Shotwell
A photo manager for the GNOME desktop that imports, organises and makes simple edits to photos.
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About Shotwell
Shotwell is a photo manager for Linux, developed in the GNOME project. It imports photos, organises them into a browsable library and offers simple image enhancement features for quick fixes.
It is released under the GNU LGPL 2.1 and developed on GNOME's GitLab, where releases are published. It suits Linux desktop users who want a straightforward photo library rather than a professional RAW workflow.
Strengths
- Imports and organises a photo library on the desktop
- Simple enhancement tools for quick fixes
- Fits the GNOME desktop
Limitations
- Linux only
- Editing is basic compared with dedicated RAW editors
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree and open source under the LGPL 2.1.
- License
- LGPL-2.1
- Developer
- The GNOME Project
- Platforms
- Linux
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- Linux desktop users who want a simple photo library
- Categories
- Photo libraries, Photo tools
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Facts checked against the developer's own pages and store listings, 1 sources on file.
Alternatives to Shotwell
Compare allSoftware that can replace Shotwell for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
digiKam
A photo manager built for libraries of a hundred thousand images, with face recognition, batch processing and heavy metadata support.
digiKam adds face recognition, advanced search and batch processing for libraries over 100,000 images on Windows, macOS and Linux, with a steeper learning curve.
Fotocx
A free Linux photo editor and collection manager released under the GPL version 3.
Fotocx is another free Linux editor and collection manager under GPL-3.0 without tracking or ads, maintained as a small single-developer project.
gThumb
An open-source image viewer and browser for the GNOME desktop on Linux.
gThumb is another open-source GNOME application that views and sorts photos in local folders, acting more as a viewer and browser than an importing library.
KPhotoAlbum
A KDE desktop app for tagging, describing and quickly searching large personal photo collections.
KPhotoAlbum is a KDE app for fast tagging and searching by people, places and custom categories, but it organizes photos rather than editing them.
Tonfotos
A desktop photo organizer for family archives with face recognition, duplicate finding and phone import.
Tonfotos adds face recognition, duplicate finding and phone import across desktop and mobile platforms, but it is not open source and some features are paid.
XnView MP
Views, converts and organises images in more than five hundred formats, free for personal use.
XnView MP offers browsing, tagging and batch conversion across more than five hundred formats on Windows, macOS and Linux, but it is closed source.
Adobe Lightroom
Adobe's photo organizer and RAW editor with a library synced across desktop, web and mobile.
Adobe Lightroom adds RAW editing and a library synced across desktop, web and mobile, but it is subscription only with no Linux version.
Damselfly
A server-based photo management system for large folder-based collections, with fast search and keyword tagging.
Damselfly moves the library to a server with web access, adding face and object detection and keyword tagging, but it needs a server to run.
Shotwell as an alternative
Listings that name Shotwell as an alternative.
Koko
A KDE image gallery app for browsing photo albums on Linux desktops and mobile devices.
Shotwell is an LGPL photo manager for the GNOME desktop that imports and organises a library and adds simple enhancement tools for quick fixes.
Rapid Photo Downloader
A Linux app that imports, renames and backs up photos and videos from cameras and memory cards.
Shotwell is an LGPL GNOME photo manager that imports and organises a photo library with simple edits, but it lacks backup during import and configurable renaming.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
darktable
A non-destructive raw developer and photo workflow application: a virtual lighttable and darkroom for photographers.
Loupe
GNOME's default image viewer, with metadata display and quick crop, rotate and flip edits.
Eye of GNOME
The classic GNOME image viewer, with a straightforward interface and support for plugins.
Geeqie
Browse and organize images with a Unix desktop viewer.
