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.
Answer vs Mastodon
Two self-hosted Communication - Social Networks and Forums apps, compared on the facts we track: GitHub popularity and activity, license, language, Docker images and a rough hosting estimate.
Side by side
| Answer | Mastodon | |
|---|---|---|
| Description | 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. | Federated microblogging server. |
| GitHub stars | 15,710 | 50,485 |
| Forks | – | 7.5k |
| Open issues (incl. PRs) | – | 4.6k |
| Commits (12 months) | 247 | 2.9k |
| Last activity | 2026-09-22 | 2026-11-04 |
| Latest release | v2.0.3 (2026-10-09) | v5.0.0-beta.1 (2026-11-04) |
| Maintenance health | Active | Active |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language / platform | Docker, Go | Ruby |
| Docker Hub image | apache/answer | – |
| Docker pulls | 3914.2k | – |
| Est. server size | ~4 GB, 2 vCPU | ~4 GB, 2 vCPU |
| Est. hosting from | $20/mo | $20/mo |
| Categories | Communication - Social Networks and Forums | Communication - Social Networks and Forums |
| Links | Website · Source | Website · Source |
What the numbers say
- Mastodon is more popular on GitHub: 50.5k stars vs 15.7k for Answer.
- Mastodon had more commits in the last 12 months (2,943 vs 247).
- Mastodon has more recent repository activity (2026-11-04 vs 2026-09-22).
- Mastodon published a release more recently (v5.0.0-beta.1 on 2026-11-04; Answer's latest is v2.0.3 on 2026-10-09).
- Answer is licensed under Apache-2.0, Mastodon under AGPL-3.0. Answer's license is permissive; Mastodon's is copyleft (changes you distribute must stay open).
- Answer is written in Go; Mastodon in Ruby.
- Deployment options listed upstream: Answer: Docker; Mastodon: none listed.
- Only Answer has a Docker Hub image that we detected (apache/answer).
Summary: Answer leads on Docker Hub availability; Mastodon leads on GitHub popularity, commit activity and recent activity. The right choice depends on the features you need — read both project descriptions and docs.
This summary is generated from GitHub, Docker Hub and awesome-selfhosted data as of 2026-11-05. It does not rate features or quality.
Get the Docker images
Answer
docker pull apache/answerImage on Docker Hub. Ports, volumes and environment variables differ per app; follow the official docs.
Frequently asked questions
Is Answer or Mastodon more popular?
Mastodon has more GitHub stars (50,485 vs 15,710 for Answer, as of 2026-11-05). Stars measure interest, not quality.
Which is more actively maintained, Answer or Mastodon?
Mastodon had more commits over the last 12 months (2,943 vs 247). The last recorded activity was 2026-09-22 for Answer and 2026-11-04 for Mastodon. Our health labels: Answer is “Active”, Mastodon is “Active”.
What licenses do Answer and Mastodon use?
Answer: Apache-2.0. Mastodon: AGPL-3.0. Answer's license is permissive; Mastodon's is copyleft (changes you distribute must stay open).
Can I run Answer and Mastodon with Docker?
Answer has a Docker Hub image (apache/answer). We did not find one for Mastodon; check its documentation for install options.
Read more
Mastodon
Federated microblogging server.
Browse all self-hosted Communication - Social Networks and Forums apps.