Looking for Alternatives for Self Hosted Online Greeting Cards

Right now this is a short list. I have explored options, downloaded and uploaded a lot of alternatives which did not work, were too old or lacked features. At this point I no longer have a really good option. The idea of online postcards or greeting cards has become less popular.

An alternative to consider are image gallery software, but they don't have the ability to send greeting cards from your site. For me this was the point of having an image gallery so just an ordinary image gallery will not do. I liked being able to send a digital card to someone in email. Now it could be shared via social media, but I like something a little more traditional, even if it is virtual. Do you remember virtual presents? I don't see that any longer either.

I guess they don't need to be self hosted when anyone can have applications to share media on whatever they are using. Still desktop for me. I'm not a fan of having a phone attached to my face or my person or carried around with me at all times. I like leaving the phone at home. It can survive without me and I can do just fine without it.

So, in conclusion for this post, I'd say you are stuck with making your own photo gallery and then relying on shared media applications. Which is not nearly as nice as sending a personal postcard or greeting card. But, that seems to be all that is left. Some of the software (below) can help you get started.

Best Wishes and Season's Greetings!

laurabrown
laurabrownList by laurabrown, last updated 
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  1. WebCards icon

    WebCards

     Like

    Update January, 2020 - WebCards https://sourceforge.net/projects/webcards/ is abandoned. I'm not sure at what point it becomes abandonware. But, the site is not only 404 now but not even left parked for the software to have a come back. Kind of annoying for me. I paid for the full version which isn't working now. But, what can you do? Find a replacement. Isn't that what brought you here to Alternativeto.net ?

    As the only good choice so far there isn't a lot to add for a review. I wish this was more actively developed but, I don't think there is a strong demand for online greeting cards any more.

    WebCards does work. There is a free option, older software which does still work. Or, you can make a one time payment and have the premium version with a few extra features. If you want to sell your greeting cards, the premium version is necessary. If you just want to offer your art on web cards/ ecards for free, then you don't need the premium software.

    I wish the software worked a little smoother but overall it is good. Even if it is the only option worth reviewing, it is still a good way to showcase your art and get people sending it to each other, hopefully.

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Self-Hosted
    WebCards screenshot 1
    WebCards screenshot 1
    WebCards screenshot 2
  2. Piwigo icon

    Piwigo

     Like

    Trying Pwigio currently. It is free to use and there are a lot of extras available, most of them are free to use. However, some are outdated, abandoned and forgotten. So, I'm not sure how this will work out in the long run. There are support and community behind the software so I am hoping for the best.

    No trouble installing the software and beginning to upload my photographs. I have a lot of images. So far I have uploaded them into a few main categories. Next, I will sort them better, testing out the batch edit feature.

    There is an extra plugin which I hope will work for creating ecards. It is outdated so I am hoping for the best.

    I'm working on designing a watermark file to use on all my images. I can find lots of online watermark services but they want to have all my images to add the watermark to them. I REALLY do not like this plan, at all. Why would I trust someone with all my original image files? Mistrust and self-promotion are the reasons I am adding the watermark in the first place.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • Windows Phone
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted
    • Cloudron
    Piwigo screenshot 1
    Piwigo screenshot 1
    Piwigo screenshot 2
  3. Koken.me icon

    Koken.me

     Like

    Free, but limited. Costs more to add features I really thought should have been included. But, you get what you pay for. I installed and tried it but decided not to stick with it. I needed the premium features (for watermarks and ecards) but I would have to buy each one individually which really made it expensive for me.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • MySQL Community Edition
    • Self-Hosted
    • PHP
    Koken.me screenshot 1
    Koken.me screenshot 1
    Koken.me screenshot 2
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