Lutim vs Color Thief
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Lutim
Privacy-focused image hosting with auto-expiration
VS
Color Thief
Library to extract color palettes from photos
| Feature | Lutim | Color Thief |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Perl | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 300 | ★ 13,616 |
| First released | 2015 | 2011 |
| Replaces | Imgur | Commercial color analysis APIs |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Lutim or Color Thief better?
Neither is universally better. Color Thief has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Lutim and Color Thief free and open-source?
Yes. Lutim is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Color Thief under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Lutim and Color Thief with Docker?
Lutim: yes. Color Thief: check the project docs for container support.