Immich
Jenkins
| Feature | Immich | Jenkins |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $0/mo | Free only |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.7 / 5 | 4.2 / 5 |
| Best For | self-hosters, families, privacy-focused-users, photographers | enterprise-teams, on-premise-deployments, complex-pipelines, legacy-systems |
| Founded | 2022 | 2011 |
| Photo Backup | ✓ | ✗ |
| Facial Recognition | ✓ | ✗ |
| Smart Search | ✓ | ✗ |
| Shared Albums | ✓ | ✗ |
| Memories | ✓ | ✗ |
| Map View | ✓ | ✗ |
| Mobile Apps | ✓ | ✗ |
| Pipeline As Code | ✗ | ✓ |
| Plugins | ✗ | ✓ |
| Distributed Builds | ✗ | ✓ |
| Pipeline Visualization | ✗ | ✓ |
| Scm Integration | ✗ | ✓ |
| Artifact Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Notifications | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ 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)
✓ Jenkins Pros
- Completely free and open source
- Extremely extensible with 1,800+ plugins
- Mature and battle-tested over many years
- Supports any programming language and platform
✗ Jenkins Cons
- Dated UI feels old compared to modern CI tools
- Requires significant maintenance and administration
- Groovy-based Jenkinsfiles have steep learning curve
The Verdict
Immich is built for self hosters and families, with a focus on photo-backup and facial-recognition. Jenkins targets enterprise teams and on premise deployments and leads with pipeline-as-code and plugins.
Jenkins uses custom enterprise pricing, while Immich starts at $0/mo — a tangible advantage for teams with a fixed budget.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Immich edges out on user ratings (4.7 vs 4.2). While both are well-regarded, that gap reflects real differences in user satisfaction worth considering.
Bottom line: Immich has a slight overall edge — but if completely free and open source matters most to you, Jenkins may still be the right call.