Chevereto vs Piwigo
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Chevereto
Self-hosted image hosting and sharing platform
VS
Piwigo
Open-source photo gallery for the web
| Feature | Chevereto | Piwigo |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 82 · Excellent | 87 · Excellent |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | Proprietary | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | PHP | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 995 | ★ 3,862 |
| First released | 2013 | 2002 |
| Replaces | Imgur, Flickr | Flickr, Google Photos |
What are Chevereto and Piwigo?
Chevereto
Chevereto is a self-hosted image hosting platform for uploading, organizing, and sharing images with the public or privately. It targets users who want their own image-sharing site. It is deployed via Docker or a PHP stack.
- Image upload and sharing
- User accounts and albums
- API for integrations
- Moderation tools
Piwigo
Piwigo is a mature open-source photo gallery application for organizing, sharing, and showcasing photo collections. It targets photographers and organizations managing large galleries. It is deployed via Docker or a PHP stack.
- Large gallery management
- Plugin and theme ecosystem
- Granular access control
- Upload from desktop and mobile
Chevereto vs Piwigo: key differences
Both projects are written in PHP. Licensing differs — Proprietary for Chevereto versus GPL-2.0 for Piwigo. Piwigo is the more established project (first released 2002), while Chevereto arrived in 2013. Piwigo has the considerably larger community, at 3,862 GitHub stars versus 995.
Why pick each one
Choose Chevereto if…
- Good Imgur-style site
- Multi-user
- API available
Watch out for
- Paid for full version
- Not open source
Choose Piwigo if…
- Very mature and stable
- Extensible
- Good for big collections
Watch out for
- Interface feels classic
- No modern AI search
Frequently asked questions
Is Chevereto or Piwigo better?
Neither is universally better. Piwigo has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Chevereto and Piwigo free and open-source?
Yes. Chevereto is licensed under Proprietary and Piwigo under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Chevereto and Piwigo with Docker?
Chevereto: yes. Piwigo: yes.