PictShare review: free, open-source self-hosted image and video hosting with a simple resizing API. See features, setup and alternatives.
PictShare is a free, open-source, self-hosted image, video, and text hosting tool built by Christian Haschek's Haschek Solutions in Austria. It is designed to be a simple, self-owned alternative to third-party image hosts, letting users or developers run their own lightweight CDN for images and short videos.
The tool is built in PHP, stores everything as files rather than in a database, and is distributed on GitHub under the Apache-2.0 open-source license, making it straightforward to deploy on a small VPS or home server.
PictShare's defining feature is its URL-based resizing and filtering API: users can resize images, apply filters, and convert formats simply by modifying the URL of an uploaded file, without a separate API call. It automatically converts GIFs to MP4 and JPG/PNG images to WebP for more efficient delivery.
For privacy, PictShare automatically strips EXIF metadata, including GPS coordinates and camera information, from every uploaded image. It also deduplicates identical uploads to save storage space and includes pastebin-style text hosting and URL shortening.
PictShare is completely free and open source, with no paid tiers, licenses, or subscription fees. Anyone can download the code from GitHub and self-host it at no cost beyond their own server infrastructure.
Because there is no commercial edition, all support is community-based through GitHub issues and documentation rather than a formal paid support contract.
Yes, PictShare is free and open source under the Apache-2.0 license, with no paid tiers or subscription fees.
PictShare is built and maintained by Christian Haschek's company, Haschek Solutions, based in Austria.
No. PictShare is entirely file-based and does not require a separate database to run.
Yes, PictShare automatically removes EXIF metadata, including GPS location and camera model information, from every uploaded image.
Yes. PictShare lets you resize and filter images just by editing parameters directly in the file's URL.
Yes, PictShare supports MP4 video hosting and can convert GIFs to MP4 for more efficient playback.
PictShare is released under the Apache-2.0 open-source license.
PictShare is a free, file-based, database-free image and video host with a URL-driven API, while Chevereto is a more full-featured image gallery script that offers both free and paid commercial licenses with a fuller admin dashboard.