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Photo Galleries

A gallery is software that helps you publish, share, and manage photos, pictures, videos or other digital media.
Related categories: Static Site Generators, Media Streaming - Video, Content Management Systems (CMS)

Immich

High-performance photo and video backup solution

PhotoPrism

AI-powered photo management with face recognition

Piwigo

Feature-rich photo gallery for the web

Lychee

Beautiful photo management system
Immich - Photo and video backup solution directly from your mobile phone. PhotoPrism - Personal photo management powered by Go and Google TensorFlow. Browse, organize, and share with automatic tagging. Ente - End-to-end encrypted photo-sharing platform (alternative to Google Photos, Apple Photos).
  • Source Code
  • License: AGPL-3.0
  • Platform: Docker/Nodejs/Go
LibrePhotos - Photo management service with cool graphs (alternative to Google Photos). Piwigo - Photo gallery software for the web, built by an active community.

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Lightweight & Fast Galleries

Chevereto - Ultimate image sharing software. Create your own image hosting website. Lychee - Grid and album based photo-management-system. Photofield - Experimental fast photo viewer. Photoview - Simple and user-friendly photo gallery optimized for large collections with thousands of high-resolution photos. PiGallery 2 - Directory-first photo gallery with rich UI, optimized for low resource servers. SPIS - Simple, lightweight and fast media server with decent mobile support.

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AI-Powered & Advanced Features

Damselfly - Fast server-based photo management for large collections. Includes face detection, object recognition, and EXIF keyword tagging.
  • Source Code
  • License: GPL-3.0
  • Platform: Docker/C#/.NET
HomeGallery - Browse personal photos and videos with tagging, mobile-friendly, and AI-powered image discovery.

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Specialized & Unique Galleries

ChronoFrame - Personal gallery with online photo management, supporting Live/Motion Photos and explore map. Immich Kiosk - Lightweight slideshow for kiosk devices using Immich as data source. This week in past - Aggregates images taken this week from previous years for slideshow. WeddingShare - Event photo sharing platform with slideshow and QR code access.

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Cloud Integration & Nextcloud

Nextcloud Memories - Fast, modern photo management suite running as a Nextcloud app.

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Static & Simple Galleries

Mejiro - Easy-to-use instant photo publishing. sigal - Yet another simple static gallery generator. Zenphoto - Open-source gallery and CMS project.

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Media Management Tools

Mediagoblin - Media publishing platform (alternative to Flickr, YouTube, SoundCloud). Thumbor - Smart imaging service for on-demand cropping, resizing, and optimizing images.
Best Options: Immich, PhotoPrism, Ente, LibrePhotosFeatures:
  • Automatic organization
  • Face recognition
  • Mobile apps
  • AI-powered search
  • Timeline view
Recommendation: Immich for the most Google Photos-like experience

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Feature Comparison

FeatureImmichPhotoPrismLycheePiwigoEnte
Mobile Apps✓✓✗✓✓
Face Recognition✓✓✗Plugin✗
AI Search✓✓✗✗✗
RAW Support✓✓✓✓✓
Video Support✓✓✓✓✓
End-to-End Encryption✗✗✗✗✓
Timeline View✓✓✗✗✓
Map/Location✓✓✓✓✓
Multi-user✓✓✓✓✓
Resource UsageMediumHighLowLowMedium

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Setup Recommendations

1

Choose Storage Location

Decide where to store photos:
  • Local storage (fast access)
  • NAS (centralized)
  • External drives (backup)
Recommended: Local SSD + NAS backup
2

Organize Before Import

Structure your photos before importing:
/photos/
  /2024/
    /01-January/
    /02-February/
  /2023/
Or let the gallery organize automatically.
3

Configure Hardware Acceleration

For video thumbnails and processing:
  • Enable GPU support in Docker
  • Configure transcoding (PhotoPrism, Immich)
  • Improves performance significantly
4

Set Up Mobile Apps

Install companion apps:
  • Immich: iOS/Android apps for automatic backup
  • PhotoPrism: Progressive web app
  • Ente: Native iOS/Android apps
5

Configure Backups

Essential for photo preservation:
  • 3-2-1 rule: 3 copies, 2 different media, 1 offsite
  • Automated backup scripts
  • Test restore procedures

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Performance Tips

Minimum:
  • 2 GB RAM (4 GB for AI features)
  • Dual-core CPU
  • 10 GB for application + photo storage
Recommended for Large Collections:
  • 8 GB RAM (16 GB for PhotoPrism with AI)
  • Quad-core CPU or better
  • SSD for database and cache
  • GPU for video transcoding
  • Enable thumbnail generation during off-peak hours
  • Use lossy thumbnails to save space
  • Configure appropriate cache sizes
  • Disable features you don’t need (face recognition, etc.)
  • Use reverse proxy caching (Nginx, Caddy)
For large collections (100K+ photos):
  • Use PostgreSQL instead of SQLite
  • Increase connection pool sizes
  • Regular database maintenance
  • Monitor query performance

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Mobile Backup Configuration

Automatic Phone BackupFor automatic photo backup from your phone:
  1. Immich: Best option with dedicated mobile apps
    • Background upload
    • Wi-Fi only option
    • Battery optimization
  2. PhotoPrism: Use WebDAV or third-party sync apps
    • PhotoSync (iOS/Android)
    • FolderSync (Android)
  3. Ente: Native apps with E2E encryption
    • Automatic backup
    • Album organization
Privacy ConsiderationsWhen hosting photo galleries:
  • Be careful with face recognition data
  • Consider data retention policies
  • Use encryption for sensitive photos (Ente)
  • Implement strong access controls
  • Regular security updates

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