Why We Moved Our Support from HelpScout to FreeScout – and What It Says About Reversibility in SaaS business

Claire Michard on April 8, 2025

migration helpscout freescout

Back in 2010, handling customer support at Piwigo was simple: one inbox, one operator (Pierrick), and fully manual management. In 2014, we adopted HelpScout, a SaaS ticketing solution that did the job well at the time.

But over the years, we saw HelpScout raise its prices, degrade its user experience, and pile on “sexy” but unnecessary features—without addressing users’ real needs.

So we decided to switch to FreeScout, an open source alternative that we now host ourselves. And this transition reinforced one of our core beliefs: reversibility isn’t a detail. It’s a fundamental issue.

When Software Becomes Too Expensive for What It Offers

HelpScout originally charged $15/month/agent, then bumped that up to $20. With three agents (Damien, Hannah, and Pierrick), our bill was $60/month. But adding more agents—even for occasional needs—would have pushed costs through the roof.

Then came their new ticket-based pricing model. The result? We would have landed in the $150 to $250/month range. That’s a ridiculous price for… a shared inbox.

At Piwigo.com, we take a different approach. Yes, our prices evolve over time, but we respect our long-time customers: they keep their original rates, and we never force them to switch to new plans. In 15 years, we’ve only raised prices once on our legacy “Individual” plan (+10% in 2023 to account for inflation).

When the Interface Evolves… in the Wrong Direction

In the beginning, HelpScout was smooth and efficient. But when they tried to modernize the UI, everything started to fall apart:

  • Repeated bugs (losing messages when clicking “Reply”)
  • Frequent slowdowns and crashes
  • A clear drop in usability

The most frustrating part? During all this, they rolled out AI-powered reply suggestions… while their core interface became painful to use.

It reminded us of Piwigo: we’ve steadily improved our interface over the years (from version 2.10 to 15), always prioritizing user experience. A good-looking UI is nice. But a stable, intuitive, and smooth one is better. Before adding anything flashy, we make sure the foundation is rock solid.

Reversibility: A Core Principle in Software

We’re very familiar with the concept of vendor lock-in—when a SaaS tool makes it hard for you to switch to something else. It’s always been against our values. But this migration has made us realize just how rare and valuable our approach at Piwigo is.

When we tried to leave HelpScout, we hit roadblock after roadblock:

  • No proper export options from HelpScout
  • FreeScout has no native import tool
  • The only option: pay a third party $1,100 to run an “automated” script

In other words, HelpScout locks your data in, and FreeScout (despite claiming to be an alternative) doesn’t make switching easy. It’s a perfect case study on why reversibility matters.

At Piwigo.com, we’ve chosen the exact opposite path:

  • Our customers can export their data at any time and host it elsewhere
  • With a custom domain, the switch can be completely transparent for their users
  • We don’t lock anyone in. Ever.

That’s what real reversibility looks like. The user owns their data, free to stay or leave—and that changes everything.

Moving to FreeScout: More Stable, Faster, Cheaper

After some testing, FreeScout turned out to be more performant than HelpScout. We host it on an OVH server for less than €5/month, with unlimited agents and no extra fees.

And surprise: some basic features that HelpScout had long refused to implement—like the ability to reply without including the full message history—were already there by default. Proof that it was possible all along.

What This Story Tells Us About SaaS software

Our migration highlights three worrying trends in the SaaS world:

  • Unjustified price hikes
  • Updates that harm user experience
  • Data lock-in that makes switching tools difficult

At Piwigo, we’re betting on the opposite approach:

  • Even as our pricing has evolved to meet the needs of businesses and public institutions, we’ve always allowed existing customers to keep their original rates;
  • Our interface evolves with and for our users;
  • Our customers have full freedom to self-host the software, and they can export all their data at any time—no charge.

This experience has only reinforced our convictions. Reversibility isn’t optional. It’s a commitment.

Piwigo 15 release: what’s new?

Claire Michard on November 19, 2024

You won’t have missed it: Piwigo version 15 was released on October 22, 2024, and is now deployed on all piwigo.com accounts! Improved user management, system activities, overhauled batch management: this article reviews the main new features of this version.

Table of contents

User management: lots of new features for administrators

We know that some of you manage hundreds of users in your Piwigo. Sometimes you need to create new users on a regular basis, or manage users who create their account from your web gallery. With Piwigo 15, we’ve thought of you and made some major improvements to user management. We hope you enjoy it.

Sort users by name or creation date

It’s something many of you have been waiting for, especially if you manage many users in your Piwigo: with one click, you can now sort the list of users by name or creation date, in ascending or descending order, by clicking on the column heading.

New user creation window

Previously, when you had to create a user in administration, you had no access to any options for customizing his account: you then had to modify the user to change his status, his confidentiality level, assign him a group…

Now you can do all this in one go in the user creation window.

New password policy

Until now, when creating a new user, you had to generate their password, which was sent to them by email. We’ve completely changed this process to a more standard and secure system.

With Piwigo 15, once a user has been created, an email is automatically sent to them with a link to create their password before their first connection. If Piwigo ever fails to send the email (yes, this communication channel is far from 100% reliable), an administrator can regenerate a password initialization link and send it to the user by any means. And it is still possible for the administrator to choose another user’s password.

Redesign of the user modification window

The user modification form gets a new design. Clearer, simpler, easier for plugins to add features thanks to tabs.

Ability to change the main Piwigo user

You can now change Piwigo’s main user from the administration. Until now, the only way was to edit the ‘webmaster_id’ parameter in the local configuration. Only one webmaster can be chosen as the main user. It is represented in the list by a crown-shaped icon.

Improved filters in the user list

In the user list, the number of users corresponding to a filter is now displayed, and filters without results are deactivated.

New feature: system activities

Users with webmaster status will see a new tab appear in Piwigo’s Maintenance menu: the System Activities tab. A useful screen for monitoring all “technical” activities on your Piwigo: plugin installation, updates, maintenance operations…

Batch management: what’s new

Batch management unit mode redesign

Are you familiar with the batch manager, which lets you make mass modifications to a selection of files in your Piwigo? Then you probably know the “unit mode” option: a tab that lets you edit the information on each file in your selection independently.

We have completely redesigned this screen to improve its design and ergonomics.

More room for the image, optimized space, more information and actions available for each photo… And what’s more, active filters are kept at the top of the screen and can be modified at any time.

Batch manager unit mode in Piwigo 14
Batch manager unit mode in Piwigo 15

Assign a selection to several albums at once

With batch management, you can now associate your photo selection with several albums in a single action.

New PDF reader

With Piwigo 15, PDF files will open directly in your gallery, using your browser’s PDF reader. For the moment, this only works on the Modus and Bootstrap Darkoom themes.

New search engine features

New filters are available in the gallery search engine. You can now filter photos by rating, file size, ratio (portrait, landscape, square), height, width and creation date.

If you filter photos by date of creation, you can now choose a custom date range, which can be a year, a month, a day, or a combination of all three. Smart icons help you define the right filters.

The search engine has also been significantly improved. You can now change the value of a filter at any time, without having to start a new search.

For example, if you have already applied the filter “Added by: John” filter, you can replace the selection with ”Added by: Paul”. And if you have another filter active, such as “File format: MP4”, you’ll only see users who have added MP4 files in the “Added by” filter. It’s a real step forward in terms of user experience, and we hope you enjoy it.

Other Piwigo 15 news

  • The album selection tool has been improved, making it much quicker and easier to associate a photo with several albums. And you can do it right from the add photos page.
  • Optimized album list: the album manager loads in milliseconds, regardless of the number of albums in your Piwigo.
  • The album search function is available directly in the album list, without having to go to a dedicated tab.
  • More details on each new feature in the Piwigo 15 release note.

So, what do you think? We hope you like all these new features!

Get a sneak preview of Piwigo 14

Claire Michard on September 13, 2023

piwigo beta 14

Piwigo version 14 was released in beta 1 at the end of June 2023, followed by beta 2 in August. The biggest news in this version is a complete overhaul of the gallery search engine. Preview this feature in this article, and if you like, test it out and let us know what you think!

How to test Piwigo 14?

First of all, here are the main new features of Piwigo 14:

  • A complete overhaul of the gallery’s advanced search function
  • An overhaul of the Album page in administration
  • The ability to choose which administrators will be notified when a new user registers on the gallery
  • New icons for files not supported in Piwigo
  • Support for HEIC and WebP files

The feature that required the most work was the new advanced search. It required a lot of thought in terms of ergonomics, design and technical aspects.

And that’s precisely why we need your opinion!

If you can install Piwigo yourself on your environment, you can download Piwigo 14 in beta 2 at this address. Don’t hesitate to give us your feedback on the test forum.

If you can’t install Piwigo yourself, no problem: contact us at contact@piwigo.com. We’ll then give you early access to Piwigo 14, so you can test it and give us your feedback. Of course, this will have no impact on your Piwigo account.

Being a beta tester is the best way to help us get a new version up and running. But it also allows you to get involved and contribute to a Piwigo that really meets your needs!

What’s new in Piwigo 14

Gallery search redesigned

For now, when you enter text in your gallery’s search box, you’re taken to the results, but you can’t refine your search. 

The same applies if you use the detailed search: once the search results are displayed, you can’t modify your criteria or add new ones.

With Piwigo 14, we’re completely reinventing the way you search for content on your gallery!

Whatever search you need to make, you have access to a single page that displays both the criteria and the results.

search piwigo 14

Several criteria are currently available: 

  • text
  • tag
  • date added
  • album
  • user who added photo
  • author
  • file type (PNG, JPG, MP4…)

If you’re not interested in certain filters, you can hide them with a single click.

choose filters piwigo 14

From an album or tag page, you can launch a search that will apply to the batch already selected.

search in album piwigo 14

Watch this animation to see the new search in action.

recherche piwigo 14

NB: Don’t confuse this new search with the filters that can be set up using the Tag Groups plugin (read more in this article). In future, the two screens will be merged, but this is not yet the case.

Redesign of the album manager in administration

We’ve completely reworked the ergonomics of the album page in administration.

album manager piwigo 14

The aim was to make information more visible regardless of screen size. A “save” button is always visible at bottom right, and actions (open album, add photos, delete album, etc.) are accessible from icons at top right.

New icons for files unsupported by Piwigo

When you add a file to Piwigo for which a thumbnail cannot be generated (Word, Excel, Zip…), a modern, self-explanatory icon will now be displayed.

icons files piwigo 14

Choose which administrators are notified when a new user registers

If you have many administrators but don’t want them all to be notified when a new user subscribes, you can filter with a user group.

Support for HEIC and WebP files

HEIC is a photo format available on Apple devices since the release of iOS 11. This format generates images of higher quality than JPEG images, while taking up less space thanks to advanced compression technology.

WebP is a very popular image format on the web, as it enables very high quality images and animations to be displayed on a site, at a much smaller size than JPG or PNG formats.

Both formats will be supported by Piwigo from version 14 onwards.

And that’s it! What do you think of this new version? Don’t forget to contact us by email if you’d like to test the new multi-criteria search in preview!

What’s new in Piwigo 13?

Claire Michard on November 10, 2022

Available for download since October 11th, Piwigo 13 has been recently deployed on all customer accounts hosted on Piwigo.com. Let’s take a look at what’s new in this release, which focuses on the user experience!

Read More

Discover Piwigo 13 in a video, and send your feedback!

Claire Michard on May 2, 2022

On March 30th, we announced on the forum the release of Piwigo 13 in beta version.

In this new version, you will discover improvements and redesigns for various features: history search engine, plugin installer, related album selecter, tag renaming, API explorer, album list and album editing.

We decided to try something new for this version 13: Pierrick presents you all the new features, including the ones that are still in development, in a video. We want to get a maximum of feedback from the community!

Read More

Expiry Date : a new plugin to manage expiration dates on photos

Claire Michard on February 23, 2022

plugin expiry date piwigo

How to manage the expiration date of image usage rights and photo consents on your photo library? With the Expiry Date plugin for Piwigo, it’s easy. Today, let’s discover this new plugin designed in collaboration with one of our Enterprise customers.

Expiry Date : presentation

Expiry Date is a new plugin for our enterprise customers. It is not available by default on your Piwigo: you have to contact the customer support to benefit from it as part of your subscription (if you have an enterprise account).

Once activated on your gallery, this plugin will add a new “Expiry Date” field available on each photo.

You can change the expiry date of a photo from Piwigo’s administration, either individually or in bulk on a selection of photos with the batch manager.

Add an expiry date to a selection with the batch manager

Once an expiry date has been set on a photo, it will appear next to the other fields in your gallery.

Display of the expiry date on the gallery

The plugin’s settings allow you to choose what happens when the expiry date is reached.

You can choose between 3 options :

  • doing nothing (the date is just informative)
  • deleting the photos
  • archiving the photos (i.e. move them to a private album of your choice)

In addition, you can send an email notification before the date and on the precise day of the expiry date:

  • to users who downloaded the file (if visit history is enabled)
  • to your gallery administrators.

Why should you use the Expiry Date plugin?

There are several cases where you need to manage an expiration date or expiry date on a photo or any other file.

Information

Expiry date or expiration date? Well, both terms are OK. Expiry date is most often used in British English, and expiration date is more frequent in American English.

Image usage rights / copyright

First of all, it is necessary when the image usage rights are limited in time and must be renewed. 

This is often the case when you buy photos from a photographer, or on an online image bank: the license can be limited to 5 years or less. 

If you are still using an image on your website or in any communication medium when your license has expired, you may be prosecuted for copyright violation.

Photo consent policy

Then, there is the case of photo consent: in some cases and some countries, if you want to use a photo or a video of a physical person on your website or any other medium, you must first obtain their consent. The contract can mention a maximum duration, at the end of which you no longer have the right to use this image. 

These two legal constraints are the main reasons why an expiration date (or expiry date) can be useful on a photo, but there are many other use cases.

Are you interested in this plugin? Contact the support at the usual email address to request it! 

Warning

Any request made in the comment section on the blog will not be treated.  But feel free to tell us in comments what you could use this plugin for!

For more information on copyright and image rights, you can read the articles below. 

Please keep in mind that rules can differ depending on your country.

Copyright and GDPR for photographers (UK)

The Ultimate Guide To Photo Release Forms

Image Usage Rights 101: How to Make Sure You’re Covered

Legally using images

8 examples of customized Piwigo galleries

Claire Michard on February 3, 2022

Piwigo is known for being very customizable. We offer many themes, in addition to Modus which is installed by default on all new galleries. Each theme can be declined in many color schemes and have multiple configuration options.

For our enterprise clients who wish to do so, we can customize the gallery to their colors.

In this article, we show you 8 examples of custom Piwigo galleries!

Read More

How to organize team work with Piwigo?

Claire Michard on November 16, 2021

team work piwigo user management

Over the years, Piwigo has integrated many features that allow you to collaborate with your team or partners, in an efficient and secure way. However, some of these features are still unknown to our customers! That’s why we have decided to focus on user management in this article.

Read More

Piwigo 12 is coming and needs some beta testers!

Claire Michard on July 5, 2021

piwigo beta 12

After the release of Piwigo 11 in January 2021, the team is not standing still. We are working on the next version (which will be released this summer), and we have decided to involve our users very early in the release process. Discover in this blog post the new features and why not, join the beta testers!

Demo webinars

For the first time, we offered to some of our customers the opportunity to participate in webinars presenting this new version. We wanted to get feedback before the release of this version.

The feedback has been positive, which is good news. We have noted some very interesting remarks, which we will try to integrate into the roadmap of this new version.

For example, following a suggestion from a customer, we will add, from the user manager, a reminder of the definition of the different profiles (webmaster, administrator, visitor…).

Call for beta testers

After these first presentations, we will enter the beta-testing phase. And this is where we need you, Piwigo users!

via GIPHY

Anyone can give a little bit of their time to test this version before its official release.

Being a beta tester is the best way to help us release a new, functional, bug-free version. But it also allows you to get involved and contribute to a Piwigo that really meets your needs!

If you would like to volunteer, send us an email at contact@piwigo.com : we will then give you early access to v12, so you can test it and give us your feedback. Of course, this will not impact your Piwigo account!

PS: if you are able to deploy Piwigo by yourself, feel free to download Piwigo 12.0.0beta1 right here.

What’s new in Piwigo 12 ?

Piwigo 11 was a major release, with many new features. We decided to speed up the release of new versions: Piwigo 12 has fewer new features than Piwigo 11, but each of them is important.

User Manager Redesign

The user management screen has been completely redesigned, in line with the new group manager that you discovered in Piwigo 11.

The design of this page is more modern and colorful.

user manager piwigo 12

In addition, you can choose between different views: a default list; a compact mode that displays a maximum number of users on the same page; and a tile mode that displays users in the form of large tiles.

Compact view
Tile view

Modifying your users in bulk will become much more intuitive: a selection mode has been introduced, which makes this page usable from a tactile interface. This new mode also allows you to see the list of selected users before choosing an action (deletion, assignment to a group…).

Advanced filtering has been added: it will make it easier to search for users when you have a lot of them in your Piwigo. You can filter users by status, privacy level, group and creation date.

Another small improvement: the “guest” user (which corresponds to the anonymous visitors of your photo gallery, when it is public), is now managed separately from the “real” users. This helps to avoid handling errors.

Finally, the user edition screen is also getting a makeover.

Users activity log

A new screen appears in Piwigo 012: the User Activity Log.

It allows you to see the actions performed in the Piwigo administration, by each user: add / delete / modify an album, a file, a user…

This screen lists the history of activities and allows you to filter them (by user and by period).

Following feedback from customers during a webinar presentation demo, we have added the possibility to export these activities to a CSV file that can be used with a spreadsheet program (Excel, Libre Office…).

Redesign of the plugin manager

The plugin manager already had a facelift in Piwigo 11, but it evolves again with v12.

Until now, activated and deactivated plugins were displayed separately.

When you activated a new plugin, the screen reloaded, and you had to search in the list for the newly activated plugin, in order to access its settings. This was not very practical, especially for photo libraries with many plugins.

With v12, the way it works changes. To activate or deactivate a plugin, you just need to click on a button, and then you can directly modify its settings.

Optimization of file upload for large galleries

We have optimized the batch file addition to be more efficient, especially on large photo libraries (more than 100,000 files). Some of our customers know that adding 100 or 1000 files at once to a Piwigo can slow down the server when the gallery already contains a very large volume of photos. Starting with version 12, this should not be a problem anymore.

So, what do you think of these news? Are you eager to discover Piwigo 12? Send an email to contact@piwigo.com to become a beta tester!