Damselfly vs Lychee
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Damselfly | Lychee |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 80 · Excellent | 89 · Excellent |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | C# | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,787 | ★ 4,303 |
| First released | 2020 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Google Photos | Google Photos, Flickr |
What are Damselfly and Lychee?
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
Lychee
Lychee is a self-hosted photo management tool focused on simple, attractive galleries with quick uploads and sharing. It targets users who want a straightforward photo gallery. It is deployed via Docker or a PHP stack.
- Clean photo galleries
- Quick upload and sharing
- Albums and tags
- EXIF metadata display
Damselfly vs Lychee: key differences
Damselfly is written in C#, while Lychee is built with PHP. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Damselfly versus MIT for Lychee. Lychee is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Damselfly. Lychee is the more established project (first released 2012), while Damselfly arrived in 2020. Lychee has the considerably larger community, at 4,303 GitHub stars versus 1,787.
Why pick each one
Choose Damselfly if…
- Handles huge archives
- Non-destructive indexing
- Good search
Watch out for
- Niche tool
- Smaller community
Choose Lychee if…
- Simple and attractive
- Easy to host
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- No AI features
- Basic search
Frequently asked questions
Is Damselfly or Lychee better?
Lychee is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Damselfly if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Damselfly and Lychee free and open-source?
Yes. Damselfly is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Lychee under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Damselfly and Lychee with Docker?
Damselfly: yes. Lychee: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Damselfly or Lychee?
Lychee has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Damselfly. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.