Eagle is a polished asset manager built for designers and creative teams. It’s excellent at that job, but it's not necessarily the best image and video management tool for the rest of us. Loshelf is built for everyone else. It lets you browse, view and organize the photos and videos already on your computer, right where they are, without copying or moving them. A simple, beautiful, private home for your personal media. Free to start, 100% offline, one-time price when you need to upgrade.
Every organizer keeps a database, so that part is the same. The real difference is where your actual files live. Eagle copies all of your photos and videos into its own .library package, so you browse and organize inside Eagle’s structure. Loshelf leaves your files exactly where they are, in your own folders, and only adds a single hidden .loshelf folder to each library for its index and thumbnails. Your folder structure stays yours, still browsable and usable outside Loshelf, so if you ever move on, there is nothing to untangle.
| Loshelf | Eagle | |
|---|---|---|
| Your files | Stay in your own folders, untouched | Copied into Eagle's library |
| Free version | Yes, 1 library up to 10,000 files | No, 30-day trial only |
| Price | Free, or a one-time $29 for unlimited | ~$29.95 one-time |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | No |
| macOS | Not yet | Yes |
| Offline / no account | Yes | Yes |
| Video | Built-in player, hover previews, saved playback positions | Basic |
| Format breadth | Common photo & video formats | Very broad (80+, incl. design files) |
Your files stay in your own folders. Loshelf just adds a hidden index alongside them, so there's nothing to migrate and nothing to untangle if you stop using it.
A genuinely free tier, not a 30-day trial. Try your whole workflow before paying anything.
A first-class Linux build, not just Windows and Mac.
Hover-to-play previews, a built-in player and saved playback positions make big video libraries actually browsable.
We’d rather be straight with you. Eagle is built for designers and creative professionals, and it’s the better choice if you’re on macOS, if you need to catalog a very wide range of formats including design files (PSD, Sketch, fonts), or if you rely on its browser clipper for saving images from the web. Loshelf is for everyday people organizing their personal photos and videos, beautifully and privately. If that is the job, it is a great fit.
No. Loshelf scans your existing folders and builds an index. It doesn't copy or move your photos and videos into a separate library the way Eagle does. The only thing it adds is a hidden .loshelf folder for its database and thumbnails, so your files stay in the folder structure you already have.
Yes. The free version covers one library of up to 10,000 files. Pro is a one-time $29 (no subscription) that lifts those two limits to unlimited.
Not yet. Loshelf currently supports Windows and Linux. Eagle is the better choice if you're on a Mac today.
Yes. Because Loshelf reads your folders in place instead of importing copies, you can point it at the same folders and try it alongside your existing setup.
Everything runs offline on your own machine. There's no account, no cloud and no tracking. Your photos, videos and data never leave your device.
Free for 1 library of 10,000 files · one-time $29 for unlimited