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Shimmie2 vs Hydrus Network: catalog facts
Shimmie2	Hydrus Network
Free Free and open source to download and host yourself.	Free Free, with source published on GitHub.
Self-hosted	Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hosted
Tag-based organization and search for large image collections Runs on a standard PHP web server	Tag-based search across very large collections Imports files and tags from disk and websites
Needs a server and some web hosting knowledge to set up Booru-style interface is built for tagging rather than photo albums	Takes time to learn compared with ordinary photo libraries Interface is dense and built for power users
Self-hosted	Downloadable app, Self-hosted
Open source	Closed source
License: GPL-2.0	License: WTFPL
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 October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 24, 2026

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