What is spis?

spis (Simple Private Image Server) is a lightweight, fast media gallery server for self-hosting photos and videos. It serves media through a web UI with endless scrolling, favorites, slideshows, and filtering by year, month, or subdirectory. The server requires no database — it scans a media directory and stores thumbnails and metadata in a local data directory. A separate web server (like nginx) handles media streaming and caching, while spis provides the API and UI. It runs as a Docker container or a standalone binary with systemd, and works well on low-power devices like a Raspberry Pi CM4 hosting 40,000 images. The UI is a progressive web app installable on mobile and desktop. Custom commands let users run scripts on selected files from the interface. Configuration uses TOML, CLI flags, or environment variables. Video support requires ffmpeg/ffprobe. The project is licensed under GPL-3.0.

Should you self-host spis?

spis scores 44/100 on selfhost.directory (how scoring works) and ranks #34 of 41 in Photo Management. It has 211 GitHub stars.

It shipped 13 stable releases in the past year. The latest, v0.15.2, came out on 16 October 2026. New versions land roughly every 1 days.

Setup is moderate: expect some configuration beyond a single command. An official Docker image is available. It is GPL-3.0-licensed and written mostly in Rust.

Its closest alternative on selfhost.directory is Ente (81/100, 29 693 stars). It scores higher overall, so compare the two before you pick. See spis vs Ente side by side.