HomeGallery vs Lychee
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | HomeGallery | Lychee |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 72 · Good | 89 · Excellent |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | JavaScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,185 | ★ 4,303 |
| First released | 2020 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Google Photos | Google Photos, Flickr |
What are HomeGallery and Lychee?
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
Lychee
Lychee is a self-hosted photo management tool focused on simple, attractive galleries with quick uploads and sharing. It targets users who want a straightforward photo gallery. It is deployed via Docker or a PHP stack.
- Clean photo galleries
- Quick upload and sharing
- Albums and tags
- EXIF metadata display
HomeGallery vs Lychee: key differences
HomeGallery is written in JavaScript, while Lychee is built with PHP. Lychee is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for HomeGallery. Lychee is the more established project (first released 2012), while HomeGallery arrived in 2020. Lychee has the considerably larger community, at 4,303 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 Lychee if…
- Simple and attractive
- Easy to host
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- No AI features
- Basic search
Frequently asked questions
Is HomeGallery or Lychee better?
Lychee is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider HomeGallery if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are HomeGallery and Lychee free and open-source?
Yes. HomeGallery is licensed under MIT and Lychee under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run HomeGallery and Lychee with Docker?
HomeGallery: yes. Lychee: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, HomeGallery or Lychee?
Lychee has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for HomeGallery. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.