price-to-performance ratio
- European data centers with strong privacy
- NVMe storage on all plans
Cons
- No US data centers
- Control panel less polished than competitors
All Hetzner Plans
| Plan | CPU | RAM | Storage | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CX22 | 2 vCPU | 4 GB | 40 GB NVMe | $4.15/mo | Get Plan → |
| CX32 | 4 vCPU | 8 GB | 80 GB NVMe | $7.49/mo | Get Plan → |
| CX42 | 8 vCPU | 16 GB | 160 GB NVMe | $14.49/mo | Get Plan → |
| CX52 | 16 vCPU | 32 GB | 320 GB NVMe | $28.49/mo | Get Plan → |
Pros
- Very beginner-friendly control panel
- Competitive pricing with frequent deals
- 24/7 customer support
Cons
- Renewal prices are higher
- Limited advanced configuration options
All Hostinger Plans
| Plan | CPU | RAM | Storage | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KVM 1 | 1 vCPU | 4 GB | 50 GB NVMe | $4.99/mo | Get Plan → |
| KVM 2 | 2 vCPU | 8 GB | 100 GB NVMe | $6.99/mo | Get Plan → |
| KVM 4 | 4 vCPU | 16 GB | 200 GB NVMe | $12.99/mo | Get Plan → |
| KVM 8 | 8 vCPU | 32 GB | 400 GB NVMe | $19.99/mo | Get Plan → |
Pros
- Excellent documentation and tutorials
- $200 free credit for new accounts
- Strong developer ecosystem
Cons
- Higher pricing than budget providers
- No phone support available
All DigitalOcean Plans
| Plan | CPU | RAM | Storage | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 1 vCPU | 2 GB | 50 GB SSD | $12.00/mo | Get Plan → |
| Regular | 2 vCPU | 4 GB | 80 GB SSD | $24.00/mo | Get Plan → |
| CPU-Optimized | 2 vCPU | 4 GB | 25 GB SSD | $42.00/mo | Get Plan → |
| Memory-Opt | 2 vCPU | 16 GB | 50 GB SSD | $84.00/mo | Get Plan → |
Pros
- 32 data center locations worldwide
- Hourly billing with no lock-in
- High-performance NVMe storage
Cons
- Interface can be overwhelming for beginners
- Support response times vary
All Vultr Plans
| Plan | CPU | RAM | Storage | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud Compute | 1 vCPU | 2 GB | 50 GB SSD | $10.00/mo | Get Plan → |
| Cloud Compute | 2 vCPU | 4 GB | 80 GB SSD | $20.00/mo | Get Plan → |
| High Frequency | 2 vCPU | 4 GB | 64 GB NVMe | $24.00/mo | Get Plan → |
| Bare Metal | E-2286G | 32 GB | 2x 480GB SSD | $120.00/mo | Get Plan → |
Pros
- One-click deploys from Git
- Auto-scaling based on usage
- No server management needed
Cons
- Can get expensive at scale
- Less control over infrastructure
All Railway Plans
| Plan | CPU | RAM | Storage | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobby | Shared 8 vCPU | 8 GB | 100 GB | $5.00/mo | Get Plan → |
| Pro | Shared 32 vCPU | 32 GB | 250 GB | $20.00/mo | Get Plan → |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom | Get Plan → |
Architecture Overview
A typical Immich deployment on a VPS uses Docker for easy management and Nginx as a reverse proxy:
Immich Deployment Architecture
How to Set Up Immich on a VPS
Step 1: Provision VPS with ample storage
Choose your VPS provider (we recommend Hetzner for the best value), select an Ubuntu 24.04 LTS image, and configure your SSH keys. Most providers have this ready in under 2 minutes.
Step 2: Deploy Immich with Docker Compose
SSH into your server, install Docker and Docker Compose, and pull the Immich container image. Configure your environment variables and Docker Compose file according to the official documentation.
Step 3: Configure mobile app and backups
Set up Nginx as a reverse proxy with SSL certificates from Let's Encrypt. Point your domain to the server IP, and your Immich instance will be accessible via HTTPS.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much storage does Immich need?
In our chart: 100 GB minimum for a starter library. See the €/GB column to forecast cost as your collection grows. Most users expand via block storage.
Can Immich replace Google Photos?
Feature-parity: backup, face recognition, search, albums, sharing, and mobile app all present. Performance depends on your charted VPS tier.
Does Immich support facial recognition?
Yes, included. ML runs on your VPS. Bigger RAM tiers in our chart process faces faster. 8 GB is the threshold for smooth multi-user performance.
Can I share albums with family?
Yes, via shared links and invite-based access. See our chart: low-traffic sharing needs the base configs; multi-family use benefits from upgraded RAM.
How do I migrate from Google Photos?
Export via Takeout, bulk-import via Immich CLI. Timeline: allow 1–2 hours per 10k photos on the 4 GB baseline tier we chart.