Piwigo vs Zenphoto
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted photo management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Piwigo
Open-source photo gallery for the web
VS
Zenphoto
Open-source CMS for photo galleries and multimedia
| Feature | Piwigo | Zenphoto |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 87 · Excellent | 66 · Good |
| Category | Photo Management | Photo Management |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,862 | ★ 318 |
| First released | 2002 | 2006 |
| Replaces | Flickr, Google Photos | SmugMug, Flickr |
What are Piwigo and Zenphoto?
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
Zenphoto
Zenphoto is an open-source gallery and content management system focused on multimedia. It supports albums, theming, and plugins, making it suitable for personal photo websites and portfolios.
- Photo gallery CMS
- Theming and plugins
- Albums and tagging
- Multimedia support
Piwigo vs Zenphoto: key differences
Both projects are written in PHP. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for Piwigo versus GPL-3.0 for Zenphoto. Piwigo is the more established project (first released 2002), while Zenphoto arrived in 2006. Piwigo has the considerably larger community, at 3,862 GitHub stars versus 318.
Why pick each one
Choose Piwigo if…
- Very mature and stable
- Extensible
- Good for big collections
Watch out for
- Interface feels classic
- No modern AI search
Choose Zenphoto if…
- Mature project
- Good for portfolios
Watch out for
- Dated in places
- Requires LAMP stack
Frequently asked questions
Is Piwigo or Zenphoto better?
Piwigo is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Zenphoto if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Piwigo and Zenphoto free and open-source?
Yes. Piwigo is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Zenphoto under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Piwigo and Zenphoto with Docker?
Piwigo: yes. Zenphoto: yes.