darktable vs Spacedrive

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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FeaturedarktableSpacedrive
CategoryPhoto ManagementFile Sync & Storage
LicenseGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageCRust
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM2,048 MB512 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, binary, snapbinary
GitHub stars★ 12,904★ 38,732
First released20092022
ReplacesAdobe LightroomGoogle Drive, Dropbox

Why pick each one

Choose darktable if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Mature project with 12.9k GitHub stars
  • Written in C
darktable details

Choose Spacedrive if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • Mature project with 38.7k GitHub stars
  • Written in Rust
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Spacedrive details

Frequently asked questions

Is darktable or Spacedrive better?

Neither is universally better. Spacedrive has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are darktable and Spacedrive free and open-source?

Yes. darktable is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Spacedrive under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run darktable and Spacedrive with Docker?

darktable: check the project docs for container support. Spacedrive: check the project docs for container support.

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