Compare
Namecall sits between albums and editors
Albums find people; editors cut. Namecall fills the middle: recognize locally → person sets → time-machine film. More film than an album, more recognizing than JianYing, less upload than cloud albums.
Choose Namecall to turn one person’s years into a film. Choose FaceNest / digiKam-class tools for pure library search; JianYing when shots are already picked; NAS / self-host / cloud for backup and sync.
| Dimension | Namecall | Tonfotos | PhotoPrism | digiKam | Apple / Google Photos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photos and videos are not uploaded | ✅ | Local processing | Self-hosted server | Local | ❌ Cloud |
| Interface languages | 11 | See their site | See their site | See their site | Follows the system |
| You name people; no list of strangers | ✅ | See their site | See their site | See their site | See their site |
| Video | Optional inside selected folders; video-only folders skipped by default | See their site | See their site | See their site | See their site |
| Copy or move by person | Copy by default; move waits for confirmation | See their site | See their site | See their site | See their site |
| Browse by person and time | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Getting started | Choose a folder | Medium | High (Docker) | Medium | Low |
| Platform | Windows for now | Windows / macOS / Linux; price on their site | Open source, self-hosted | Open source, local app | Comes with the platform; cloud storage may cost extra |
Immich is not a column in the table. It is a self-hosted photo server, not an offline app for one computer. See its own page below.
One by one
Phone built-in face albums
People who mostly browse on a phone, accept a vendor account or cloud sync, and only need “who is this” — not a film pipeline.
Tonfotos
Fits people who need Windows, macOS, and Linux.
PhotoPrism
Fits people who are willing to run a server and build a web album with Docker.
digiKam
Fits people who are comfortable with open source and want a local library they tag themselves.
Immich
Fits people who want a private cloud album and phone backup onto a server they run.
Apple Photos
Fits households that already live on Apple devices and accept iCloud.
Google Photos
Fits people who care most about search, and who accept uploading photos to Google.