Media
Self-host Piwigo on a VPS
A mature, extensible photo gallery.
Organise and publish photo albums with plugins, themes and granular privacy.
Why self-host Piwigo?
Piwigo is a long-standing gallery platform, well-suited to publishing photos publicly or privately.
How to install Piwigo
- 1
Provision a VPS
Choose a plan with room for your data as well as the app.
- 2
Install the stack
Install PHP + MySQL.
- 3
Deploy the application
Follow the project’s official install guide for your distribution.
- 4
Enable HTTPS
Serve it on your own domain behind a reverse proxy with a certificate.
- 5
Back it up
Schedule a database dump plus a copy of any uploaded files to an off-box location.
Practical tips
- Give Piwigo its own database user with rights only on its own schema.
- Reverse-proxy Piwigo and terminate TLS at the proxy so certificates are managed in one place.
- Take a VPS snapshot before major upgrades so you can roll back cleanly.
- Keep Piwigo patched — most self-hosting incidents are unpatched software.
Frequently asked questions
- How much RAM does Piwigo need?
- Plan on 1–2 GB for typical use; add headroom if you expect many concurrent users.
- What stack does Piwigo run on?
- PHP + MySQL.
- Can I run other things on the same VPS?
- Yes — size the plan so Piwigo plus your other workloads fit in RAM with room to spare.
Looking for something else? Popular alternatives include PhotoPrism, Immich, PhotoView — browse all app guides.