Immich
Windmill
| Feature | Immich | Windmill |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $0/mo | Free / from $10/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.7 / 5 | 4.4 / 5 |
| Best For | self-hosters, families, privacy-focused-users, photographers | developers, devops-teams, internal-tools, data-pipelines |
| Founded | 2022 | 2022 |
| Photo Backup | ✓ | ✗ |
| Facial Recognition | ✓ | ✗ |
| Smart Search | ✓ | ✗ |
| Shared Albums | ✓ | ✗ |
| Memories | ✓ | ✗ |
| Map View | ✓ | ✗ |
| Mobile Apps | ✓ | ✗ |
| Workflow Editor | ✗ | ✓ |
| Script To Ui | ✗ | ✓ |
| Scheduling | ✗ | ✓ |
| Approval Flows | ✗ | ✓ |
| Multi Language | ✗ | ✓ |
| Self Hostable | ✗ | ✓ |
| Audit Logs | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ 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)
✓ Windmill Pros
- Open-source and self-hostable
- Supports Python, TypeScript, Go, Bash, SQL natively
- Auto-generates UI from script parameters
- Excellent scheduling and workflow orchestration
✗ Windmill Cons
- Smaller community than Zapier/n8n
- Self-hosting requires infrastructure knowledge
- Less polished documentation for beginners
The Verdict
Immich is built for self hosters and families, with a focus on photo-backup and facial-recognition. Windmill targets developers and devops teams and leads with workflow-editor and script-to-ui.
On pricing, Immich is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $0/mo compared to $10/mo for Windmill. That $10/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.
Bottom line: Immich has a slight overall edge — but if open-source and self-hostable matters most to you, Windmill may still be the right call.