Show HN: Memories – FOSS Google Photos alternative built for high performance

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Self-hosted photo management is gaining traction as users look for alternatives to Google Photos, and a new Nextcloud app called Memories is drawing attention for its speed, polished UI, and tight integration with existing file structures. Commenters compare it extensively with Immich, PhotoPrism, Ente and others, weighing trade-offs between performance, AI features (like face recognition and CLIP-based search), mobile support, stability, and how well each respects existing folder layouts and metadata. The thread also highlights recurring pain points around Nextcloud deployment, upgrade reliability, and open‑source maintainer burnout, alongside strong interest in easy migration paths from Google Photos and iCloud.

Overall reception

  • Many commenters praise Memories as a polished, fast, much‑needed replacement for Nextcloud’s default Photos app.
  • Several people report successful deployment on large libraries (tens of thousands of photos), with good timeline performance.
  • Others say earlier versions (about a year ago) were “barely working,” but it’s acknowledged the project was very young then.

Performance & UX

  • Demo and some real deployments show very fast timeline loading, attributed to optimized SQL, caching, and Nextcloud preview generation.
  • At least one user describes severe slowdowns and thumbnail loading issues on a powerful server; the project maintainer attributes this to misconfiguration (missing preview generator, PHP limits).
  • Disagreement emerges over whether “just use Docker/AIO” is sufficient; some complain that even official images and upgrades can be fragile.

Nextcloud Integration & Setup

  • Tight coupling to Nextcloud is both a strength and a turn‑off:
    • Pros: reuses Nextcloud for auth, sync, sharing, ecosystem apps (face recognition, tags, search integration).
    • Cons: people who prefer Syncthing or lighter setups would like a standalone version; some view Nextcloud as slow/bloated and upgrades as painful.
  • Configuration is described as moderate: install app, configure directory, plus extra steps for AI/preview generator. Hetzner/managed instances may lack needed components like ffmpeg.
  • S3 as external storage is possible but considered fragile in Nextcloud; local or mounted storage is preferred.

Features & Limitations

  • Supports EXIF/sidecar metadata editing, file‑level metadata storage, raw + derivative stacking, and live photos; HDR/spatial video support is limited.
  • Uses Nextcloud’s face recognition/Recognize apps; accuracy is described as decent but not perfect.
  • Social/sharing: public, optionally password‑protected links and shared folders/albums, including uploads by others; comments and richer “family album” flows are not fully Google Photos‑equivalent.
  • No semantic/CLIP search yet; it is a major planned feature.
  • Android app exists; iOS relies on PWA plus the standard Nextcloud app for auto‑upload.

Comparisons to Alternatives

  • Immich: praised for AI search (CLIP), multi‑person search, and speed; criticized as bleeding‑edge, with version coupling between server and clients and less flexible mobile folder mapping.
  • PhotoPrism: liked but seen as slower; facial recognition considered weaker and licensing/membership model contested.
  • Ente: highlighted for E2EE and on‑device CLIP search; now fully open source but with different goals.
  • Other tools mentioned: digiKam, Lychee, Synology Photos, Mylio, Les Pas, nc‑photos.