diaspora* vs Phanpy
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
Phanpy
Minimalistic opinionated Fediverse ⁂ web client
| Feature | diaspora* | Phanpy |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 100 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,656 | ★ 1,472 |
| First released | 2010 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Facebook, Twitter | Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads |
Why pick each one
Choose Phanpy if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is diaspora* or Phanpy better?
Neither is universally better. diaspora* has the larger community, while Phanpy is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are diaspora* and Phanpy free and open-source?
Yes. diaspora* is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Phanpy under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run diaspora* and Phanpy with Docker?
diaspora*: yes. Phanpy: check the project docs for container support.