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Kura Vault
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Kura Vault vs Immich

Immich is the most popular self-hosted Google Photos replacement, with face recognition, CLIP search, maps and automatic phone backup. It is not end-to-end encrypted: the server reads your photos so it can index them, so anyone with the server’s disk can see your library. Kura Vault makes the opposite trade. The server never sees a photo, so it cannot index one.

Last updated 27 October 2026

Side by side

Feature Kura Vault Immich
End-to-end encrypted Yes. Media, file names, location, album and vault names No. The server processes your originals
Self-hosted Yes, with Docker Compose. It is the only way to run it Yes
Licence MIT AGPL-3.0
Storage Bundled Garage, or any S3-compatible bucket Local disk. No native S3 support upstream
Face recognition and smart search No. The server cannot see photos to index them Yes, on the server (CLIP, face clustering)
Automatic phone backup Uploads run while the app is open Yes, foreground and background
Apps Android, web. Not in the App Store yet iOS, Android, web
Price Free. You pay for your own server and storage Free to self-host

Choose Immich if

  • You want face recognition, smart search, a map and memories.
  • You want automatic background backup from iOS and Android.
  • You trust everyone who can reach the server’s disk and backups.

Choose Kura Vault if

  • Your photos sit on hardware or storage someone else could access: a VPS, a cloud bucket, a shared machine.
  • You want several people on one server without the admin being able to view their photos.
  • You want an S3 bucket to hold your library and to learn nothing from it.

What Kura Vault does not do yet

  • There is no face recognition, object search or map. The server cannot see photos to index them.
  • The Android app uploads while it is open; there is no automatic background backup.
  • There is no iOS app in the App Store yet, and no desktop app. The web client works in any current browser.
  • It has not had an independent security audit yet.

Sources

Checked on 27 October 2026. If something here is out of date, please open an issue.

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