Bridgy Fed vs Glitch-soc
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Bridgy Fed | Glitch-soc |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 79 · Good | 81 · Excellent |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | Unlicense | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,238 | ★ 803 |
| First released | 2017 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon |
What are Bridgy Fed and Glitch-soc?
Bridgy Fed
Bridgy Fed connects personal websites that use IndieWeb standards to the fediverse and the rest of the social web. It translates webmentions and ActivityPub so different networks can interact.
- Connects IndieWeb to fediverse
- Webmention translation
- ActivityPub bridging
- Cross-network interaction
Glitch-soc
Glitch-soc is a community-maintained fork of Mastodon that adds experimental features and customization options ahead of upstream. It federates fully with the rest of the fediverse over ActivityPub.
- Extra customization options
- Experimental features
- Full fediverse federation
- Themeable interface
Bridgy Fed vs Glitch-soc: key differences
Bridgy Fed is written in Python, while Glitch-soc is built with Ruby. Licensing differs — Unlicense for Bridgy Fed versus AGPL-3.0 for Glitch-soc. Bridgy Fed is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Glitch-soc. Glitch-soc lists first-class Docker deployment; Bridgy Fed does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Bridgy Fed if…
- Released under the Unlicense license
- Active community (1.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Choose Glitch-soc if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Ruby
Frequently asked questions
Is Bridgy Fed or Glitch-soc better?
Neither is universally better. Bridgy Fed has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Bridgy Fed and Glitch-soc free and open-source?
Yes. Bridgy Fed is licensed under Unlicense and Glitch-soc under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bridgy Fed and Glitch-soc with Docker?
Bridgy Fed: check the project docs for container support. Glitch-soc: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Bridgy Fed or Glitch-soc?
Bridgy Fed has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Glitch-soc. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.