diaspora* vs Nitter

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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Featurediaspora*Nitter
CategorySocial NetworksSocial Networks
LicenseAGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0-only
LanguageRubyNim
Setup difficultyHardEasy
Min. RAM1,024 MB50 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcebare-metal
GitHub stars★ 13,656★ 13,408
First released20102023
ReplacesFacebook, TwitterX

Why pick each one

Choose diaspora* if…

  • Strong privacy ethos
  • Established network
diaspora* details

Choose Nitter if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0-only license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Mature project with 13.4k GitHub stars
  • Written in Nim
Nitter details

Frequently asked questions

Is diaspora* or Nitter better?

Neither is universally better. diaspora* has the larger community, while Nitter is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are diaspora* and Nitter free and open-source?

Yes. diaspora* is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Nitter under AGPL-3.0-only. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run diaspora* and Nitter with Docker?

diaspora*: yes. Nitter: check the project docs for container support.

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