Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

What’s a good desktop app with the same-ish goal?

> High performance [desktop] photo and video management solution

Honestly all I want is

- Non destructive library management. No copying and moving files and the library is just “a file”

- Exif GPS map with search support (“Photos taken at NYC between 2 and 4pm”)

- Automated (AI?) photo tagging



Sounds like you need digikam. I have been a happy digikam user for more than a decade now. It works really well.

The automated AI face detection can be improved compared to immich. But I guess this whole area is developing rapidly these days so I expect it to get better soon.


digiKam[1] might be for you. I only tried it briefly, but I think it covers most of the requirements out outlined.

I personally landed on Peakto[2], since it has the unique ability to create a unified catalog across multiple CaptureOne sessions, but it's probably overkill for what you need.

[1] https://www.digikam.org

[2] https://cyme.io/en/products/peakto/


Phil Gyford just posted about "Trying out eight macOS alternatives to Lightroom Classic to see if I could switch to one of them." which covers some of those points

https://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2025/09/27/escaping-ligh...


Checkout https://bpatrik.github.io/pigallery2/. I've been using it for years and it checks all the boxes you're looking for


>self-hosted directory-first photo gallery website

That's not a desktop app, in fact it's pretty much like Immich


I've been using Mylio on my laptop which might suit you? My main requirement was that I organise photos using my file structure for maximum portability, and this works well with that.


CaptureOne is the go to thing you want here. It's the best.




Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: