OwnPhotos vs PiGallery2
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?
OwnPhotos
Self-hosted Google Photos clone with face recognition
VS
PiGallery2
Fast directory-based photo gallery with search and maps
| Feature | OwnPhotos | PiGallery2 |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Jupyter Notebook | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,760 | ★ 2,251 |
| First released | 2017 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Google Photos | 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 OwnPhotos or PiGallery2 better?
Neither is universally better. OwnPhotos has the larger community, while PiGallery2 is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are OwnPhotos and PiGallery2 free and open-source?
Yes. OwnPhotos is licensed under MIT and PiGallery2 under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run OwnPhotos and PiGallery2 with Docker?
OwnPhotos: yes. PiGallery2: yes.