Damselfly vs fgallery
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Damselfly | fgallery |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 80 · Excellent | 9 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | C# | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,788 | ★ 248 |
| First released | 2020 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Google Photos | Flickr, Google Photos |
What are Damselfly and fgallery?
Damselfly
Damselfly is a server-based digital asset manager designed to index and search very large photo collections quickly. It targets photographers with huge archives. It is deployed via Docker.
- Fast search of large libraries
- Face and object recognition
- Keyword tagging and export
- Works with existing folders
fgallery
fgallery is a static photo gallery generator that produces a minimalist, self-contained HTML gallery from a folder of images. The generated gallery is fully static, privacy-respecting, and can be hosted on any web server.
- Minimalist static galleries
- Self-contained output
- Mobile friendly
- No tracking
Damselfly vs fgallery: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: fgallery's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Damselfly is actively maintained. Damselfly is written in C#, while fgallery is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Damselfly versus MIT for fgallery. Fgallery is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Damselfly. Fgallery is the more established project (first released 2013), while Damselfly arrived in 2020. Damselfly has the considerably larger community, at 1,788 GitHub stars versus 248. Damselfly lists first-class Docker deployment; fgallery does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Damselfly if…
- Handles huge archives
- Non-destructive indexing
- Good search
Watch out for
- Niche tool
- Smaller community
Choose fgallery if…
- Clean simple design
- Privacy respecting
Watch out for
- Command-line only
- Minimal features
Frequently asked questions
Is Damselfly or fgallery better?
Neither is universally better. Damselfly has the larger community, while fgallery is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Damselfly and fgallery free and open-source?
Yes. Damselfly is licensed under GPL-3.0 and fgallery under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Damselfly and fgallery with Docker?
Damselfly: yes. fgallery: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Damselfly or fgallery?
fgallery has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Damselfly. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.