gallery-dl vs Lychee
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?
gallery-dl
Command-line tool to download image galleries from websites
VS
Lychee
Self-hosted photo management made easy
| Feature | gallery-dl | Lychee |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Python | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, binary, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 19,143 | ★ 4,255 |
| First released | 2015 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Manual downloads | Google Photos, Flickr |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is gallery-dl or Lychee better?
Neither is universally better. gallery-dl has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are gallery-dl and Lychee free and open-source?
Yes. gallery-dl is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Lychee under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run gallery-dl and Lychee with Docker?
gallery-dl: check the project docs for container support. Lychee: yes.