HomeGallery vs Hydrus Network
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | HomeGallery | Hydrus Network |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 72 · Good | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | MIT | WTFPL |
| Language | JavaScript | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,185 | ★ 3,211 |
| First released | 2020 | 2011 |
| Replaces | Google Photos | Google Photos, Eagle |
What are HomeGallery and Hydrus Network?
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
Hydrus Network
Hydrus Network is a personal media management application that lets you import images and files, tag them, and search a private collection with a powerful tag system. It includes a client-server architecture so the database can be self-hosted and accessed remotely.
- Powerful tag-based search
- Client-server architecture
- Local-first media database
- Duplicate detection
HomeGallery vs Hydrus Network: key differences
HomeGallery is written in JavaScript, while Hydrus Network is built with Python. Licensing differs — MIT for HomeGallery versus WTFPL for Hydrus Network. Hydrus Network is the more established project (first released 2011), while HomeGallery arrived in 2020. Hydrus Network has the considerably larger community, at 3,211 GitHub stars versus 1,185. HomeGallery lists first-class Docker deployment; Hydrus Network does not.
Why pick each one
Choose HomeGallery if…
- Fast browsing
- Reads existing folders
Watch out for
- Indexing can be slow
- No upload from app
Choose Hydrus Network if…
- Extremely powerful tagging
- Handles huge collections
Watch out for
- Steep learning curve
- Complex interface
Frequently asked questions
Is HomeGallery or Hydrus Network better?
Neither is universally better. Hydrus Network has the larger community, while HomeGallery is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are HomeGallery and Hydrus Network free and open-source?
Yes. HomeGallery is licensed under MIT and Hydrus Network under WTFPL. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run HomeGallery and Hydrus Network with Docker?
HomeGallery: yes. Hydrus Network: check the project docs for container support.