Lychee

Free plan Open source AndroidAPIiPhoneLinuxSelf-hostedWeb

What Lychee is

Lychee is a free, self-hosted photo-management tool for uploading, organizing, and sharing photos. Users can create unlimited nested albums and customize covers, headers, layouts, sorting, and aspect ratios. Albums can be shared with specific users or made public, and the homepage lists password protection. Lychee displays EXIF and IPTC metadata and supports imports from a local computer, a server, a URL, or Dropbox. The maker says there is no storage limit and that photos are not compressed or lost. The Free plan is listed as free and includes unlimited users, albums, tags, and photo uploads, plus facial recognition. A Supporter Edition costs €5 a month and adds library statistics, user groups and upload quotas, anonymous uploads, secured image links, watermarking, and extended customizations. Lychee documents an API and personal Bearer tokens for scripted requests, but a token grants full account access. Installation guidance covers Docker Compose and manual server setup with PHP, a web server, and a database. The gallery ships without analytics or other tracking mechanisms.

Who it suits

The maker describes the free edition as a choice for personal use. Professional photographers and businesses selling pictures may consider the Pro add-on, while self-hosting users can choose between Docker Compose and a documented manual installation.

What it does well

Free plan includes unlimited photo uploads
Supports nested albums and private sharing
Imports from computers, servers, URLs, and Dropbox
Displays EXIF and IPTC metadata
Ships without analytics or tracking

What to know first

No trial period is offered
No refunds are offered
Bearer tokens grant full account access
Production deployments should use a reverse proxy with TLS

Limits

The Free plan includes unlimited users, albums, tags, and photo uploads. The Supporter Edition adds user groups and upload quotas, while the free offering does not include those additions.

Plans

Plan	Billed and limits	Price
Free	Unlimited users · Unlimited albums · Unlimited tags · Unlimited photo upload · Facial recognition	Free
Supporter Edition	Per Month · Free Edition features · Library statistics · User groups and upload quotas · Anonymous uploads · Secured image links · Watermarking · Extended customizations	€5 a month

As lycheeorg.github.io lists them, read 15 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.

Getting started

Open the Lychee website
Deploy with Docker Compose
Or install manually with PHP, a web server, and a database
Create albums and import photos
Use the web interface or API with a personal Bearer token

Verdict

Lychee offers self-hosted photo organization and sharing with a free edition and a paid Supporter Edition. Users should note the full-account access granted by API tokens and the maker’s recommendation to protect production deployments with a reverse proxy and TLS.

Questions

Is Lychee free?

Yes. The Free plan is listed as free and includes unlimited users, albums, tags, and photo uploads.

What does the Supporter Edition cost?

The Supporter Edition costs €5 a month, billed per month.

Which platforms are supported?

Lychee supports API, Linux, self-hosted, and web deployments.

Can albums be private?

Yes. Albums can be shared with specific users and can be password-protected.

Does Lychee provide an API?

Yes. It documents an API and supports personal Bearer tokens for scripted requests.

Is Lychee open source?

The listed facts describe LycheeOrg, self-hosting, documentation, GitHub Issues, and Discord support, but do not state an open-source license.

Facts from Lychee's own pages

Albums: Albums can be unlimited, nested, customized with covers, headers, layouts, sorting and aspect ratios, and embedded in other websites. · lycheeorg.dev, 15 Oct 2026
API: Lychee documents API v2 routes and requires JSON Accept headers; API documentation is available inside each instance at /docs/api. · lycheeorg.dev, 15 Oct 2026
API authentication: Scripted API calls can use personal bearer tokens, while browser session requests use Laravel CSRF protection. · lycheeorg.dev, 15 Oct 2026
API security limit: An API token grants full account access and is shown only once, so the documentation says to treat it like a password. · lycheeorg.dev, 15 Oct 2026
Audience: The maker describes the free edition as an optimal choice for personal use and the Pro add-on as aimed at professional photographers and businesses selling pictures. · lycheeorg.dev, 9 Oct 2026
Imports: The homepage lists importing photos from a local computer, a server, a URL, or Dropbox. · lycheeorg.dev, 9 Oct 2026
Independent feature assessment: Android Authority observed albums, sharing, EXIF viewing, timeline, frame view, multi-user support and On This Day memories. · androidauthority.com, 15 Oct 2026
Independent setup result: Android Authority reports completing a Lychee server setup on a Pixel in about 45 minutes, while noting command-line and PHP-extension work. · androidauthority.com, 15 Oct 2026
Installation: The recommended quick start uses Docker Compose and starts a gallery with MariaDB and persistent photo/database storage. · lycheeorg.dev, 15 Oct 2026
iOS companion app: LycheeSync is a free iPhone and iPad app that uploads selected albums to a self-hosted Lychee server using stored server credentials. · apps.apple.com, 15 Oct 2026
License: The Lychee and Supporter Edition code is open source under the MIT license. · lycheeorg.dev, 15 Oct 2026
Limit: AI features: Android Authority says Lychee lacks Google Photos or Immich-style facial recognition, location search and other machine-learning enhancements. · androidauthority.com, 15 Oct 2026
Limit: multi-user support: G2's review summary identifies lack of multi-user support as a recurring limitation, although current documentation describes user and sharing controls. · g2.com, 15 Oct 2026
Limit: server administration: Android Authority notes that running Lychee on a phone requires managing permissions, PHP upload limits, thumbnail extensions and battery or process-sleep settings. · androidauthority.com, 15 Oct 2026
Limit: technical installation: G2 reviewers say installation requires technical knowledge and that configuration terminology can be tedious for less technical users. · g2.com, 15 Oct 2026
Maker identity: The project identifies LycheeOrg as its maintainer and Tobias Reich as the creator. · lycheeorg.dev, 15 Oct 2026
Maker start year: LycheeOrg states that the project started in 2018. · lycheeorg.dev, 15 Oct 2026
Maker team size: The About page lists five developers and reviewers. · lycheeorg.dev, 15 Oct 2026
Manual installation: A non-Docker deployment requires PHP, a web server and a database. · lycheeorg.dev, 15 Oct 2026
Metadata: Lychee supports and displays EXIF and IPTC metadata. · lycheeorg.dev, 9 Oct 2026
Notable news: The official release documentation lists Lychee version 7.10.0 among the current version-7 releases. · lycheeorg.dev, 15 Oct 2026
Photo downloads: Albums can be downloaded as ZIP archives containing original-resolution photos. · lycheeorg.dev, 15 Oct 2026
Photo organization: Users can create unlimited nested albums and customize album covers, headers, layouts, sorting, and aspect ratios. · lycheeorg.dev, 9 Oct 2026
Praise: ease of use: G2 reviewers repeatedly describe the interface and photo uploading or management workflow as intuitive and easy to use. · g2.com, 15 Oct 2026