Discourse
Social NetworksModern open-source community discussion platform
Replaces phpBB, Reddit
Best Plugins Social Networks for self-hosting
The 10 best Plugins social networks you can self-host, ranked by community traction.
Flarum
Social NetworksSimple, fast, free forum software
Replaces phpBB, vBulletin
HumHub
Social NetworksOpen-source social network for communities
Replaces Facebook Workplace, Yammer
phpBB
Social NetworksClassic free and open-source bulletin board
Replaces vBulletin, Discourse
Friendica
Social NetworksDecentralized social network with broad federation
Replaces Facebook, Twitter
Elgg
Social NetworksFramework for building social networks
Replaces Facebook Groups, Yammer
ActivityPub for WordPress
Social NetworksTurn a WordPress blog into a fediverse actor
Replaces Twitter, Medium
Hubzilla
Social NetworksDecentralized identity and social platform
Replaces Facebook, Google+
BuddyPress
Social NetworksTurn WordPress into a social network
Replaces Ning, Mighty Networks
Streams
Social NetworksDecentralized social server with nomadic identity
Replaces Facebook, Mastodon
No apps match these filters.
At a glance
| App | Deploy effort | Difficulty | Min. RAM | License | ★ Stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discourse | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 2,048 MB | GPL-2.0 | 47,971 |
| Flarum | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 512 MB | MIT | 6,758 |
| HumHub | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 512 MB | AGPL-3.0 | 6,750 |
| phpBB | Read-the-docs project | Easy | 256 MB | GPL-2.0 | 2,098 |
| Friendica | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 512 MB | AGPL-3.0 | 1,693 |
| Elgg | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 512 MB | GPL-2.0 | 1,677 |
| ActivityPub for WordPress | Read-the-docs project | Easy | 256 MB | MIT | 584 |
| Hubzilla | Under-an-hour setup | Hard | 512 MB | MIT | 380 |
| BuddyPress | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 512 MB | GPL-2.0 | 257 |
| Streams | Under-an-hour setup | Hard | 1,024 MB | MIT | 100 |
Quick picks
- Most adopted: Discourse (47,971 GitHub stars).
- Lightest footprint: phpBB (from 256 MB RAM, against 2,048 MB for the heaviest here).
- Licensing: 4 of 10 use GPL-2.0; check the rest individually if you plan to modify and redistribute.
Every option here is open-source and self-hostable, tagged Plugins within the social networks category. Deploy effort is graded from published container recipes, not vendor claims — see the methodology.