Excalidraw
Immich
| Feature | Excalidraw | Immich |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $7/mo | Free / from $0/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.7 / 5 | 4.7 / 5 |
| Best For | developers, product-teams, educators, brainstorming-sessions | self-hosters, families, privacy-focused-users, photographers |
| Founded | 2020 | 2022 |
| Freehand Drawing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Real Time Collaboration | ✓ | ✗ |
| Component Library | ✓ | ✗ |
| Export Options | ✓ | ✗ |
| End To End Encryption | ✓ | ✗ |
| Embeddable | ✓ | ✗ |
| Shapes And Arrows | ✓ | ✗ |
| Photo Backup | ✗ | ✓ |
| Facial Recognition | ✗ | ✓ |
| Smart Search | ✗ | ✓ |
| Shared Albums | ✗ | ✓ |
| Memories | ✗ | ✓ |
| Map View | ✗ | ✓ |
| Mobile Apps | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Excalidraw Pros
- Beautiful hand-drawn sketch aesthetic
- Completely free and open source core
- Real-time collaboration with shared links
- Library of reusable components and templates
- Embeddable in other applications
✗ Excalidraw Cons
- Limited formatting compared to structured diagramming tools
- No presentation mode built-in
- File management basic without Excalidraw+
✓ Immich Pros
- Full Google Photos replacement (self-hosted)
- AI face recognition and smart search
- Mobile apps with automatic background backup
- Shared albums and partner sharing
✗ Immich Cons
- Self-hosting only (no managed cloud option)
- Resource-intensive (especially ML features)
- Still in active development (breaking changes possible)
The Verdict
Excalidraw is built for developers and product teams, with a focus on freehand-drawing and real-time-collaboration. Immich targets self hosters and families and leads with photo-backup and facial-recognition.
On pricing, Immich is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $0/mo compared to $7/mo for Excalidraw. That $7/mo difference adds up quickly for growing teams.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.