Photoprism
AI-Powered Photos App for the Decentralized Web ππβ¨
Last verified:
What is Photoprism?
PhotoPrism is an AI-powered photos app for the decentralized web that helps you browse, organize, and find your photos and videos without getting in your way. It makes use of the latest technologies to tag and find pictures automatically based on their content and location. You can run it at home, on a private server, or in the cloud, giving you full control over your data without compromising freedom, privacy, or functionality.
Key features include automatic face recognition for family and friends, automatic classification of pictures based on content and location, powerful search with filters, six high-resolution interactive world maps to relive travel memories, Live Photosβ’ playback by hovering over them in albums, support for RAW images, videos, HEIC, JPEG XL, animated GIFs, and more. It also includes duplicate detection, scheduled indexing, automatic stacking, metadata support (Exif, XMP, YAML sidecar files), WebDAV upload/download, album and file sharing, PWA mobile app support, and multi-language support.
PhotoPrism is designed for privacy-conscious individuals who want to self-host their photo library, photography enthusiasts who need RAW support and advanced organization, families wanting to organize shared photo collections, and anyone tired of Google Photos or Apple Photos losing dataδΈδΌ to cloud services. It's ideal for users with technical skills to set up Docker on a server, NAS device, Raspberry Pi, or private cloud.
The mission is to provide the most user- and privacy-friendly solution to keep pictures organized and accessible. Being 100% self-funded and independent, PhotoPrism promises never to sell user data and always be transparent about software and services. Your data will never be shared with Google, Amazon, Microsoft, or Apple unless you intentionally upload files to their services.
Photoprism pricing
Pricing model: Freemium
Community Edition: FREE, self-hosted, includes high-resolution world map, community support, unlimited storage, unlimited instances, AGPL license, Docker images, Linux packages, build from source, PWA & PhotoSync mobile apps. Essentials: β¬2.00/month (billed annually), self-hosted, includes 3D vector & satellite maps, enhanced geocoding, personal use only, private members chat, no request limit for reverse geocoding. Plus: from β¬6.00/month (billed annually), self-hosted, includes user management UI, vector graphics support, private members chat, admin web UI, hardened security, custom rate limits, Plus license. PikaPods: from $6.50/month, fully managed hosting, flexible storage, flexible instances, scheduled database backups, invoice with VAT-ID available. All plans include unlimited storage, access control, account roles, OpenID Connect SSO, AI features (people/faces, caption generation, label generation, NSFW detection), media library features, powerful filters, albums, favorites, world maps, and multiple languages.
Photoprism pros
- AI-powered automatic photo tagging and classification
- Faces recognition for family and friends
- No data sold to third parties - 100% privacy-focused
- Self-hosted - full data ownership and control
- Supports RAW images from all camera brands
- Supports videos, Live Photos, Motion Photos, animated GIFs
- Six high-resolution interactive world maps included
- Powerful search with advanced filters
- No storage limits on any plan
- Duplicate detection to avoid redundant files
- Scheduled indexing for automatic library updates
- Automatic stacking of related photos
- WebDAV support for uploading and remote access
- PWA mobile app for desktop and home screen installation
- Multi-language support with premium themes
- Exif, XMP, and YAML sidecar metadata compatibility
- Open source with AGPL license for Community edition
- Works on Docker, Raspberry Pi, NAS devices, FreeBSD
- Reverse geocoding with no request limit for members
- YouTube-quality video transcoding for compatibility
Photoprism cons
- Requires Docker or technical setup knowledge
- Minimum 2 CPU cores and 3 GB RAM required
- No native mobile app in app stores (PWA only)
- SQLite not recommended for large libraries or high concurrency
- Initial indexing can be slow on older hardware
- Video transcoding slow on Raspberry Pi without hardware support
- XMP sidecar support is limited (proof-of-concept reader)
- FAT32/ExFAT drives may show directory access errors on macOS
- No MySQL 8 support (discontinued)
- Hard memory limits can cause unexpected restarts
- Configuration files require manual updates when not using Docker
- Building from source requires manual dependency installation
- No guaranteed release dates for new features (zero-bug policy)
- Community edition lacks Admin Web UI and extra security features
- Network storage can cause database corruption if disconnected
Frequently asked questions about Photoprism
What media file types are supported?
PhotoPrism supports indexing, viewing, and converting most popular image, video and RAW formats, including JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, HEIF, HEIC, MP4, MOV, WebP, and WebM. TIFF is partially supported without extensions such as GeoTIFF. RAW files can be converted with Darktable, RawTherapee, or Sips on Mac. Videos can be transcoded to MPEG-4 AVC on demand with FFmpeg. JPEG XL support is planned for the future.
What are sidecar files and where do I find them?
A sidecar is a file that sits next to your main photo or video files with the same name but different extension (e.g., IMG_0123.mov.jpg or IMG_0123.json). New sidecar files are saved in the storage folder by default, so the originals folder can be mounted read-only. PhotoPrism automatically creates JSON sidecars for metadata and YAML sidecars as backup when editing titles, dates, or locations.
Does your software depend on any external services?
Reverse geocoding and interactive world maps depend on retrieving information from PhotoPrism and MapTiler AG in Switzerland. Both services are provided with high privacy and confidentiality. All users have access to a high-resolution vector map hosted on PhotoPrism's infrastructure (no commercial API key required). Members get an API key for MapTiler's commercial service including satellite, outdoor and 3D maps.
What are the advantages of purchasing a commercial license?
A commercial license gives access to additional support and configuration options, plus the right to customize functionality without publicly disclosing changes. Plus members get user management UI, vector graphics support, private members chat, hardened security, custom rate limits, and the Plus License. Memberships are billed annually and include priority support access for Silver, Gold, and Platinum tiers.
Will the self-hosted version continue to be supported?
Absolutely! PhotoPrism is on a mission to protect freedom and privacy. Self-hosting is the easiest way to stay in control and protect privacy. It also provides the best experience for advanced users who rely on a local toolchain. They also offer a fully managed cloud-hosted option through PikaPods for users who want easier setup while maintaining privacy.
Which folder will be indexed?
This depends on your configuration. With Docker Compose without modifications, pictures are mounted from ~/Pictures (home directory). PhotoPrism won't see folders that haven't been mounted. Multiple folders can be made accessible by mounting them as subfolders of /photoprism/originals. You can select subfolders for indexing in the UI, but changing the originals base folder requires a restart.
Can I install PhotoPrism without Docker?
Yes, experienced users can use packages at dl.photoprism.app/pkg/linux/ for compatible Linux distributions (minimum glibc 2.35). Arch Linux has AUR packages maintained by Thomas Eizinger. FreeBSD and TrueNAS CORE have an unofficial port that builds from source. You can also build from source using git clone and make commands, but dependencies must be installed manually.
Should I use SQLite, MariaDB, or MySQL?
PhotoPrism supports SQLite 3 and MariaDB 10.5.12+. Official MySQL 8 support was discontinued. SQLite is fine for testing and small libraries with a few thousand files, but not recommended for scalability and high performance. MariaDB is optimized for high concurrency and recommended for larger libraries. SQLite frequently locks its index causing timeouts during indexing on slow storage.
Is a Raspberry Pi fast enough?
Most users report PhotoPrism runs smoothly on a Raspberry Pi 4 with 4 GB RAM. However, initial indexing takes much longer than on a regular desktop, and hardware has limited video transcoding capabilities. Software transcoding is generally slow. PhotoPrism takes no responsibility for instability or performance problems on devices that don't meet requirements.
How can I activate my membership?
To connect a new instance to your membership account, log in with the super admin user automatically created during setup (check your compose.yaml or docker-compose.yml file), then follow the steps in the activation guide. Essentials and Plus memberships are billed annually, and you'll be charged automatically at the beginning of each billing period until you cancel.