# Alternatives to Ente Photos

E2E encrypted photo backup.

Ente Photos ranks #1 of 7 in Photo storage, with an Alt Score of 96. It is licensed under AGPL-3.0, open source with paid hosting from $2.99/mo and available on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android and Web. 10 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/ente-photos/
Category: Photo storage

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: People who want to back up and store their photo/video library privately, without giving the provider access to their content — including privacy-conscious individuals, families wanting shared albums, and technical users who prefer to self-host their own infrastructure.
- **What you get**: Automatic backup of photos and videos from mobile, desktop, and web with full end-to-end encryption, including metadata and machine-learning features like face recognition and semantic search. Files are replicated across multiple storage locations for redundancy. You can create shared and collaborative albums, and set up family plans to pool storage across members. The apps and server are open-source (AGPL-3.0), so you can self-host the entire stack instead of using Ente's hosted service.
- **How it works**: Install the Ente Photos app (iOS, Android, F-Droid, Windows, macOS, Linux, or web) and sign in; the app encrypts photos and videos on-device before uploading them to Ente's servers (or your own self-hosted instance) for backup. From there you can browse, search, and share albums with others, with all data remaining encrypted end-to-end throughout.

## Profile

- **License**: AGPL-3.0 (verified 2026-07-09)
- **Pricing model**: OSS + paid hosting (verified 2026-07-09)
- **Starts at**: $2.99/mo (verified 2026-07-09)
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-09)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [PhotoPrism](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/photoprism.md) | 91 | AGPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS |
| 2 | [Amazon Photos](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/amazon-photos.md) | 82 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android |
| 3 | [Google Photos](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/google-photos.md) | 82 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android |
| 4 | [iCloud Photos](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/icloud-photos.md) | 82 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, iOS, Web |
| 5 | [Immich](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/immich.md) | 78 | AGPL-3.0 | iOS, Android, Web |
| 6 | [LibrePhotos](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/librephotos.md) | 68 | MIT | Linux, Android, Web |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| Photo storage checklist | Ente Photos | PhotoPrism | Amazon Photos | Google Photos | iCloud Photos | Immich |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | OSS + paid hosting | OSS + paid hosting | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium | Donationware |
| Starts at | $2.99/mo | €2.00/mo | $1.99/mo | $1.99/mo | $0.99/mo | Free |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | AGPL-3.0 |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Web | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Web | Windows, macOS, iOS, Web | iOS, Android, Web |
| Free storage amount | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Original quality kept | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AI search (faces, objects) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Albums & sharing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| E2E encrypted | Yes | ? | No | ? | Partial | ? |
| RAW support | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Auto-upload from phone | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Import from competitors | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial |
| Video support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |

## Sources

Sources for Ente Photos. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **Pricing model**: OSS + paid hosting — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ente/ente/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “Ente Photos is a paid service, but we offer 10GB of free storage. You can also clone this repository and choose to self-host.”
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web — <https://ente.com/download> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Note: Web confirmed via the README web-app link to photos.ente.com.
  - Quote: “macOS ... Windows ... Linux ... Android ... iOS”
- **Status**: active — <https://api.github.com/repos/ente/ente> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Note: pushed_at": "2026-07-09T13:23:56Z""
- **License**: AGPL-3.0 — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ente/ente/main/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “GNU AFFERO GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3, 19 November 2007”
- **Starts at**: $2.99/mo — <https://ente.com/compare/ente-vs-google-photos/> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “Starting paid plan | 50 GB - $2.99/month”
- **Free storage amount**: Yes — <https://ente.com/help/photos/faq/storage-and-plans> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “Yes, we offer 10 GB of storage for free, forever.”
- **Original quality kept**: Yes — <https://ente.com/help/photos/faq/backup-and-sync> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “Ente backs up your photos in original quality with no compression. The file size of your photos in Ente will be the same as the original file sizes.”
- **AI search (faces, objects)**: Yes — <https://ente.com/help/photos/faq/search-and-discovery> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “Magic search lets you find photos using natural language descriptions... The app uses on-device AI to understand the content of your photos and match your search queries.”
- **Albums & sharing**: Yes — <https://ente.com/features/> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “share links to your albums, that are end-to-end encrypted. Viewers don't need an app or account”
- **Self-hostable**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ente/ente/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “You can also clone this repository and choose to self-host.”
- **E2E encrypted**: Yes — <https://ente.com/architecture/> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “Your data is end-to-end encrypted with Ente.”
- **RAW support**: Partial — <https://ente.com/help/photos/faq/backup-and-sync> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “RAW formats (limited support currently)”
- **Auto-upload from phone**: Yes — <https://ente.com/help/photos/faq/backup-and-sync> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Note: Same page notes background sync is not consistent on iOS and some Android devices.
  - Quote: “Ente automatically syncs new photos and videos from those albums to the cloud. Backup happens in the background without needing to open the app.”
- **Import from competitors**: Yes — <https://ente.com/help/photos/faq/migration> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “When importing your Google Photos Takeout into Ente, your storage usage is based on your actual Google Photos library size”
- **Video support**: Yes — <https://ente.com/help/photos/faq/backup-and-sync> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “Ente supports all files with mime types of `image/*` or `video/*`, regardless of their specific format.”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/