8 Best Free And Open Source Photo Managers You Should Try

Amy Dennis

Aug 04, 2023 • Filed to: Recoverit Topic • Proven solutions

Gone are the days when we had to get monthly subscriptions of the best photo manager to organize our pictures. These days, with the help of an open-source photo management tool, you can easily meet your requirements without spending anything. To help you, I have handpicked the 8 best free photo management software that you can use on your computer.

1. FastStone Image Viewer and Editor

Even though FastStone photo manager is a propriety tool, it is available for free for non-commercial use. Therefore, you can use easily use this photo management software for your home requirements for free.

• The application offers dedicated tools like an image viewer, screen capture, photo editor, etc.
• The tool can help you organize, index, and even segregate your photos automatically.
• You can also use it to automatically compare similar photos and remove any duplicate entries.
• The inbuild image editor will let you add filters, remove spots, or get rid of red-eye effects as well.
• It is a 100% free photo management software that supports all the common image formats like JPG, PNG, TIFF, GIF, etc.

Runs on: Windows XP, 7, Vista, 8, and 10

Price: Free

2. digiKam Photo Manager

If you are looking for a professional open-source photo management tool, then you can try digiKam Photo Manager. The application runs on all kinds of platforms and is extremely easy to use.

• The photo manager is compatible with 200 different file formats and will even let you organize RAW data.
• You can set up different directories and organize your photos based on tags, people, places, and more.
• It even has an inbuilt face detection AI-integrated feature that would let you create albums for different people.
• The application can also be used to edit your photos, retouch them, and apply all kinds of filters.

Runs on: Windows, Mac, and Linux

Price: Free

3. Nextcloud Photo Management Tool

Nextcloud Photo Management tool might not be as popular as other options, but it provides a free and user-friendly solution to organize your pictures.

• You can readily import your photos from your computer and other third-party sources.
• It will let you manually create different albums and even index your pictures.
• You can also tag your photos, mark them as favorites, and set different directories.
• The photo manager can also be used to create slideshows and presentations with its inbuilt features.

Runs on: Windows

Price: Free

4. F-Spot Photo Manager

F-Spot Photo Manager is often considered as one of the best photo managers for Linux. The open-source photo management tool will let you import/export your photos to/from your computer easily.

• The free photo management software has a user-friendly interface and supports 16 different media formats.
• You can tag your photos, organize them in different folders, and export their XML data.
• The F-Spot photo manager also provides a seamless solution for grouping and searching your data.
• There is an inbuilt photo editor to crop, merge, rotate, retouch your images, and even remove red-eyes and spots.

Runs on: Linux

Price: Free

5. Visual Lightbox jQuery Photo Manager

Developed in JavaScript and jQuery, this is a lightweight free photo management software that would meet your basic requirements for managing and moving your photos on your Windows PC.

• It will let you import photos from different devices and can automatically organize them into various folders.
• There are also different themes in this user-friendly photo management software that you switch between instantly.
• It supports HD images and will even let you scale, crop, or resize your photos to meet your requirements.
• There are tons of zoom effects, filters, overlays, and borders that you can apply to your pictures and even create their slideshows with its inbuilt option.

Runs on: Windows

Price: Free

6. Photos App by Microsoft Windows

If you only have basic requirements and don’t want to install any third-party photo manager, then you can simply use the inbuilt Photos app by Microsoft Windows.

• You can manually tag your photos and the application will automatically categorize them in different folders.
• Users can get all the vital details for their pictures and import/export them to/from different sources.
• There is a smart tool to create slideshows by adding your photos, texts, music, etc.
• The photo manager also has basic editing options with numerous filters and effects.

Runs on: Windows

Price: Free

7. Nikon ViewNX-I Photo Manager

This is considered a must-have photo manager for Nikon users as it would let you directly import your pictures from your camera and manage them on your system.

• It has an excellent indexing system that would let you segregate your photos based on different categories.
• You can manually tag your pictures and list them based on their location, date, people, etc.
• It is fully compatible with all the common image formats and will even let you process RAW images.
• There is also an inbuilt editor to let you retouch your photos, resize, crop, or enhance them.

Runs on: Windows and Mac

Price: Free

8. Adobe Bridge Photo Manager

Developed by Adobe, this is the best free photo management software that you can run on your Windows or Mac. It has dedicated digital asset management features that you can use to keep your media files organized like a pro.

• Adobe Bridge can be used to extract XML, metadata, IPTC, and other details related to your photos.
• The best photo manager will let you index, tag, label, and organize your pictures, all in one place.
• You can also use its AI-integrated features for facial recognition and automatic management of photos.
• Some other advanced features of Adobe Bridge are duplicate media detection, dynamic libraries, exporting to different formats, and more.

Runs on: Windows and Mac

Price: Free

As you can see, I have included 8 different free photo management software for Windows, Mac, and Linux in this post. While some of them are open-source photo management tools, a few of them can be used for free (non-commercial use). I would recommend a tool like digiKam or Adobe Bridge as they support all platforms while Linux users can try F-Spot Photo Manager to meet their requirements. If you also want to suggest any other best photo manager to us, then let us know about it in the comments.