fgallery vs HomeGallery
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | fgallery | HomeGallery |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 9 · At risk | 72 · Good |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 248 | ★ 1,185 |
| First released | 2013 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Flickr, Google Photos | Google Photos |
What are fgallery and HomeGallery?
fgallery
fgallery is a static photo gallery generator that produces a minimalist, self-contained HTML gallery from a folder of images. The generated gallery is fully static, privacy-respecting, and can be hosted on any web server.
- Minimalist static galleries
- Self-contained output
- Mobile friendly
- No tracking
HomeGallery
HomeGallery is a self-hosted web gallery that indexes photos and videos and offers fast browsing, similarity search, and face detection. It builds an offline-capable database from your existing media folders.
- Similarity search
- Face detection
- Video support
- Offline-capable database
fgallery vs HomeGallery: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: fgallery's repository is archived and no longer developed, while HomeGallery is actively maintained. Both projects are written in JavaScript. Fgallery is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for HomeGallery. Fgallery is the more established project (first released 2013), while HomeGallery arrived in 2020. HomeGallery has the considerably larger community, at 1,185 GitHub stars versus 248. HomeGallery lists first-class Docker deployment; fgallery does not.
Why pick each one
Choose fgallery if…
- Clean simple design
- Privacy respecting
Watch out for
- Command-line only
- Minimal features
Choose HomeGallery if…
- Fast browsing
- Reads existing folders
Watch out for
- Indexing can be slow
- No upload from app
Frequently asked questions
Is fgallery or HomeGallery better?
Neither is universally better. HomeGallery has the larger community, while fgallery is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are fgallery and HomeGallery free and open-source?
Yes. fgallery is licensed under MIT and HomeGallery under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run fgallery and HomeGallery with Docker?
fgallery: check the project docs for container support. HomeGallery: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, fgallery or HomeGallery?
fgallery has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for HomeGallery. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.