Memories vs Piwigo
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Memories
Photo management app for Nextcloud with timeline and AI
VS
Piwigo
Open-source photo gallery for the web
| Feature | Memories | Piwigo |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 88 · Excellent | 87 · Excellent |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | PHP | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,843 | ★ 3,862 |
| First released | 2022 | 2002 |
| Replaces | Google Photos, iCloud Photos | Flickr, Google Photos |
What are Memories and Piwigo?
Memories
Memories is a photo and video management application that runs as a Nextcloud app, offering a fast timeline view of your media. It supports face recognition, maps, albums, and metadata-aware search.
- Fast timeline view
- Face recognition and maps
- Albums and tagging
- Nextcloud integration
Piwigo
Piwigo is a mature open-source photo gallery application for organizing, sharing, and showcasing photo collections. It targets photographers and organizations managing large galleries. It is deployed via Docker or a PHP stack.
- Large gallery management
- Plugin and theme ecosystem
- Granular access control
- Upload from desktop and mobile
Memories vs Piwigo: key differences
Both projects are written in PHP. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Memories versus GPL-2.0 for Piwigo. Piwigo is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Memories. Piwigo is the more established project (first released 2002), while Memories arrived in 2022.
Why pick each one
Choose Memories if…
- Leverages existing Nextcloud
- Polished mobile experience
Watch out for
- Requires Nextcloud
- AI features need extra setup
Choose Piwigo if…
- Very mature and stable
- Extensible
- Good for big collections
Watch out for
- Interface feels classic
- No modern AI search
Frequently asked questions
Is Memories or Piwigo better?
Piwigo is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Memories if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Memories and Piwigo free and open-source?
Yes. Memories is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Piwigo under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Memories and Piwigo with Docker?
Memories: yes. Piwigo: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Memories or Piwigo?
Piwigo has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Memories. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.