PhotoPrism vs Piwigo: Which Should You Self-Host?
Quick Verdict
PhotoPrism and Piwigo solve different problems. PhotoPrism is an AI-powered photo indexer — point it at a directory and it classifies, recognizes faces, and enables smart search. Piwigo is a gallery and permission manager — upload photos into organized albums with granular user/group access controls. Choose PhotoPrism for smart browsing of an existing library. Choose Piwigo for structured gallery management with multi-user permissions and a plugin ecosystem.
Overview
PhotoPrism is an AI-powered photo indexer built in Go, active since 2018. It scans existing photo directories, classifies images using TensorFlow, detects faces, reads EXIF GPS data for map views, and provides natural language search (powered by CLIP). It doesn’t manage uploads in the traditional sense — it indexes what’s already on disk. PhotoPrism uses MariaDB and is available as a free AGPL edition with an optional paid Essentials tier.
Piwigo is an open-source photo gallery with 23 years of continuous development (since 2002). It manages photo collections through structured albums, tags, batch operations, user permissions, and a plugin ecosystem with 350+ extensions. Photos are uploaded through the web UI, FTP, or CLI tools. Piwigo is used by organizations, photographers, and families who need reliable gallery management at scale.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | PhotoPrism | Piwigo |
|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | AI photo indexing + smart browse | Gallery management + sharing |
| Face recognition | Yes (built-in) | No (not natively) |
| AI classification | Yes (TensorFlow) | No |
| Smart search | Yes (CLIP — “sunset at beach”) | No (keyword/tag search only) |
| Map view | Yes (OpenStreetMap) | Via plugin (OpenStreetMap) |
| Album management | Auto-generated + manual | Manual (hierarchical categories) |
| Tagging | Auto-generated + manual | Manual (extensive batch tagging) |
| Batch operations | Basic | Extensive (350+ plugin ecosystem) |
| User permissions | Basic (roles, sharing links) | Granular (per-album, per-user, per-group) |
| Mobile apps | No (responsive web UI) | Yes (iOS + Android with auto-upload) |
| Plugin ecosystem | None | 350+ plugins |
| Theme support | Limited | Dozens of community themes |
| Upload methods | Import directory + web UI | Web UI + FTP sync + CLI tool |
| Video support | Yes (playback + transcoding) | Via Video.js plugin |
| RAW support | Extensive (CR2, NEF, ARW, DNG, etc.) | Basic |
| Database | MariaDB | MariaDB/MySQL |
| License | AGPL-3.0 + paid Essentials | GPL-2.0 |
| Scale (tested) | 100K+ photos | 500K+ photos |
Installation Complexity
PhotoPrism requires two services (PhotoPrism + MariaDB), 4 GB of swap space, security_opt: seccomp:unconfined in Docker, and careful environment variable configuration. The first run downloads TensorFlow models and takes several minutes. Indexing a large library can take hours.
Piwigo requires two services (Piwigo via LinuxServer.io image + MariaDB). Setup is simpler — no swap requirements, no security options. However, the database connection is configured through the web UI setup wizard rather than environment variables, which is an unusual pattern.
Winner: Piwigo (simpler resource requirements). PhotoPrism’s swap and security requirements add friction.
Performance and Resource Usage
| Resource | PhotoPrism | Piwigo |
|---|---|---|
| RAM (idle) | ~400 MB | ~200 MB |
| RAM (indexing/uploading) | 2-4 GB (needs 4 GB swap) | ~500 MB |
| CPU (idle) | Low | Low |
| CPU (indexing) | High (TensorFlow) | Low-moderate (thumbnail generation only) |
| Disk (application) | ~3 GB (TF models) | ~150 MB |
| Initial processing (10K photos) | 20-45 minutes (AI indexing) | 5-10 minutes (thumbnails only) |
PhotoPrism’s AI features come at a significant resource cost. TensorFlow model downloads, face detection, CLIP embedding generation — these require substantial CPU and RAM. Piwigo only generates thumbnails, which is dramatically lighter.
Winner: Piwigo (much lighter). PhotoPrism’s AI features require significantly more resources.
Community and Support
| Metric | PhotoPrism | Piwigo |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | 35,000+ | 3,000+ |
| Project age | 2018 (7 years) | 2002 (23+ years) |
| Release frequency | Monthly | Regular |
| Community | Active (Discord, forum) | Established (forums, long history) |
| Documentation | Comprehensive | Extensive (23 years) |
| Plugin ecosystem | None | 350+ plugins |
| Sustainability | Essentials tier revenue | Community + Piwigo.com hosted service |
PhotoPrism has a larger GitHub community and more modern development practices. Piwigo’s 23-year track record and massive plugin ecosystem are unmatched. Both have sustainable funding models.
Winner: Tie. Different strengths — PhotoPrism for modern community, Piwigo for ecosystem depth.
Use Cases
Choose PhotoPrism If…
- You have an existing photo library and want AI-powered browsing
- Smart search matters (“find all photos of my dog at the park”)
- Face recognition is important to you
- You want automatic classification without manual tagging
- You have a powerful server that can handle TensorFlow
- RAW file support is important (photographers)
- You don’t need granular multi-user permissions
Choose Piwigo If…
- You need structured gallery management with clear album hierarchies
- Multi-user permissions are essential (organizations, photographer clients, family groups)
- You want a mobile app with auto-upload from camera roll
- You need extensive customization through plugins and themes
- Your server has limited resources (Piwigo is much lighter)
- You manage 500K+ photos and need proven scale
- You prefer manual organization over AI classification
- You need batch operations for large-scale photo management
Final Verdict
These tools complement each other more than they compete. PhotoPrism is a smart viewer — it makes an existing photo collection browsable and searchable with AI. Piwigo is a gallery manager — it organizes, shares, and controls access to photo collections with fine-grained permissions.
If you want one tool: PhotoPrism if AI features and smart search matter most. Piwigo if organized gallery management, user permissions, and plugin extensibility matter most.
Some users run both — Piwigo as the gallery frontend for sharing with family/clients, and PhotoPrism as the personal browsing and search interface for the same underlying photo library.
For a full Google Photos replacement with mobile upload and modern UI, use Immich instead of either.
FAQ
Can I run both on the same photo library?
Yes. Point both at the same photo directory (read-only). PhotoPrism indexes for smart browsing. Piwigo manages for gallery sharing. They use different databases and don’t conflict.
Which handles RAW files better?
PhotoPrism. It supports an extensive range of RAW formats (CR2, NEF, ARW, DNG, ORF, and more) via LibRaw and Darktable integration. Piwigo supports basic RAW display but doesn’t process RAW files as thoroughly.
Which scales to larger libraries?
Piwigo. Users report smooth operation at 500K+ photos. PhotoPrism handles 100K+ well but TensorFlow indexing at larger scales requires significant hardware. For pure gallery browsing without AI, Piwigo scales further on lighter hardware.
Does Piwigo have any AI features?
Not built-in. Some community plugins add basic tagging automation, but nothing comparable to PhotoPrism’s TensorFlow classification, face recognition, or CLIP search. If AI features matter, choose PhotoPrism or Immich.
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