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Damselfly vs Shotwell: catalog facts
Damselfly	Shotwell
Free Free to use; the developer accepts donations through Buy Me a Coffee.	Free Free and open source under the LGPL 2.1.
Web, Self-hosted	Linux
Works on an existing folder-based photo collection Face, object detection and image classification built in	Imports and organises a photo library on the desktop Simple enhancement tools for quick fixes
Full facial recognition depends on an Azure Face Services account Needs a server to run	Linux only Editing is basic compared with dedicated RAW editors
Self-hosted	Downloadable app
Closed source	Open source
License not stated	License: LGPL-2.1
Not stated if an account is needed	No account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.