Lychee vs pixelfed
Self-hosted photo management and social sharing compared
Lychee is a self-hosted photo manager for uploading, organizing, and sharing a personal or group photo library. pixelfed is a photo-sharing social network built around fediverse federation, usable through hosted instances or self-hosted services.
Lychee: Manage and Share Photos on Your Own Server
Lychee is a self-hosted photo-management application for uploading, organizing, and sharing photos through a web interface. It suits individuals and groups who want control over their photo library and storage.
pixelfed: Share Photos Across the Fediverse
Pixelfed is a photo-sharing social network designed for people and communities who want to share images across the fediverse. It can be used through hosted instances or self-hosted, with Docker Compose recommended for deployment.
| Lychee | pixelfed | |
|---|---|---|
| Language | PHP | PHP |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Stars | 4.3k | 7.1k |
| Forks | 381 | 884 |
| Last analyzed | Oct 3, 2026 | Oct 3, 2026 |
Key differences
- Lychee focuses on managing and sharing photos from a gallery on your own server, while pixelfed centers on social sharing across the fediverse.
- Lychee is aimed at individuals and groups managing a photo library; pixelfed also serves photographers, fediverse users, and communities seeking a social network.
- Both are written in PHP, but Lychee uses the MIT license and pixelfed uses AGPL-3.0.
- Lychee recommends Docker and documents MariaDB or MySQL; pixelfed recommends Docker Compose, officially supports MySQL 9+ or MariaDB 11+, and supports PostgreSQL 14+ on a best-effort basis.
- Lychee offers installation from pre-built releases or source, while pixelfed can be used through hosted instances or run as a self-hosted service.
Choose Lychee if you…
- want a photo gallery on infrastructure you control, without a social-network focus.
- need to upload, organize, and share a personal or group photo library.
- prefer installing from a release or source, or deploying Lychee with Docker Compose.
Choose pixelfed if you…
- want to share photos across the fediverse through federation.
- need a social network centered on photos for a community or audience.
- prefer using a hosted instance or operating a self-hosted service with Docker Compose.
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This comparison is generated with AI from the OSRepos analyses of both projects. Always check each project's repository and documentation before choosing.