Lychee

Grid and album based photo-management-system.

GitHub stars: 4,310
License: MIT
Latest release: v7.11.0
12 October 2026
Last commit: 12 October 2026
Runs on: PHP, Docker

Commits per month, last 12 months

780 commits

Replaces

Paid products Lychee can stand in for.

SmugMugPhoto portfolios and galleries for photographers.FlickrPhoto sharing community and portfolio.Google PhotosPhoto backup and albums from Google.

How to self-host Lychee

Lychee runs on PHP and Docker. The project's own install guide is the place to start; most people put it on a small server with Docker and a reverse proxy for HTTPS.

Get a server: a home server, a VPS, or a managed app host.
Install it the way the project's docs describe, usually with Docker Compose.
Put it behind HTTPS and set up backups before you add real data.
Update it regularly. Watch the project's releases.

New to self-hosting? Start with the beginner's guide.

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Guides that cover it

Best self-hosted Google Photos alternatives (2026)

Immich, PhotoPrism, Ente, LibrePhotos, Lychee and PiGallery2 compared: mobile backup, face recognition, hardware needs and who each one is for.

Questions

Is Lychee free?

Yes. Lychee is open source under the MIT license, so you can use it without paying for a license. You pay only for the server it runs on.

Can I self-host Lychee?

Yes. Lychee runs on PHP and Docker. Follow the install guide in the project's documentation, or use a host that installs it for you.

What does Lychee replace?

People use Lychee instead of SmugMug, Flickr or Google Photos.

Is Lychee still maintained?

The last change to Lychee's code was on 12 October 2026, with 780 commits in the last 12 months.

Topics

App data from awesome-selfhosted (CC BY-SA 3.0), stars and activity from GitHub.