Damselfly Web vs Piwigo
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Piwigo
Open-source photo gallery for the web
| Feature | Damselfly Web | Piwigo |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Python | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 700 | ★ 3,862 |
| First released | 2011 | 2002 |
| Replaces | Flickr, YouTube | Flickr, Google Photos |
What are Damselfly Web and Piwigo?
Damselfly Web
MediaGoblin is a free software media publishing platform for hosting photos, video, audio, and more on your own server. It is decentralized, federated, and designed as an alternative to centralized media silos.
- Multi-media publishing
- Decentralized and federated
- Photo, video, and audio support
- Plugin system
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
Damselfly Web vs Piwigo: key differences
Damselfly Web is written in Python, while Piwigo is built with PHP. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Damselfly Web versus GPL-2.0 for Piwigo. Piwigo is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Damselfly Web. Piwigo is the more established project (first released 2002), while Damselfly Web arrived in 2011. Piwigo has the considerably larger community, at 3,862 GitHub stars versus 700.
Why pick each one
Choose Damselfly Web if…
- Handles many media types
- Privacy respecting
Watch out for
- Complex setup
- Slower development
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 Damselfly Web or Piwigo better?
Piwigo is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Damselfly Web if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Damselfly Web and Piwigo free and open-source?
Yes. Damselfly Web is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Piwigo under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Damselfly Web and Piwigo with Docker?
Damselfly Web: yes. Piwigo: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Damselfly Web or Piwigo?
Piwigo has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Damselfly Web. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.