Self-Hosted Amazon Photos Alternatives
Why Replace Amazon Photos?
Amazon Photos gives Prime members unlimited full-resolution photo storage — but with catches. Non-Prime members get only 5 GB free. Video storage is capped at 5 GB for all users (unless you pay for more). And Prime costs $139/year — you’re paying whether you use Amazon Photos or not.
The bigger concerns are privacy and control:
- Amazon scans your photos with AI for object recognition, face detection, and classification — that data improves Amazon’s products
- Your library is tied to your Prime subscription. Cancel Prime, and your unlimited storage disappears. If you exceed the 5 GB free tier, Amazon may delete photos after a grace period.
- No export guarantee. While Amazon offers a download tool, bulk exporting hundreds of thousands of photos is clunky and unreliable
- Amazon shut down Amazon Drive in 2023. They’ve shown willingness to discontinue storage services with limited notice.
Self-hosting your photos means permanent ownership, no subscription dependency, no AI scanning for Amazon’s benefit, and unlimited storage bounded only by your hardware.
Best Alternatives
Immich — Best Overall Replacement
Immich is the closest thing to a full Amazon Photos (or Google Photos) replacement. It has native iOS and Android apps with automatic background upload, AI-powered face recognition and CLIP-based smart search, shared albums, and a polished web interface. If you want the complete cloud photo experience running on your own server, Immich is it.
Why it’s the best:
- Native mobile apps with automatic background upload (the key feature Amazon Photos users rely on)
- AI-powered face recognition and smart search (“dog on beach” works)
- Shared albums and multi-user support
- Timeline view, map view, and memories
- 90,000+ GitHub stars — one of the fastest-growing open-source projects
What you lose vs Amazon Photos: No integration with Amazon Echo Show or Fire TV. No Family Vault equivalent (but shared albums cover most of the same use case). Setup requires a server and Docker.
[Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Immich]
PhotoPrism — Best for Existing Libraries
PhotoPrism is ideal if you already have a large photo collection on a NAS or server and want to add AI-powered browsing without changing your existing workflow. It indexes your photos in place, classifies them with TensorFlow, detects faces, and provides natural language search.
Why choose it:
- Indexes existing photo libraries without moving files
- Mature, stable, well-documented
- Natural language search and smart albums
- Lower resource requirements than Immich at idle
- Works great as a read-only viewer for NAS-based collections
What you lose: No native mobile apps or auto-upload. PhotoPrism is a browser, not an uploader. For mobile upload, pair it with Syncthing or use Immich instead.
[Read our full guide: How to Self-Host PhotoPrism]
Lychee — Best Lightweight Gallery
Lychee is a modern, minimal photo gallery for sharing albums. It’s lighter than Immich or PhotoPrism and doesn’t do AI classification — just clean album organization, drag-and-drop upload, and beautiful presentation. Good for portfolios, family sharing, or simple album management.
[Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Lychee]
Migration Guide
Exporting from Amazon Photos
- Request your data: Go to amazon.com/gp/privacycentral → Request Your Data → check “Amazon Photos” → Submit Request
- Wait for processing: Amazon prepares your download (can take hours to days for large libraries)
- Download the archive: Download the ZIP files when ready — they contain your original full-resolution photos with EXIF data intact
- Alternative: Amazon Photos desktop app: Use the Windows or macOS app to select all photos and download them in bulk to a local directory
Importing to Immich
- Extract your Amazon Photos export to a directory on your server
- Use the Immich CLI for bulk import:
npm i -g @immich/cli immich upload --server http://your-server:2283 --key YOUR_API_KEY /path/to/extracted/photos - Immich processes the photos, generates thumbnails, runs face detection, and builds the timeline
Importing to PhotoPrism
- Place the extracted photos in PhotoPrism’s originals directory
- Trigger a rescan from the web UI (Library → Scan)
- PhotoPrism indexes, classifies, and organizes everything automatically
What Transfers
- Full-resolution photos — Amazon Photos stores originals, so you get full quality
- EXIF data — dates, GPS coordinates, camera info all preserved
- Video files — exported alongside photos
What Doesn’t Transfer
- Albums — Amazon Photos album structure doesn’t export cleanly. You’ll need to recreate albums.
- People tags — Face recognition labels from Amazon don’t transfer. Immich and PhotoPrism will re-detect faces.
- Favorites — Re-favorite photos in your new system.
Cost Comparison
| Amazon Photos (Prime) | Amazon Photos (standalone) | Self-Hosted (Immich) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | $14.99 (Prime) | $1.99/100 GB, $6.99/1 TB | ~$5-10 (electricity + hardware amortized) |
| Annual cost | $139 (Prime) | $23.88/100 GB, $83.88/1 TB | ~$60-120 |
| 3-year cost | $417 | $71-252 | ~$180-360 + one-time hardware |
| Photo storage | Unlimited (Prime) | 5 GB free | Unlimited (your hardware) |
| Video storage | 5 GB (all plans) | 5 GB free | Unlimited (your hardware) |
| AI features | Face detection, search | Same | Face recognition, CLIP search |
| Privacy | Amazon scans all photos | Same | Full control, zero scanning |
| Cancel = lose access? | Yes (unlimited → 5 GB) | Yes (paid → 5 GB) | No — files are yours |
Note on cost: If you’re already paying for Prime for shipping and streaming, Amazon Photos is essentially “free” as a Prime perk. The self-hosting value proposition is strongest for people who would otherwise pay for standalone Amazon Photos storage or who prioritize privacy.
What You Give Up
- Amazon ecosystem integration: No auto-display on Echo Show, Fire TV slideshow, or Amazon Kids photo sharing
- Family Vault: Amazon’s shared family storage feature. Immich has shared albums which cover most of this use case.
- Unlimited storage: Amazon Photos gives Prime members unlimited full-resolution photo storage. Self-hosting is limited by your hardware, but 4 TB drives cost ~$80 and hold hundreds of thousands of photos.
- Zero maintenance: Amazon handles everything. Self-hosting requires a server, occasional updates, and backup management.
- Prints and gifts: Amazon Photos integrates with Amazon’s photo printing service. Self-hosted solutions don’t.
FAQ
Is Amazon Photos actually unlimited?
For photos (not videos), yes — Prime members get unlimited full-resolution photo storage with no compression. This is Amazon’s most generous offering among cloud photo services. Videos are limited to 5 GB across all plans.
What happens to my photos if I cancel Prime?
Your photos remain accessible but unlimited storage drops to 5 GB. If your library exceeds 5 GB after cancellation, Amazon gives a grace period, then may start deleting the oldest photos. Export before cancelling.
Can Immich match Amazon Photos’ mobile experience?
Very close. Immich’s mobile apps support automatic background upload, timeline browsing, face recognition, and search. The experience is comparable for daily use. The main difference is that Amazon’s app is slightly more polished and doesn’t require you to manage a server.
How much storage do I need?
A typical phone photo is 3-5 MB. At 4 MB average, 10,000 photos = ~40 GB. A 4 TB drive holds roughly 1 million photos. Most households need 1-2 TB to cover years of accumulated photos and videos.
Should I keep Amazon Photos as a backup?
If you have Prime anyway, using Amazon Photos as a secondary backup is reasonable. Upload to your self-hosted server as the primary copy and let Amazon Photos serve as an off-site backup. Just be aware that Amazon can access and scan those photos.
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