Lychee vs nanogallery2
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Lychee | nanogallery2 |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 89 · Excellent | 12 · At risk |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,303 | ★ 791 |
| First released | 2012 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Google Photos, Flickr | Flickr, SmugMug |
What are Lychee and nanogallery2?
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
nanogallery2
nanogallery2 is an open-source JavaScript photo and video gallery library that builds responsive, touch-enabled galleries from images stored on your own server. It runs fully client-side and is self-hosted on any static web host.
- Responsive image galleries
- Touch and swipe support
- Lightbox display
- Multiple data sources
Lychee vs nanogallery2: key differences
Lychee is written in PHP, while nanogallery2 is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Lychee versus GPL-3.0 for nanogallery2. Nanogallery2 is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Lychee. Lychee is the more established project (first released 2012), while nanogallery2 arrived in 2017. Lychee has the considerably larger community, at 4,303 GitHub stars versus 791. Lychee lists first-class Docker deployment; nanogallery2 does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Lychee if…
- Simple and attractive
- Easy to host
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- No AI features
- Basic search
Choose nanogallery2 if…
- Fully client-side
- Easy to embed
Watch out for
- Library, not a full app
- No upload management
Frequently asked questions
Is Lychee or nanogallery2 better?
Neither is universally better. Lychee has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Lychee and nanogallery2 free and open-source?
Yes. Lychee is licensed under MIT and nanogallery2 under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Lychee and nanogallery2 with Docker?
Lychee: yes. nanogallery2: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Lychee or nanogallery2?
nanogallery2 has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Lychee. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.