Self-hosted alternatives to Facebook
Want social networking without handing your data to Facebook? These 24 self-hosted apps run on your own server. Cheapest estimated hosting starts at about $10/month.
About Facebook: Meta's social network.
| App | Health | Stars | License | Docker | RAM (est.) | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mastodon | Active | 50.5k | AGPL-3.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Discourse | Active | 48.1k | GPL-2.0 | ✓ | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| Answer | Active | 15.7k | Apache-2.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Lemmy | Active | 14.7k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Misskey | Active | 11.4k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| PixelFed | Active | 7.1k | AGPL-3.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| HumHub | Active | 6.8k | AGPL-3.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Movim | Active | 2.1k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| diaspora* | Maintained | 13.7k | AGPL-3.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Elgg | Active | 1.7k | GPL-2.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| OSSN | Active | 1.3k | CAL-1.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Simple Machines Forum | Active | 756 | BSD-3-Clause | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| GoToSocial | Active | 697 | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| qpixel | Active | 444 | AGPL-3.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Talkyard | Maintained | 1.8k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Socialhome | Active | 379 | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| PieFed | Active | 267 | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Hatsu | Active | 258 | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Habitat | Active | 151 | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Akkoma | Active | 71 | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Hubzilla | Active | 57 | MIT | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Iceshrimp.NET | Active | 37 | EUPL-1.2 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| yarn.social | Active | 18 | MIT | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Pleroma | Unknown | – | AGPL-3.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
The options in detail
1. Mastodon
Federated microblogging server.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release v5.0.0-beta.1 (2026-11-04). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
2. Discourse
Advanced forum / community solution based on Ruby and JS.
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release _gh-attach-assets (2026-07-15). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM incl. postgres. How to run it →
3. Answer
Knowledge-based community software. You can use it to quickly build your Q&A community for product technical support, customer support, user communication, and more.
Active Last commit 2026-09-22. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release v2.0.3 (2026-10-09). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
4. Lemmy
Link aggregator for the fediverse (alternative to Reddit).
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release 1.0.0-beta.3 (2026-10-29). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
5. Misskey
Decentralized app-like microblogging server/SNS for the Fediverse, using the ActivityPub protocol like GNU social and Mastodon.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release 2026.10.2-alpha.0 (2026-10-31). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
6. PixelFed
Ethical photo sharing platform, powered by ActivityPub federation (alternative to Instagram).
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. Latest release v0.15.2 (2026-10-21). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
7. HumHub
Flexible kit for private social networks.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release v1.19.3 (2026-10-27). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
8. Movim
Modern, federated social network based on XMPP, with a fully featured group-chat, subscriptions and microblogging.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release v0.35.5 (2026-11-04). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
9. diaspora*
Distributed social networking server.
Maintained Last commit 2026-07-28. 1 release in the past year. Latest release v0.9.1.0 (2026-04-07). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
10. Elgg
Powerful social networking engine.
Active Last commit 2026-11-03. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release 7.1.2 (2026-10-21). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
11. OSSN
Social networking software that allows you to make a social networking website and helps your members build social relationships, with people who share similar professional or personal interests.
Active Last commit 2026-10-18. Latest release 10.1 (2026-10-01). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
12. Simple Machines Forum
Free, professional grade software package that allows you to set up your own online community within minutes.
Active Last commit 2026-11-03. Latest release v2.1.8 (2026-10-11). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
13. GoToSocial
ActivityPub federated social network server implementing the Mastodon client API.
Active Last commit 2026-11-03. 17 releases in the past year. Latest release v0.22.3 (2026-10-21). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
14. qpixel
Q&A-based community knowledge-sharing software.
Active Last commit 2026-09-27. 2 releases in the past year. Latest release v0.13.0 (2026-09-12). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
15. Talkyard
Create a community, where your users can suggest ideas and get questions answered. And have friendly open-ended discussions and chat (Slack/StackOverflow/Discourse/Reddit/Disqus hybrid).
Maintained Last commit 2026-07-10. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release tyse-v1.2026.003-f220a7d9f-regular (2026-05-26). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
17. PieFed
Link aggregator / reddit clone for the fediverse (alternative to Reddit).
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. 50+ releases in the past year. Latest release v1.7.19 (2026-11-04). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
18. Hatsu
Bridge that interacts with Fediverse on behalf of your static site.
Active Last commit 2026-10-01. Latest release v0.3.5 (2026-10-01). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
19. Habitat
Platform for Local Communities.
Active Last commit 2026-10-21. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release 1.7.1 (2026-10-21). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
20. Akkoma
Federated microblogging server with Mastodon, GNU social, and ActivityPub compatibility.
Active Last commit 2026-10-30. 6 releases in the past year. Latest release v3.20.1 (2026-09-27). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
21. Hubzilla
Decentralized identity, privacy, publishing, sharing, cloud storage, and communications/social platform.
Active Last commit 2026-10-20. 7 releases in the past year. Latest release 11.4.2 (2026-10-20). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
22. Iceshrimp.NET
Federated microblogging server that communicates over ActivityPub.
Active Last commit 2026-11-03. 5 releases in the past year. Latest release v2026.1.3-beta (2026-10-27). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
23. yarn.social
Twitter™-like Decentralised micro-logging platform. No ads, no tracking, your content, your data.
Active Last commit 2026-08-12. 1 release in the past year. Latest release 0.16.0 (2026-07-12). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
24. Pleroma
Federated microblogging server, Mastodon, GNU social, & ActivityPub compatible.
Unknown Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
Why self-host instead of Facebook?
- Own your data — it lives on a server you control, with backups you decide on.
- Predictable cost — a small VPS often replaces per-seat pricing for a whole team or family.
- No lock-in — open-source licenses let you keep running the software even if a vendor disappears.
The trade-off: you are responsible for updates, backups and security. Pick an app marked Active (a commit in the last 90 days) and with Docker support for the easiest ride.
Browse related categories
Other alternatives guides
Facebook is a trademark of its owner; this site is not affiliated with it. Listings come from the community-maintained awesome-selfhosted list.
16. Socialhome
Federated and decentralized profile builder and social network engine.
Active Last commit 2026-10-29. Latest release v0.9.3 (2018-08-29). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →