Internxt Photos
Ad · Internxt is a privacy-focused platform for encrypted photo storage with zero-knowledge encryption and anonymous accounts. It offers 1GB free forever, paid plans from €4.99, and…
Best Google Photos Alternatives in 2026
6 private alternatives, vetted against our public criteria.
Google Photos scans your library for faces, places, and objects, building a searchable record of your life that lives readable on Google’s servers. The services below encrypt your photos on your device first, so the memories are searchable to you and unreadable to everyone else.
ente
Your photos are encrypted and hosted in datacenters in The Netherlands and France ( Source ). Migration options available: Local HDD, Google, Apple and Amazon Photos. Free…
Immich
Self-hosted photo and video backup with mobile apps, AI search, and a Google Photos-like interface.
Cryptee
Free accounts come with 100MB storage. Your documents are encrypted before they leave your device, so Cryptee can't see your documents. Use the code "privacytools" at the…
PhotoPrism
No hosted solution available yet, but coming soon. Tag and find pictures automatically. Try the demo .
Piwigo
Cloud-hosted and self-hosted versions available. Comes with user management. Demo .
Why settings won’t fix Google Photos. The face grouping and clever search exist precisely because Google analyses every image you upload. You cannot keep those features and switch off the analysis, because the scanning is the feature. Privacy means photos that are encrypted before they leave your phone, with any clever sorting done on your own device.
What actually matters in photo storage. End-to-end encryption, an open-source client you can inspect, on-device search and face grouping so nothing has to be scanned in the cloud, reliable backup from your phone, and a clean export. On-device processing is the key: you get the smart features without a server ever seeing your library.
How to switch. Export with Google Takeout, bulk-upload to the new service, and verify the count and a few albums before deleting anything from Google. Keep a local backup of your originals as well, encrypted, so your only copy is never sitting on a single cloud account, no matter how private that account is.
Frequently asked
- Can I import my whole library?
- Yes. Export your photos with Google Takeout and bulk-upload them to the new service. A large library takes time and bandwidth, so start it before you delete anything from Google.
- Do I still get search and face grouping?
- Many encrypted services include search and face grouping, but it runs on your device instead of in the cloud. You keep the convenience while the provider stays unable to scan your library.
- What about shared albums?
- Shared albums and links are supported, usually with passwords and expiry dates. The provider shares encrypted data rather than a readable copy, so a shared link does not hand your photos to the platform.