Seura Photos
A free, open-source photo app for Windows and macOS, in the spirit of Picasa.
In development. There's nothing to download yet. Follow along in the devlog.
Your folders, in place
No importing, no managed library, no account. Point it at the folders you already have.
Originals never touched
Every edit is saved in a small, readable file beside the photo, so you can change or undo it at any time.
Simple editing
Crop, straighten, rotate, exposure, contrast, color, red-eye, and a few classic effects like black and white, sepia, and vignette.
Tags, not albums
Organize with tags and subtags, rate with stars, and find anything by name or tag.
An open format
Edits use the Seura edit format, an open specification any app can implement.
Free, for good
You'll never have to pay to use it or create an account. Open source under Apache 2.0, with no telemetry.
The pricing promise
Seura Photos is free. You will never have to pay to use it, and you will never need an account to use it. If I ever offer a paid option, it will be an optional service for features that cost money to run on my end, such as AI processing through a server I operate, and it would be the only part that needs an account. Everything the app does without it stays free. And because Seura is open source, anyone can keep using and building it regardless.
From the devlog
- Finding a lookNeutral grays so the interface never colors your photos, one blue accent, and an icon painted the way Seurat painted.
- The technical planRust and a web interface, one GPU implementation of every edit, a patent problem with iPhone photos, a license problem I didn't see coming, and only two computers to test on.
- An opinionated interfaceMy first idea was a wizard mode and an advanced mode. Instead, Seura has one layout, decided by the app, built around the order people actually work in.