locallens@community:~$ cat compare.md
A local alternative to Google Photos, and how it compares
LocalLens is a local alternative to Google Photos for one job: sorting a big folder of photos by date, place and face without uploading any of it. Here is how it compares with Google Photos, Apple Photos and digiKam, with every claim about them linked to their own documentation.
Is LocalLens a good alternative to Google Photos?
Yes, if what you want from Google Photos is automatic grouping by face, place and date, and you would rather none of your photos left your computer. It is not a replacement for cloud backup or sharing: LocalLens organises folders on your own disk and has no online library.
Google Photos groups faces using face models Google creates once Face Groups is turned on, and its own help page notes those models may count as biometric data in some places. LocalLens builds its face data on your machine and never sends it anywhere.
How do LocalLens, Google Photos, Apple Photos and digiKam compare?
All four can recognise faces. They differ in where that happens, whether your library has to be uploaded, and which systems they run on.
| LocalLens | Google Photos | Apple Photos | digiKam | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where faces are recognised | On your computer | By Google, from face models it creates when Face Groups is on | On the device | On your computer, with optional downloaded models |
| Are photos uploaded? | Never | Yes, to your Google Account when backup is on | Yes, to iCloud when iCloud Photos is on | No, it is not a cloud application |
| Runs on | macOS (Apple Silicon), Windows | Android, iOS, desktop and tablet | Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iCloud.com | Linux, Windows, macOS |
| Storage limit | Your own disk | 15 GB free, shared with Gmail and Drive | Uses your iCloud storage when iCloud Photos is on | Your own disk |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0, open source | Proprietary | Proprietary | GPL-2.0-or-later, open source |
How is LocalLens different from Apple Photos?
Both recognise faces on your own device: Apple says Photos runs this processing entirely locally. The difference is where the result lives: LocalLens writes ordinary folders to your disk that any app, backup tool or operating system can open, and it runs on Windows as well as Mac.
How is LocalLens different from digiKam?
digiKam is a full photo manager with importing, editing and tagging, and its face recognition also runs only on your computer. LocalLens does one narrower job: it turns a messy folder into sorted folders by date, place or person, copying by default so your originals are never touched.
If you want a long-term catalogue to edit and tag in, digiKam is built for that. If you want the folder itself sorted and then to get on with your day, that is what LocalLens is for.
When is LocalLens the wrong choice?
When you need your photos backed up off your computer or shared from a phone, a cloud service does that and LocalLens does not. It also has no build for Intel Macs or Linux yet, and it does not edit photos.
Free for macOS on Apple Silicon and 64-bit Windows.