How can I activate my membership?
Our members can activate additional features by logging in with the admin user created during setup and then following the steps described in our activation guide. We recommend that new users install our free Community Edition before signing up for a membership.
How can I update my payment details?
If you signed up for a membership on our website via Stripe, you can follow these steps to add new payment details, e.g. when a payment has failed because your credit card has expired:
- Navigate to my.photoprism.app and enter your member account credentials if you are not already logged in
- Click on "Manage Membership" at the bottom of the "Membership" page
- Click on "Add Payment Method"
- Enter your new payment details and activate the checkbox to make it the default
- Click on "Add"
You should then see an overview of your payment methods with the new one highlighted as "Standard" or "Default".
Members who support us via Patreon can manage their payment details at patreon.com/settings/payments.
Do I need a membership if I choose a cloud solution?
PikaPods has partnered with us to offer you an officially supported, cloud-hosted solution. A share of the revenue helps fund the development of PhotoPrism. In exchange, your cloud instance includes member features like premium themes and high-resolution world maps at no additional cost.
Why are some features only available to members?
PhotoPrism is 100% self-funded and independent. Voluntary donations do not cover the cost of a team working full time to provide you with updates, documentation, and support. It is your decision whether you want to sign up to enjoy additional benefits.
Why isn't my instance being upgraded after I changed my membership tier?
Upgrading your personal membership may take a few hours until your payment has been fully processed.
If your instance was already connected to your membership account at my.photoprism.app, a restart should then be enough. Note that upgrading to PhotoPrism+ is not possible if you are building from source or using a Docker image with the ":ce" tag, as some of the additional features require an extension that is not included.
How can I install PhotoPrism+ without the Docker image?
All the Community Edition features and most of the Essentials features (except additional user roles) are included in our public repository, from which you can build the app from source. In addition, you can use the packages available at dl.photoprism.app/pkg/linux/ to install PhotoPrism+ on compatible Linux distributions. We recommend that only experienced users choose one of these installation methods, since they require manual configuration and additional system dependencies.
If you are a Plus, Silver, Gold or Platinum member and would like to build from source, for example because you are using FreeBSD, please let us know so we can give you access to our private extension repository and provide assistance. As this cannot be automated yet, we are currently unable to offer this service to users with a trial or Essentials membership.
How do you support the free and open source software community?
Maintainers of non-commercial open source projects and others who frequently volunteer in the community are welcome to contact us with a link to their project or organization for free access to many of our paid products and services.
In addition, when we use software that is freely available and maintained by volunteers or individuals, it is our policy to support them to the best of our ability. For example, by signing up as a sponsor or purchasing a license, but also by submitting pull requests with improvements, spreading the word on social media, and sharing development resources.
Is there a limit to the number of instances or user accounts I can have?
We have intentionally not set a hard limit on the number of user accounts or instances you can activate with a personal membership, because the scope of "personal use" varies depending on the context.
For example, if you are (a) a family with 10 happy kids, then 12 instances is personal use, (b) a freelance photographer who has additional instances for private pictures and maybe one or two close friends, then that still counts as personal use unless your friends contact us directly for technical support, (c) a corporation or government agency, then even one instance doesn't count as personal use, or (d) you share your account on a public forum or chat room, then that's not personal use either.
Are there alternatives to a recurring subscription?
Yes, our Plus members automatically receive a free Lifetime Essentials membership after 24 months. Likewise, Silver members receive a Lifetime Plus membership after 24 months, Gold members after 12 months, and Platinum members after only 6 months. If you would like to sign up for a Silver, Gold or Platinum membership, you can do so either directly on our website or on Patreon. In addition, we are working on a Plus Feature Pack that includes just the features without support, so we can offer it to you at a lower price.
As a lifetime member, you will always receive updates and support for your personal use from us, unlike with so-called lifetime licenses, which may only be good until the next major version is released.
What happens if I cancel my membership?
If you are eligible for a Lifetime Essentials or Plus membership, you can continue to use these features even if you decide to stop supporting us. Otherwise, you can continue to use all the freely available features. In no case will you lose access to your pictures.
Why isn't the Plus membership more affordable?
Our membership fees make the development of new features and the maintenance of existing ones sustainable, which is in the interest of all users, including those who use our software for free. If everyone paid a small amount, membership would be available at a lower price, but not everyone has the desire or income to support us.
That being said, we plan to make some of the PhotoPrism+ features available to Essentials members at a later time, just as we have already made many features available for free.
Why does your Docker image use the Plus License instead of the AGPL?
Our Plus License is used for both the extensions we provide to our members and the standard Docker images available on Docker Hub. This allows us to bundle the extensions with the compiled application, while the Community Edition remains freely available under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL).
If you don't plan to use any additional features, you can alternatively use the "ce" tag instead of "latest" to get a slightly smaller Docker image distributed under the AGPL. Note that system dependencies and other third-party components included in this image are still subject to additional terms and conditions.
Do I qualify as a Plus member if the version I am currently using says it is PhotoPrism+?
With the old activation method, it was not possible to distinguish between different membership tiers within the app. We have therefore improved this in our latest version to provide additional features to those who support us the most. Note that the Essentials and Plus membership tiers are not new, and we have of course made sure that no one loses functionality compared to the previous release.
Please see the Patreon or GitHub Sponsors tier description for details regarding your membership, and feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
I can't find a download link to install your software on Windows?
PhotoPrism depends on a number of other open source tools and applications, such as Darktable, RawTherapee, and FFmpeg. While you can install them directly on Windows, it's a lot of work and we don't have the capacity to test the respective Windows versions before each release.
We therefore recommend to use Docker, so you can take advantage of our pre-built and QA-tested Docker image, which includes all the dependencies you need. It is a well-tested standard tool that also lets you run many other self-hosted apps without having to worry about the details or Windows-specific issues. To further simplify the setup for you, we offer a batch script that you can run in the directory where you want to install PhotoPrism:
curl.exe -o install.bat https://dl.photoprism.app/docker/windows/install.bat
install.batThis will automatically download all required config files and start the server for you. Before you run the script, make sure you have Docker Desktop installed on your PC. Should you require further assistance, we will be happy to help.
Why can't I buy and download a single version?
Unlike traditional offline apps such as Microsoft Office or single-player games, software exposed to the Internet must be updated regularly to stay secure and compatible with the latest standards. Keep in mind that providing this software also involves answering support questions and reviewing bug reports, which is ongoing work.
When will new features be released?
Our Project Roadmap shows what tasks are in progress and which features are likely to be implemented next. You are invited to give ideas you like a thumbs-up, so we know what's most popular.
Be aware that we have a zero-bug policy and do our best to help users when they need support or have other questions. This comes at a price, as we can't give exact release dates for new features. Our team receives many more requests than can be implemented, so we want to emphasize that we are in no way obligated to implement the features, enhancements, or other changes you request. We do, however, appreciate your feedback and carefully consider all requests.
Since sustained funding is key to quickly releasing new features, we encourage all users to support our mission by signing up as a member or purchasing a commercial license. Ultimately, that's what's best for the product and the community.
Why don't you communicate your practices and policies more prominently?
We want to be as transparent as possible, but also need to spend a lot of time on product development. When specific questions come up in our community, we do our best to answer them as soon as possible and also add them to our FAQs for future reference.
