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…
Reviewed by Gabriel Bachmann
Replace today: Google Photos iCloud Photos Amazon Photos
Encrypted & Secure Photo Storage
Private alternatives to Google Photos, iCloud Photos, Amazon Photos, vetted against our public criteria.
Showing 6 of 6
Grouped by threat level
Covered Easy start and good defaults for everyone
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…
Hardened Some setup and real gains for the willing
Immich
Self-hosted photo and video backup with mobile apps, AI search, and a Google Photos-like interface.
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 .
No matches for those filters.
How they compare
| Tool | Hosting | Based in | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| | Cloud | Spain | Freemium |
| | Cloud | India | Freemium |
| | Self-host | · | · |
 | Cloud | Estonia | Freemium |
| | Self-host | Germany | Freemium |
| | Self-host | France | Freemium |
Your photo library is a detailed record of where you have been and who you were with, and mainstream services scan all of it. Encrypted photo storage locks your pictures on your device before they upload, so only you can see them. These are the services that keep your memories private, whether you want a polished hosted app or a gallery on hardware you own.
Why you can’t just turn off scanning in Google Photos
There is no setting that stops a mainstream gallery from analysing your pictures, because the analysis is the product. Google Photos and iCloud Photos read the faces and places in every image to power search and suggestions, which means your library lives readable on their servers and gets processed whether you like it or not. Turning a feature off in the app does not remove the provider’s ability to scan the underlying files. The only real fix is encryption that happens before the photo ever reaches the cloud, which is what every pick here does.
On-device intelligence versus cloud scanning
The features people love from a mainstream gallery, search by what is in a photo and grouping by face, do not require the provider to read your library. Encrypted services move that work onto your own device. Ente and Cryptee encrypt each photo before it leaves your phone, then run search and grouping locally, so you keep the convenience while the cloud copy stays scrambled. Self-hosted galleries like Immich go further: the photos and the analysis both live on hardware you control. Either way, the smart features run where you can trust them rather than in someone else’s data center.
How we pick these
Every service here is measured against our public listing criteria: genuine end-to-end encryption so the provider cannot read your photos, an open-source client where possible so the encryption can be inspected, on-device search and face grouping rather than cloud scanning, reliable automatic backup from your phone, and a clean export so your library is never trapped. We favor services with a clear jurisdiction and a business model that earns from storage rather than from your images. We only list a gallery we would trust with our own family photos.
What to look for in encrypted photo storage
Begin with the encryption model: confirm photos are encrypted on your device before upload, ideally with an open-source client you can verify. Then look for on-device search and face grouping, so the clever features never require the provider to scan your library. Check that automatic camera-roll backup is reliable, since a backup you have to remember to run is a backup you will lose. Finally, demand a clean export. The point of taking back your photos is to keep them portable, so a service that makes leaving hard defeats the purpose. Self-hosted options give the most control if you have the hardware to run one.
Will I lose the convenience of a mainstream gallery?
Mostly no. Automatic backup, search, face grouping, and shared albums all exist in the encrypted services here; the analysis simply runs on your device instead of in the cloud. The honest catch is that a self-hosted gallery asks for more setup and upkeep than a hosted app, and a hosted encrypted service may feel a touch less instant than a service that pre-processes everything on its own servers. For most people the hosted encrypted options land in a sweet spot: the gallery feels familiar, while the provider can no longer read a thing.
How to switch
Export your library from your current service, then bulk-upload it to the new one and verify the count and a few albums before you delete anything. Keep an encrypted local backup of your originals as well, so your only copy never lives on a single cloud account, however private that account is. If you are leaving a specific service, our Google Photos alternatives page walks through the move. To take photos off a whole ecosystem rather than one app, the de-Google playbook covers the rest.
Frequently asked
- Can I import my whole photo library?
- Yes. Export your photos from your current service and bulk-upload them to the new one. A large library takes time and bandwidth, so start it before you delete anything, and verify the count when it finishes. Most encrypted services have a desktop uploader built for exactly this kind of big one-time move.
- Do I lose search and face grouping?
- Not necessarily. Several 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. The feature behaves the same way to you; the difference is where the analysis happens.
- What about shared albums and links?
- 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. You decide who sees an album and for how long, and you can revoke access later.
- Does encrypted photo storage still back up my phone automatically?
- Yes. The app watches your camera roll and uploads new photos in the background, the same automatic backup you get from a mainstream service. The only difference is that each photo is encrypted on the phone before it leaves, so the running backup never exposes your library to the provider.
- Will encrypted photos sync between my phone and computer?
- Yes. Your encrypted library is available on every device you sign into, so a photo taken on your phone shows up on your laptop. The provider syncs scrambled data between devices and decrypts it only locally, so you see your full gallery everywhere while the cloud copy stays unreadable.
- Can I self-host my own photo library instead?
- Yes, and a couple of the picks here are built for it. If you have a spare machine or a home server, a self-hosted gallery keeps your photos entirely on hardware you control, with no third-party provider in the loop at all. It takes more setup than a hosted app, in exchange for the most control over where your memories live.