One person, no company

Raza Software is the name I publish under, and there is no company behind it today. I'm Radu Zaharia, a solo developer in the EU.

If the apps ever grow enough to need a company, that is what it will be called.

Why I built it

I wanted to see my photos and play my music on every device at home. I tried the cloud, and it kept getting in the way in small ways: a copy of the library on every device, a plan that grows with it, a Music app that won't play from a folder. I tried self-hosting, and it was more work than the cloud.

Neither was simple, so I built the version I wanted: a server without the server work. Why local-first →

Why it's free

Because I would rather find out whether people want it before building a business around it. If it grows enough to deserve a company and a price, I'll say so plainly, and it will be a one-time purchase, not a subscription.

What I write

I write about leaving the cloud and running your own infrastructure at blog.raduzaharia.com, and the examples from those posts are on my GitHub. The apps are what I wanted after all that writing: the convenience, without the server work.

What "we" means on this site

You'll see "we" across these pages. That's me, writing the way a publication does. There is no team and no company, and I would rather say that plainly.

What you can count on

No ads, no tracking, and no data sales. The apps are free today, and if that ever changes, it will be a one-time purchase, never a subscription. Your files stay in your own folders, in open formats.

If I stopped tomorrow, your library would be exactly where it is, readable by any app that opens those files. That is deliberate. You don't have to take my word for the privacy claims →

Talk to me

Support emails come to me, and I answer them: razaphotos@outlook.com for Raza Photos, razamusic@outlook.com for Raza Songs. You'll hear back from a person, not a queue.