Deploying Immich, an Open-Source Alternative to Google Photos, on Ubuntu 24.04

Immich is an open-source photo and video management platform — a self-hosted alternative to Google Photos — with native mobile apps, machine-learning search, and automatic backup. This guide deploys Immich using Docker Compose, fronts it with Nginx, and secures it with a Let's Encrypt TLS certificate. By the end, you'll have Immich syncing photos and videos securely at your domain.

Set Up the Directory Structure

1. Create the project directory:

$ mkdir ~/immich

$ cd ~/immich