Lychee (LycheeOrg)
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy it if you can run and patch a server and want your photos off cloud services . it is free, open source, and actively maintained.
New check
Comparison
Lychee (LycheeOrg) vs Piwigo
Lychee (LycheeOrg) and Piwigo both land on Depends.
Piwigo
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy it if you can self-host and patch promptly . it's a proven, free, multi-user photo gallery trusted by councils and utilities.
| Compare | ||
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | Self-hosters comfortable with Docker | Self-hosters wanting a dependable gallery |
| Who it's not for | Non-technical users wanting plug-and-play photo backup | Casual users wanting Google Photos-style auto-backup |
| Privacy | 11 known CVEs plus GitHub advisories; project publishes and patches them, but you must run current releases. | Active risk: several 2025-2026 CVEs including SQL injection and arbitrary file read/RCE, fixed in v16.4.0 . patching discipline required. |
| Support quality | Volunteer community only; no vendor support. | No support evidence in sources |
| Public sentiment | Self-hosters weigh Lychee against Piwigo, PhotoPrism, and Immich; long-term users are loyal, but the project leans on stretched volunteer maintainers.11 | Self-hosters broadly praise Piwigo's reliability and price while noting it demands more configuration than newer rivals.13 |
| Biggest gotcha | Several 2026 CVEs (SSRF, stored XSS) mean you must update fast. | Multiple 2025-2026 CVEs (SQLi, file read, RCE); patch to 16.4.0+ immediately |
Pick Lychee (LycheeOrg) when
- Self-hosters comfortable with Docker
- Privacy-focused personal photo libraries
- Small groups sharing galleries on their own server
- PHP/Laravel hobbyist admins
When Lychee (LycheeOrg) is not a fit
- Non-technical users wanting plug-and-play photo backup
- Businesses needing vendor SLAs or guaranteed support
- Mobile-first users wanting automatic camera-roll sync (Guess: Immich fits better)
- Anyone unwilling to patch promptly against CVEs
Pick Piwigo when
- Self-hosters wanting a dependable gallery
- Photographers sharing client galleries
- Orgs needing a shared brand-asset library (DAM)
- Multi-user teams controlling photo access
When Piwigo is not a fit
- Casual users wanting Google Photos-style auto-backup
- Anyone unwilling to patch security updates quickly
- Non-technical buyers expecting budget turnkey hosting
- Users wanting AI-heavy search . PhotoPrism or Immich fit better
Sources
- LycheeOrg/Lychee on GitHubgithub.comofficial
- Lychee homepagelycheeorg.github.ioofficial
- LycheeOrg on OpenCollectiveopencollective.comofficial
- Lychee Docker imagehub.docker.comofficial
- Lychee CVEs . OpenCVEapp.opencve.iosecurity
- CVE-2026-39957 . NVDnvd.nist.govsecurity
- CVE-2024-25808 CSRF . SentinelOnesentinelone.comsecurity
security
review
- Lychee and OpenSource struggles . Redditreddit.comreview
- I've been using Lychee for many years . Hacker Newsnews.ycombinator.comreview
- Lychee multi-user . YunoHost forumforum.yunohost.orgreview
- Piwigo Reviews . G2g2.comreview
review
- Piwigo . official sitepiwigo.orgofficial