Your Piwigo Photo Gallery, Hosted & Ready in Minutes
Host your Piwigo gallery on servers built for photo-heavy workloads. Our NVMe-powered hosting gives you the PHP support, storage space, and reliability Piwigo needs to run at its best. One plan, everything included. From free SSL to 24/7 expert support.
Plans as low as $2.95 per month2
OPEN-SOURCE PHOTO GALLERY SOFTWARE
What Is Piwigo?
Piwigo is free, open-source photo management software built on PHP and MySQL. It lets you build your own photo library on your web hosting. That unique feature gives you full control over your images, albums, and visitor access without paying ongoing subscription fees.
You install Piwigo on your hosting account (HostPapa makes this a 1-Click process via Softaculous), and your photos live on your own server. Unlike a cloud service such as Flickr or Google Photos, nothing is stored on someone else's platform. You own the data, you control who sees it, and there are no per-user fees.
Piwigo has been maintained by an active open-source community since 2002. It’s used by individuals, photographers, sports clubs, museums, and organizations managing collections of thousands of photos.
FULL CONTROL OF YOUR IMAGES
Why Host Piwigo Yourself?
Piwigo gives you two paths: Download the software and run it on your own hosting, or pay for a managed account on Piwigo.com. Self-hosting on HostPapa is the better fit if you want to keep costs down, use your own domain, and avoid per-user or storage-tier fees.
With HostPapa hosting, you get a server environment that's already configured for Piwigo. You get the right PHP version, MySQL database, and storage space ready to go.
Your gallery runs on your terms: No forced upgrades, no data stored on third-party infrastructure, and no monthly SaaS cost on top of your hosting bill.
Reddit users evaluating hosting options for personal and family galleries consistently flag Piwigo.com's pricing as prohibitively expensive for casual use, making self-hosting the practical choice for most individuals and small teams.
WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH PIWIGO
Everything Your Gallery Needs, Built Right In
Piwigo is a full-featured photo management system. Here's what you get out of the box once it's installed on your HostPapa account.
Albums & Sub-Albums
Privacy Controls
350+ Plugins & Themes
iOS & Android Apps
Batch Management
Import From Flickr
Public & Private Sharing
BUILT FOR EVERYONE WITH PHOTOS TO SHARE
Who Is Piwigo For?
Piwigo is designed for anyone who manages a collection of photos and wants full control over how they're stored and shared.
Photographers
Teams & Organizations
Families & Hobbyists
What Does Piwigo Need to Run?
Before you sign up, here's what Piwigo requires from a hosting environment. HostPapa's plans are fully compatible with all of these out of the box.
PHP 8.2 or Higher
MySQL 5.6+ or MariaDB 10.1+
Apache or Nginx Web Server + GD Library or ImageMagick
Powerful Piwigo Hosting
If for any reason you’re not satisfied with our services, you can cancel at any time in the first 30 days of signup to receive a full refund for the service.
Domain fees are non-refundable.
Need Help?
Having trouble installing Piwigo? Get 24/7 support from the PapaSquad by phone, live chat, and email.
Get Started In 4 Easy Steps
1-Click Piwigo Installation
Installing Piwigo on your HostPapa account is quick and beginner‑friendly. There’s no need to download files, create databases, or use FTP. The Softaculous app installer does the technical work for you in just a few clicks.
Open cPanel
Log in to your dashboard, then open cPanel for your account.
Find Piwigo
Search for Piwigo in the Softaculous app installer.
Click Install
Hit the "install" button to start the Piwigo installation process.
Follow the Prompts
Follow the instructions to finish your Piwigo installation.
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Compare Our Web Hosting Plans
Want to dive into the numbers? At HostPapa, we're proud of our powerful, secure, and reliable Web Hosting servers.
100% Satisfaction Guarantee
Number of supported websites
Email addresses
Inbox storage
Website staging
Softaculous script installer
CMS scripts 1-click setup (WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal etc.)
Free domain registration or transfer1
1
25GB
2
1GB
5
100GB
10
1GB
Unlimited
200GB
40
2GB
Unlimited
Unmetered
Unlimited
2GB
Number of pages
No-code, easy wizard-driven setup
Site backups
Multilingual sites
Build from any device
Responsive, mobile-ready sites
SEO optimization tools
2
2 Latest versions
2 Languages
2
2 Latest versions
2 Languages
2
2 Latest versions
2 Languages
Email addresses
Email forwarding accounts
Email autoresponders
IMAP/IMAP-SSL connections
POP3/POP3-SSL connections
SMTP/SMTP-SSL connections
Email aliases
Email virus scanning
SpamAssassin spam protection
Outgoing filtering
Webmail
Business-grade email available
Individual mailbox storage
Overall mailbox storage
Email sends per hour
Email attachment size
2
2
Unlimited
25
1GB
2GB
200
20MB
10
10
Unlimited
25
1GB
5GB
200
20MB
40
40
Unlimited
25
2GB
10GB
300
20MB
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
25
2GB
20GB
600
20MB
Daily malware scan
Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Protected pages
Manual vulnerability scan
Secure website trust seal
Automated malware detection
Real-time notifications and alerts
Malware removal assistance
Website performance acceleration
Improved page load speed
Dynamic website acceleration
Asset preloading
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Speed 10/40/100GBPS
Layer 7 DDoS protection
Layer 3, 4, 5, 6 DDoS protection
Instant purge
One-time
One-time
One-time
Server firewall, monitoring, and intrusion detection
DDoS attack prevention and responses
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Redundant network carriers
Network monitoring
Brute force detection
CloudLinux O/S protection
Imunify360
ModSecurity
Standard SSL
Domain privacy protection
Premium SSL
Automated website backup
5GB
5GB
10GB
Server resources
Entry points
CPU cores
MySQL usage
PHP 5.6, 7.0, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 8.0, 8.1 (choose your version)
Memory
I/O Usage
Inodes
Minimum cron job interval
Database size
Table size
Hosted domains
Subdomains
Unlimited add-on domains
Unlimited parked domains
Server resources
- Entry points: 10
- CPU cores: 1 core
- MySQL usage: 1 core MySQL
- Memory per process: 1024MB
- Inodes: 150,000
- Minimum Cron Job Interval: 30 minutes
- Database size: 500MB
- Table size: 250MB
10
1 Core
1 Core MySQL
1,024MB
2,048 KB/s
150,000
30 Minutes
500MB
250MB
1
20
Server resources
- Entry points: 20
- CPU cores: 2 core
- MySQL usage: 2 core MySQL
- Memory per process: 1024MB
- Inodes: 300,000
- Minimum Cron Job Interval: 30 minutes
- Database size: 1000MB
- Table size: 500MB
20
2 Core
2 Core MySQL
1,024MB
3,072 KB/s
300,000
30 Minutes
1GB
500MB
5
100
Server resources
- Entry points: 40
- CPU cores: 4 core
- MySQL usage: 4 core MySQL
- Memory per process: 1024MB
- Inodes: 450,000
- Minimum Cron Job Interval: 20 minutes
- Database size: 2000MB
- Table size: 1000MB
40
4 Core
4 Core MySQL
1,024MB
4,096 KB/s
450,000
20 Minutes
2GB
1GB
Unlimited
Unlimited
Server resources
- Entry points: 40
- CPU cores: 4 core
- MySQL usage: 4 core MySQL
- Memory per process: 1024MB
- Inodes: 450,000
- Minimum Cron Job Interval: 20 minutes
- Database size: 2000MB
- Table size: 1000MB
80
8 Core
8 Core MySQL
2,048MB
8,192 KB/s
600,000
10 Minutes
4GB
2GB
Unlimited
Unlimited
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is Piwigo, and how is it different from Piwigo.com?
Piwigo is free, open-source photo gallery software that you download and install on your own web hosting account. Piwigo.com is a separate, managed cloud service run by the Piwigo team that charges a monthly or annual subscription fee.
When you host Piwigo on HostPapa, you get the same software. However, it runs on your server, under your domain, with no ongoing software subscription fee beyond your hosting plan. You own your data and control your setup completely.
Is Piwigo free to use?
Yes. The Piwigo software itself is free and released under the GNU General Public License (GPL). You download it from piwigo.org at no cost. What you pay for is the web hosting that runs it: the server, storage, and bandwidth your gallery needs. HostPapa's Piwigo-ready hosting plans start at $2.95 per month.
What are the system requirements for running Piwigo?
Piwigo requires a web server running Apache or Nginx, PHP 8.2 or higher, and MySQL 5.6+ or MariaDB 10.1+. It also needs either the GD Library or ImageMagick to generate image thumbnails.
All HostPapa Hosting Plans include these as standard. Optional tools such as ExifTool (for reading photo metadata) and FFmpeg (for generating video thumbnails) are also supported.
Which HostPapa plan is best for a Piwigo gallery?
It depends on the size of your collection. For personal or family galleries up to around 8,000 photos, the Essentials plan (25GB NVMe storage) works well.
Active photographers and clubs with larger collections will be better served by the Growth plan (100GB) or Premium plan (200GB). Organizations managing very large image archives should consider the Elite plan with unmetered NVMe storage.
How do I install Piwigo on HostPapa hosting?
Log in to your cPanel dashboard and open Softaculous, HostPapa's 1-Click app installer. Search for Piwigo, select your domain, fill in a few basic settings (database name, admin username, and password), and click Install.
Softaculous creates the database and installs the files automatically. Your gallery will be live within a couple of minutes. You can also follow HostPapa's step-by-step Piwigo installation guide in our knowledge base.
Does HostPapa support the PHP version Piwigo requires?
Yes. Piwigo recommends PHP 8.2+, and HostPapa Hosting Plans support PHP versions from 5.6 through 8.1, with PHP 8.1 as the most current, actively supported version on our shared hosting platform. You can switch your PHP version at any time directly from the cPanel dashboard without any downtime.
Can I migrate my existing gallery to Piwigo on HostPapa?
Yes, in two ways. If you're moving an existing Piwigo installation from another host, HostPapa's free migration service handles the transfer of your files, database, and domain settings at no cost. If you're importing photos from Flickr, the Flickr2Piwigo plugin lets you pull your albums and photos directly from your Flickr account into your new self-hosted gallery.
How much storage do I need for a Piwigo photo gallery?
A typical JPEG photo averages 3 to 5MB. At that size, 25GB holds roughly 5,000 to 8,000 photos, 100GB holds around 20,000 to 33,000, and 200GB holds around 40,000 to 65,000.
If you shoot in RAW format, plan to store videos alongside photos, or expect your collection to grow, choose a plan with more headroom than you think you need today. Upgrading your plan later is always an option, but starting with enough storage avoids any disruption to your gallery.
Can I add plugins and themes to my Piwigo gallery?
Yes. Piwigo offers over 350 plugins and themes via its official extension manager at piwigo.org/ext. Plugins cover everything from video support and watermarking to SEO tools, contact forms, and social sharing. Themes let you customize the look of your gallery. All extensions can be installed in a few clicks from within the Piwigo administration panel.
What happens to my photos if I cancel my HostPapa plan?
Your photos are yours. Before canceling, you can download your entire gallery, including all photos and the database, using the cPanel backup tool or via FTP. Piwigo stores all your uploaded images in a standard folder structure, so there's no proprietary lock-in. You can move your files to another host or to local storage at any time.
