Catodon vs diaspora*
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Catodon
Community-driven fork of the Iceshrimp fediverse server
VS
diaspora*
Privacy-focused decentralized social network
| Feature | Catodon | diaspora* |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 30 | ★ 13,656 |
| First released | 2023 | 2010 |
| Replaces | Facebook, Twitter |
Why pick each one
Choose Catodon if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Catodon or diaspora* better?
Neither is universally better. diaspora* has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Catodon and diaspora* free and open-source?
Yes. Catodon is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and diaspora* under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Catodon and diaspora* with Docker?
Catodon: yes. diaspora*: yes.