Open Source Alternatives LogoOpen Source Alternatives
AlternativesBlogAdvertise
Open Source Alternatives LogoOpen Source Alternatives

Stay Updated

Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news and updates about Alternatives

Open Source Alternatives LogoOpen Source Alternatives

Handpicked Open Source Alternatives to Paid Softwares

Product
  • Search
  • Categories
  • Tag
  • Sign In
Resources
  • Blog
  • Collection
  • Submit
  • Advertise your tool
Company
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Refund Policy
  • Sitemap
Copyright © 2026 All Rights Reserved.
Home/Categories/Databases & Storage/Piwigo
icon of Piwigo

Piwigo

Open source alternative to Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan, SmugMug and Flickr Pro

Piwigo is a self-hosted photo management platform for organizing and publishing large image libraries with album hierarchies, access controls, and a plugin ecosystem. GPL-2.0 licensed, runs on any PHP/MySQL server.

3.8K stars

Repository

Stars
3.8K
Forks
483
License
GPL-2.0
Latest
16.4.0
Last commit
4 days ago
Last verified
Jun 6, 2026
Repo
Piwigo/Piwigo ↗

Additional details

PHP
GPL-2.0
Active this week
Visit websiteGitHub repo
image of Piwigo
Contents
  1. 01Who Piwigo is for
  2. 02The problem it solves
  3. 03How it solves it
  4. 04Strengths and trade-offs
  5. 05Tech stack
  6. 06FAQ
  7. 07Similar open-source tools
TL;DR

Piwigo is a self-hosted web photo gallery for individuals, teams, and organizations that need to manage and publish photo libraries. It replaces hosted gallery products like SmugMug or Flickr Pro when ownership, server control, plugins, and long-term archive access matter more than managed hosting convenience.GPL-2.0 · PHP · 3.8K stars · Active this week

who it's for

Who Piwigo is for#

Organizations publishing photo archives

Use Piwigo to run a branded gallery for events, collections, or internal photo libraries.

Skip if:

You only need cloud backup for personal camera rolls.

Teams needing self-hosted media access

Use Piwigo when photos should live on controlled infrastructure with web-based browsing.

Skip if:

You need a managed consumer app with automatic phone sync.

Community groups sharing albums

Use Piwigo to host albums under a community domain with long-term access.

tech stack · detected from GitHub

What it's built on#

Languages
JavaScriptPHP
frequently asked

FAQ#

What is Piwigo?
Can Piwigo be self-hosted?
Is Piwigo a photo editor?
also worth a look

Similar open-source tools#

Pixelfed

Pixelfed

Fediverse photo sharing: no central platform, fully user-owned

7KPHPAGPL-3.0
Language
PHP
Open issues
741
Contributors
120
First release
2015

Categories

Databases & StorageWeb DevelopmentIT Management

Tags

Photo ManagementSelf HostedCMSOpen CoreDatabaseWeb HostingFile Sync & Storage

Skip if:

A temporary shared album link is enough.

the problem

The problem it solves#

Photo libraries become hard to control when albums, permissions, and archives live inside a hosted consumer service. Organizations need galleries that can sit on their own domain, use their own storage, and match internal privacy expectations. They also need predictable access to media collections that may outlive a vendor plan or consumer account policy.

how Piwigo solves it

How it solves it#

Web photo gallery management

Piwigo is open source photo gallery software for managing photo libraries on the web.

Self-hosted PHP stack

Piwigo runs on a web server with PHP, MySQL or MariaDB, and ImageMagick or PHP GD for image handling.

NetInstall and manual setup paths

A NetInstall script and manual upload workflow give administrators two practical paths for installing Piwigo on web hosting.

GPL-2.0 licensing

Piwigo is released under GPL v2, giving organizations source access under copyleft terms.

strengths · trade-offs

Strengths and trade-offs#

Strengths

  • Good fit for long-lived archivesPiwigo helps organizations keep photo libraries under their own domain and server control instead of relying on consumer photo platforms.
  • Standard hosting requirementsPHP plus MySQL or MariaDB makes Piwigo practical for many shared hosting and VPS environments.
  • Community-driven projectPiwigo is widely driven by its community, with contribution guidance and public project resources.

Trade-offs

  • -You manage hosting and updatesSelf-hosting gives control, but administrators must handle server security, backups, upgrades, and image processing dependencies.
  • -Not a Lightroom-style editorPiwigo manages and publishes photo libraries. It is not a RAW editor or desktop editing workflow.

No. Piwigo manages and publishes photo galleries. Use a RAW or image editor for detailed photo editing.

EmDash CMS

EmDash CMS

Web-based CMS for creating and managing AI playgrounds

MIT
Kener

Kener

Open source status page built with SvelteKit and SQLite

4.9KSvelteMIT
Nexion

Nexion

Web3 SSH manager that replaces passwords with crypto keys

16TypeScriptApache-2.0
Immich

Immich

Self-hosted Google Photos with mobile backup and face search

102.7KTypeScriptAGPL-3.0
Drupal

Drupal

Open source CMS for enterprise and complex digital experiences

4.3KPHP

Piwigo is open source web photo gallery software for managing and publishing photo libraries.

Yes. Piwigo can run on a web server with PHP, a database, and image processing support.