Lychee 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 | Lychee | thumbsup |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 89 · Excellent | 56 · Fair |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | PHP | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,303 | ★ 865 |
| First released | 2012 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Google Photos, Flickr | Google Photos, Flickr |
What are Lychee and thumbsup?
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
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
Lychee vs thumbsup: key differences
Lychee is written in PHP, while thumbsup is built with JavaScript. Thumbsup is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Lychee. Lychee is the more established project (first released 2012), while thumbsup arrived in 2016. Lychee has the considerably larger community, at 4,303 GitHub stars versus 865. Lychee lists first-class Docker deployment; thumbsup 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 thumbsup if…
- Extremely portable output
- No database
Watch out for
- No live uploads
- Regenerate to update
Frequently asked questions
Is Lychee or thumbsup 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 thumbsup free and open-source?
Yes. Lychee is licensed under MIT and thumbsup under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Lychee and thumbsup with Docker?
Lychee: yes. thumbsup: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Lychee or thumbsup?
thumbsup has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Lychee. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.