Piwigo
The old, dependable gallery engine: private albums, users, metadata, themes, plugins, and mobile upload, paid for in maintenance rather than money.
Technical Profile & Specs
verified 2026-08-11
- Cost
- $0 / forever (Open Source)
- License
- GPL-2.0+
- Hosting Model
- Self-host (your server)
- Platforms
- mobilewebself-hostedself-host, real ops
- Installation
- Upload the NetInstall script or release to PHP web hosting, then complete browser setup against MySQL or MariaDB
- Operational Setup
- Requires PHP web hosting, a database, writable directories, and ongoing web-server, TLS, and plugin maintenance
- Where Your Data Lives
- Originals live under the upload or galleries directories, generated derivatives and configuration stay in the Piwigo tree, and albums, users, metadata, and plugin state live in MySQL or MariaDB
- The Catch / Trade-off
- It can host a public gallery, but the audience, groups, following, discovery and community interaction that distinguish Flickr are entirely absent.
Replaces 4 paid apps
up to $50/mo ($600/yr) in subscriptions
Piwigo FAQ
Common questions
Is Piwigo free and open source?+
Piwigo is an open-source tool licensed under GPL-2.0+ that runs on self-host. The old, dependable gallery engine: private albums, users, metadata, themes, plugins, and mobile upload, paid for in maintenance rather than money.
What paid software does Piwigo replace?+
Piwigo serves as a free replacement for 4 paid SaaS applications: Flickr Pro, Google Photos, SmugMug, Zenfolio, saving up to $50/month ($600/year) in subscription bills.
How do you install and set up Piwigo?+
Installation: Upload the NetInstall script or release to PHP web hosting, then complete browser setup against MySQL or MariaDB. Setup notes: Requires PHP web hosting, a database, writable directories, and ongoing web-server, TLS, and plugin maintenance
What is the catch or trade-off with Piwigo?+
It can host a public gallery, but the audience, groups, following, discovery and community interaction that distinguish Flickr are entirely absent.