Bridgy Fed vs snac
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 | snac |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | Unlicense | MIT |
| Language | Python | C |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,238 | ★ 900 |
| First released | 2017 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon |
What are Bridgy Fed and snac?
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
snac
snac is a minimalist, lightweight ActivityPub instance server written in C with very low resource requirements. It implements the core fediverse features without a database or heavy runtime.
- Tiny C implementation
- No database needed
- ActivityPub federation
- Runs on minimal hardware
Bridgy Fed vs snac: key differences
Bridgy Fed is written in Python, while snac is built with C. Licensing differs — Unlicense for Bridgy Fed versus MIT for snac. Snac is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Bridgy Fed. Bridgy Fed is the more established project (first released 2017), while snac arrived in 2022.
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 snac if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Bridgy Fed or snac better?
Neither is universally better. Bridgy Fed has the larger community, while snac is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Bridgy Fed and snac free and open-source?
Yes. Bridgy Fed is licensed under Unlicense and snac under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bridgy Fed and snac with Docker?
Bridgy Fed: check the project docs for container support. snac: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Bridgy Fed or snac?
snac has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Bridgy Fed. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.