HomeGallery vs LibrePhotos
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
LibrePhotos
Self-hosted smart photo management
| Feature | HomeGallery | LibrePhotos |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 72 · Good | 92 · Excellent |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | JavaScript | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,185 | ★ 8,083 |
| First released | 2020 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Google Photos | Google Photos |
What are HomeGallery and LibrePhotos?
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
LibrePhotos
LibrePhotos is a self-hosted photo management service with face recognition, object detection, and automatic albums. It targets users wanting an open Google Photos alternative. It is deployed via Docker.
- Face and object recognition
- Automatic event albums
- Map of photo locations
- Multi-user support
HomeGallery vs LibrePhotos: key differences
HomeGallery is written in JavaScript, while LibrePhotos is built with Python. HomeGallery is the lighter option, starting around 1,024 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for LibrePhotos. LibrePhotos has the considerably larger community, at 8,083 GitHub stars versus 1,185.
Why pick each one
Choose HomeGallery if…
- Fast browsing
- Reads existing folders
Watch out for
- Indexing can be slow
- No upload from app
Choose LibrePhotos if…
- Smart organization features
- Permissive license
- Privacy-friendly
Watch out for
- Heavy on resources
- Setup can be fiddly
Frequently asked questions
Is HomeGallery or LibrePhotos better?
Neither is universally better. LibrePhotos has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are HomeGallery and LibrePhotos free and open-source?
Yes. HomeGallery is licensed under MIT and LibrePhotos under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run HomeGallery and LibrePhotos with Docker?
HomeGallery: yes. LibrePhotos: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, HomeGallery or LibrePhotos?
HomeGallery has the smaller minimum footprint at 1,024 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for LibrePhotos. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.