Ente Photos vs Piwigo
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Ente Photos
End-to-end encrypted photo storage and backup
VS
Piwigo
Open-source photo gallery for the web
| Feature | Ente Photos | Piwigo |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 98 · Excellent | 87 · Excellent |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Dart | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 29,050 | ★ 3,862 |
| First released | 2022 | 2002 |
| Replaces | Google Photos, iCloud Photos | Flickr, Google Photos |
What are Ente Photos and Piwigo?
Ente Photos
Ente is an end-to-end encrypted photo storage and backup service with apps across platforms and a self-hostable server. It targets privacy-focused users wanting encrypted photo backup. It is deployed via Docker.
- End-to-end encryption
- Apps for all platforms
- Self-hostable server
- Family sharing
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
Ente Photos vs Piwigo: key differences
Ente Photos is written in Dart, while Piwigo is built with PHP. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Ente Photos versus GPL-2.0 for Piwigo. Piwigo is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Ente Photos. Piwigo is the more established project (first released 2002), while Ente Photos arrived in 2022. Ente Photos has the considerably larger community, at 29,050 GitHub stars versus 3,862.
Why pick each one
Choose Ente Photos if…
- Strong encryption
- Polished apps
- Privacy-first
Watch out for
- Self-hosting is advanced
- Server setup nontrivial
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 Ente Photos or Piwigo better?
Neither is universally better. Ente Photos has the larger community, while Piwigo is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Ente Photos and Piwigo free and open-source?
Yes. Ente Photos is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Piwigo under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Ente Photos and Piwigo with Docker?
Ente Photos: yes. Piwigo: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Ente Photos or Piwigo?
Piwigo has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Ente Photos. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.