Azalea vs iCloud, Google Photos, Immich
Original-quality backup and self-hosted alternatives: Azalea vs iCloud Photos, Google Photos, and Immich.
Azalea vs iCloud Photos
Optimize iPhone Storage parks originals in an Apple ID. Azalea writes uncompressed files to USB, NAS, or S3 you control, so a later Android claim still sees the real camera roll.
Azalea vs Google Photos
Need a google photos original quality backup with USB or S3 and keys you hold? Azalea copies HEIC and DNG as files. Google Photos still wins face search and shared albums.
Azalea vs Immich
Looking for an Immich alternative without Docker on an always-on NAS? Azalea is a phone backup client that writes originals to USB or S3 you already own. It is not a self-hosted Immich server.
Copying DCIM to a computer is not a backup system
A cable copy of DCIM has no incremental index and no cross-phone claim. Azalea stores keys and checksums on USB or S3 so the next run can resume instead of recopying the roll.