Mejiro vs Thumbor
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?
Mejiro
Easy-to-use instant photo publishing
VS
Thumbor
A smart imaging service and enables on-demand cropping, resizing,
| Feature | Mejiro | Thumbor |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | PHP | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 184 | ★ 10,510 |
| First released | 2020 | 2025 |
| Replaces | — | — |
Why pick each one
Choose Mejiro if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Written in PHP
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Choose Thumbor if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 10.5k GitHub stars
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Mejiro or Thumbor better?
Neither is universally better. Thumbor has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Mejiro and Thumbor free and open-source?
Yes. Mejiro is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Thumbor under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Mejiro and Thumbor with Docker?
Mejiro: check the project docs for container support. Thumbor: yes.