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Piwigo vs Lychee: catalog facts
Piwigo	Lychee
Freemium Self-hosted Piwigo is free; Piwigo Cloud is a paid service with a free trial.	Free Free and open source, with optional GitHub sponsorship.
Web, Self-hosted	Web, Self-hosted
Same open-source core for self-hosted and cloud versions Plugin system and API	Your photos stay on your own server Public sharing and password-protected albums
Self-hosting requires your own web server Paid support is separate from the free version	You need a server or web space to run it Focused on albums and sharing rather than phone backup
Self-hosted, Hosted service	Self-hosted
Open source	Open source
License not stated	License not stated
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it 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.