End-to-end encrypted photos
ImageTome vs Ente Photos
Ente is the closest thing to a direct peer we have, and it is very good. It is end-to-end encrypted, fully open source on both client and server, independently audited, and it solves the search problem we do not solve, by doing the machine learning on your device instead of ours.
Ente is an encrypted photo library with on-device intelligence. We are an encrypted shared space with no email address and discussion built in.
Side by side
| Criterion | ImageTome | Ente Photos |
|---|---|---|
| Encryption model | ImageTome End-to-end. AES-256-GCM in the browser, before upload. | Ente Photos End-to-end encrypted with XChaCha20-Poly1305 and Argon2 key derivation. |
| Who holds the keys | ImageTome You. An RSA-4096 private key generated on your device and never sent to us. | Ente Photos You, derived from your password, with a recovery key. |
| What an account needs | ImageTome A username. No email address, no password, no phone number. | Ente Photos An email address and a password. |
| If you lose access | ImageTome Nothing we can do. Your exported key backup is the only route back in. | Ente Photos A recovery key restores access. Lose both password and recovery key and the data is gone. |
| Filenames and titles | ImageTome Encrypted. Tome names, descriptions, filenames, titles and post bodies. | Ente Photos Encrypted. |
| Content scanning | ImageTome None, and none is possible. Nothing here is detected proactively, because nothing can be read. | Ente Photos On-device only. Face recognition and search run locally, not on Ente's servers. |
| Video | ImageTome MP4 and WebM up to 200MB, with thumbnails generated and encrypted in the browser. | Ente Photos Supported, with backup from mobile. |
| Sharing | ImageTome Invite by username. The tome key is wrapped with their public key. | Ente Photos Shared and collaborative albums, public links, album admins. |
| Discussion | ImageTome Encrypted comments on posts, images and videos. | Ente Photos Likes and comments on shared albums, added in 2026. |
| Verifying the claim | ImageTome Open your network tab during an upload and read what is actually sent. | Ente Photos Client and server are both open source, and the apps have been independently audited. |
Ente solves search the honest way
The standing criticism of encrypted photo storage is that you lose search, and it is a fair one. Ente's answer is to run the models on your device: face recognition, semantic search and memories all happen locally, on decrypted data that never leaves your phone or laptop. The server still sees nothing.
That is a better answer than ours. We do not do it, and if searching your library matters to you, that alone is a reason to choose Ente. We browse and sort by date, and that is the whole of it.
Where we differ: the account itself
Ente accounts are email plus password, with keys derived from the password using Argon2 and a recovery key as the fallback. Solid, conventional, recoverable.
ImageTome has neither. Registration generates an RSA-4096 keypair in your browser and asks you for a username. No email address means nothing links the account to your identity in the first place, and no password means there is no credential to phish, reuse or leak. The cost is that there is no recovery key we can issue, and losing your key with no backup ends the account.
Where we differ: what a shared space contains
Ente shares albums. Since early 2026 those albums support likes, comments and album admins, which narrows this gap considerably.
A tome is broader than an album. It holds images and video, but also written posts with encrypted titles and bodies, encrypted comments on any post, image or video, member roles, and encrypted one-to-one conversations between members alongside the media. Everything in it is encrypted with the same tome key, so the writing is as protected as the photographs.
On open source
Ente publishes both its client and its server code and has been independently audited. We have not matched that yet, and we are not going to dress that up. If verifiable openness is your first criterion, Ente currently wins on it outright.
What we can offer is the check that works regardless of whose code you are running: watch the network tab during an upload. Ciphertext leaving your machine is evidence about this system on this day, and it is the assurance that does not depend on trusting a repository matches a deployment.
When Ente is the better choice
- If you want to search your encrypted library, Ente does it on-device and we do not do it at all.
- If open source and published audits are non-negotiable, Ente has both, on client and server. We do not.
- If you want automatic phone camera backup and native mobile apps, Ente has them. We are a web application.
- If you want account recovery, Ente's recovery key is a real safety net.
ImageTome and Ente Photos, asked and answered
Yes. Ente uses XChaCha20-Poly1305 with Argon2 key derivation, encrypts metadata, publishes both client and server source, and has been independently audited. It is a genuine zero-knowledge photo service.
No email address and no password on the account, encrypted written posts and comments alongside the media, encrypted one-to-one messaging, and member roles inside each shared space. Ente is the stronger pure photo library; we are the stronger shared, discussed space.
No. Ente runs face recognition on your device, which is a good design. We have not built anything equivalent, and our server could not do it in any case.
Ente, if you mostly want everyone's phone photos backed up and searchable. ImageTome, if you want a small, deliberate, invite-only space where the conversation around the photos is as private as the photos.
Sources
- Ente comparisons
- Ente Photos vs Proton Drive Photos
- Ente, a Google Photos alternative with end-to-end encryption, iTechGuides
Claims about Ente Photos were checked against the sources above on 30 August 2026. Products change. If something here is out of date or wrong, we would rather fix it than keep it.
Other comparisons
vs Google Photos
Google encrypts your photos and keeps the keys. We encrypt your photos and never have the keys.
Mainstream cloud photosvs iCloud Photos
Apple's end-to-end encryption is opt-in, platform-locked and withdrawn in the UK. Ours is the only mode we have.
Mainstream cloud storagevs Dropbox
Dropbox encrypts the disk. We encrypt the file, in your browser, with a key Dropbox's architecture has no equivalent of.
Try the version where nobody holds your key.
One username, one tome, and a look at your own network tab to check we mean it.
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