Damselfly vs Memories
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Memories
Photo management app for Nextcloud with timeline and AI
| Feature | Damselfly | Memories |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 80 · Excellent | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | C# | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,787 | ★ 3,843 |
| First released | 2020 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Google Photos | Google Photos, iCloud Photos |
What are Damselfly and Memories?
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
Memories
Memories is a photo and video management application that runs as a Nextcloud app, offering a fast timeline view of your media. It supports face recognition, maps, albums, and metadata-aware search.
- Fast timeline view
- Face recognition and maps
- Albums and tagging
- Nextcloud integration
Damselfly vs Memories: key differences
Damselfly is written in C#, while Memories is built with PHP. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Damselfly versus AGPL-3.0 for Memories. Damselfly is the more established project (first released 2020), while Memories arrived in 2022. Memories has the considerably larger community, at 3,843 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 Memories if…
- Leverages existing Nextcloud
- Polished mobile experience
Watch out for
- Requires Nextcloud
- AI features need extra setup
Frequently asked questions
Is Damselfly or Memories better?
Neither is universally better. Memories has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Damselfly and Memories free and open-source?
Yes. Damselfly is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Memories under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Damselfly and Memories with Docker?
Damselfly: yes. Memories: yes.