Your photos belong on your device
CullVue is a local-first desktop app for managing your photo library with AI-powered semantic search. Everything runs on your machine. Nothing gets uploaded.
Why we built CullVue
Most photo management tools today follow the same playbook: upload everything to someone else's servers, pay a monthly fee, and hope your data stays private. That model works well for the companies selling it. It does not work as well for the people whose photos are at stake.
CullVue started from a straightforward question: what if you could have smart, AI-powered photo search without giving up control of your files? Modern machine learning models are small enough to run on a laptop. There is no technical reason your photo manager needs a cloud backend. So we built one that does not.
The app indexes your existing folders, generates thumbnails, and builds a semantic search index, all on your local hardware. You can describe a photo in plain language and find it in seconds. You can organize with albums and tags, browse EXIF metadata, filter by date or file size, and manage libraries of tens of thousands of images without lag. And none of it requires an internet connection or an account.
CullVue is an independent, small-team project. We are not backed by a large company, and we do not have investors pushing us to monetize your data. The business model is simple: we sell software that people find useful. If it works for you, you buy a license. If it does not, you move on with no strings attached.
What we believe in
These are not marketing slogans. They are the principles behind every decision we make.
Privacy by Default
Your photos never leave your device. No cloud uploads, no third-party access, no tracking. CullVue processes everything locally, including AI search. Your library is yours alone.
Speed Without Compromise
CullVue handles libraries of 50,000+ photos with smooth virtual scrolling and instant filtering. Thumbnails are cached locally, and semantic search results appear in milliseconds.
Simplicity Over Complexity
Photo management software should get out of your way. CullVue gives you albums, tags, search, and metadata viewing without burying features in nested menus or requiring a manual to get started.
Fair, Honest Pricing
One-time purchase. No subscriptions, no recurring fees, no feature gating. Pay once, use it forever. Updates are free for the lifetime of your major version. A 14-day free trial lets you try everything first.
Independent software, built to last
CullVue is indie software in the truest sense. There is no venture capital, no growth-at-all-costs roadmap, and no plans to pivot into a platform. We build a desktop application that does one thing well: help you manage your photos locally and privately.
Being independent means we can make decisions that prioritize the people using the app over quarterly metrics. We chose a one-time purchase model because subscriptions do not make sense for a tool that runs entirely on your machine. We chose local-first architecture because it is the right call for privacy, not because it is the trend.
CullVue ships on macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows, and Linux. We believe cross-platform support matters because photographers should not be locked into an ecosystem to manage their own files. The same app, the same experience, on every desktop operating system.
Ready to try CullVue?
Download the app and try it free for 14 days. No account required, no credit card, no strings.