Self-host Piwigo
updated Sep 2026prices checked · Jul 2026
We earn commissions when you shop through the links below. Full disclosure →
A PHP photo gallery for organizing large photo collections into albums, with per-user and per-group permissions, tags and a plugin system.
Key facts
What you need
- Any VPS with at least 512 MB of RAM
- A domain you control — most self-hosted setups need HTTPS in front of them
- Under an hour if you've used Docker before
Where to host itaffiliate disclosure
Hetzner Cloudrun it on
From $23.59/mo · 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB · EU + USKamaterafree trial
From $4/mo · 1 vCPU / 1 GB / 20 GB · US + EU + AsiaDigitalOceanalso works on
From $6/mo · 1 vCPU / 1 GB / 25 GB · US + EU + AsiaPaid link — we earn a commission if you shop through it.
Install
Run these commands on your server:
# Piwigo — the official Piwigo/piwigo-docker compose file (Piwigo + MariaDB), per doc.piwigo.org's Docker install guide
mkdir -p piwigo && cd piwigo
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Piwigo/piwigo-docker/refs/heads/main/compose.yaml
DB_PW=$(openssl rand -hex 32) && echo "database password: $DB_PW"
printf 'piwigo_port=8080\ndb_user_password=%s\ntimezone=UTC\nPIWIGO_UID=1000\nPIWIGO_GID=1000\n' "$DB_PW" > .env
docker compose up -d
# open http://SERVER_IP:8080 and finish the install form: host piwigo-db:3306, user piwigodb_user,
# the database password printed above, database piwigodb — then create the webmaster accountMore in Photo backup & gallery
Photo backup & gallery
Ente
GoPostgreSQL
moderateRead guide →
Photo backup & gallery
Immich
TypeScriptNode.js
moderateRead guide →
Photo backup & gallery
Lychee
PHPLaravelVue
easyRead guide →
Photo backup & gallery
PhotoPrism
GoJavaScript
easyRead guide →