Lychee
Self-hosted photo management with upload, sharing and EXIF metadata
AI Summary
Lychee is a self-hosted photo management software that offers complete control over your images. It enables upload, management and sharing of photos without compression or data loss, with full EXIF/IPTC metadata support. The open-source solution is designed for photographers and users who want to host their photos on their own server.
✓ Pros
- + Complete data control through self-hosting on your own server
- + No storage limits or image compression, lossless originals
- + Open source with active community and Docker support
✗ Cons
- − Requires own server or web hosting for installation
- − Technical know-how necessary for setup and maintenance
Use Cases
- → Host private photo gallery on your own server without cloud dependency
- → Present professional portfolio for photographers with EXIF data
- → Share photo albums with password protection for family and friends
- → Backup and archive original photos without quality loss
Who is it for?
For photographers, privacy-conscious users and tech-savvy individuals looking for a self-hosted alternative to cloud photo services.
Tags
What is Lychee?
Lychee is open-source photo management software that runs on your own server. Photos are stored without compression, and EXIF and IPTC metadata are preserved in full. The project is actively maintained and can be installed via Docker. For anyone who does not want Google, Apple or any third-party provider managing their images, it offers a functional alternative.
Core features
- Upload and management of photos without quality loss; original files remain unchanged
- EXIF and IPTC metadata is read and displayed, which is particularly relevant for photographers with structured workflows
- Password-protected albums allow sharing photos with specific people without requiring them to have an account
- Docker support simplifies deployment and updates on a personal server or homelab environment
- Public and private galleries can be configured flexibly, for portfolios or purely personal archives
Who is Lychee for?
The software is aimed at photographers who want to run their own portfolio without depending on cloud services, and at technically experienced users who have prioritised control over their image data over convenience. Anyone looking to set up Lychee without prior knowledge will quickly hit limits. Installation requires a running web server, a database, and at least a basic understanding of server administration or Docker. Without both, the setup becomes demanding.
Context & alternatives
Lychee belongs to the category of self-hosted media management. Comparable solutions in this space include Photoprism, which focuses on AI-based image recognition, and Piwigo, which places greater emphasis on multi-user galleries. Immich has gained considerable popularity recently, but is more closely modelled on Google Photos with a mobile app at its centre. Lychee remains the leaner option for those who primarily want a web-based gallery with clean metadata handling, without needing the full feature set of a complete photo library.
