Lychee vs OwnPhotos
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Lychee
Self-hosted photo management made easy
VS
OwnPhotos
Self-hosted Google Photos clone with face recognition
| Feature | Lychee | OwnPhotos |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | PHP | Jupyter Notebook |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,255 | ★ 2,760 |
| First released | 2012 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Google Photos, Flickr | Google Photos |
Why pick each one
Choose OwnPhotos if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in Jupyter Notebook
Frequently asked questions
Is Lychee or OwnPhotos better?
Lychee is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider OwnPhotos if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Lychee and OwnPhotos free and open-source?
Yes. Lychee is licensed under MIT and OwnPhotos under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Lychee and OwnPhotos with Docker?
Lychee: yes. OwnPhotos: yes.