diaspora* vs Honk
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?
diaspora*
Privacy-focused decentralized social network
VS
Honk
Opinionated single-user ActivityPub server
| Feature | diaspora* | Honk |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | ISC |
| Language | Ruby | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,656 | ★ 400 |
| First released | 2010 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Facebook, Twitter | Twitter, Mastodon |
Why pick each one
Choose Honk if…
- Released under the ISC license
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is diaspora* or Honk better?
Neither is universally better. diaspora* has the larger community, while Honk is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are diaspora* and Honk free and open-source?
Yes. diaspora* is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Honk under ISC. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run diaspora* and Honk with Docker?
diaspora*: yes. Honk: check the project docs for container support.