HomeGallery vs thumbsup
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | HomeGallery | thumbsup |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 72 · Good | 56 · Fair |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,185 | ★ 865 |
| First released | 2020 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Google Photos | Google Photos, Flickr |
What are HomeGallery and thumbsup?
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
thumbsup
thumbsup is a tool that builds a static HTML gallery from your photos and videos, requiring no server-side runtime. The generated site can be hosted anywhere and includes thumbnails, albums, and metadata.
- Static gallery generation
- No server runtime needed
- Thumbnails and albums
- Host anywhere
HomeGallery vs thumbsup: key differences
Both projects are written in JavaScript. Thumbsup is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for HomeGallery. Thumbsup is the more established project (first released 2016), while HomeGallery arrived in 2020. HomeGallery lists first-class Docker deployment; thumbsup 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 thumbsup if…
- Extremely portable output
- No database
Watch out for
- No live uploads
- Regenerate to update
Frequently asked questions
Is HomeGallery or thumbsup better?
Neither is universally better. HomeGallery has the larger community, while thumbsup is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are HomeGallery and thumbsup free and open-source?
Yes. HomeGallery is licensed under MIT and thumbsup under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run HomeGallery and thumbsup with Docker?
HomeGallery: yes. thumbsup: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, HomeGallery or thumbsup?
thumbsup has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for HomeGallery. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.