ExifCleaner vs OwnPhotos
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
ExifCleaner
Cross-platform tool to remove metadata from images
VS
OwnPhotos
Self-hosted Google Photos clone with face recognition
| Feature | ExifCleaner | OwnPhotos |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Perl | Jupyter Notebook |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,552 | ★ 2,760 |
| First released | 2019 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Online metadata removers | Google Photos |
Why pick each one
Choose OwnPhotos if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in Jupyter Notebook
Frequently asked questions
Is ExifCleaner or OwnPhotos better?
Neither is universally better. OwnPhotos has the larger community, while ExifCleaner is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are ExifCleaner and OwnPhotos free and open-source?
Yes. ExifCleaner is licensed under MIT and OwnPhotos under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run ExifCleaner and OwnPhotos with Docker?
ExifCleaner: check the project docs for container support. OwnPhotos: yes.