Lychee vs Photoview
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Lychee | Photoview |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 89 · Excellent | 72 · Good |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,303 | ★ 6,535 |
| First released | 2012 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Google Photos, Flickr | Google Photos |
What are Lychee and Photoview?
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
Photoview
Photoview is a simple, user-friendly photo gallery designed to work with photos stored directly on the filesystem. It targets users wanting a lightweight gallery over an existing folder structure. It is deployed via Docker.
- Works on existing photo folders
- Face recognition
- Timeline and albums
- RAW and video support
Lychee vs Photoview: key differences
Lychee is written in PHP, while Photoview is built with Go. Licensing differs — MIT for Lychee versus AGPL-3.0 for Photoview. Lychee is the more established project (first released 2012), while Photoview arrived in 2019.
Why pick each one
Choose Lychee if…
- Simple and attractive
- Easy to host
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- No AI features
- Basic search
Choose Photoview if…
- Uses your folder structure
- Lightweight
- Easy setup
Watch out for
- Fewer features than Immich
- Slower development
Frequently asked questions
Is Lychee or Photoview better?
Neither is universally better. Photoview has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Lychee and Photoview free and open-source?
Yes. Lychee is licensed under MIT and Photoview under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Lychee and Photoview with Docker?
Lychee: yes. Photoview: yes.