diaspora* vs Streams
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | diaspora* | Streams |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,649 | ★ 100 |
| First released | 2010 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Facebook, Twitter | Facebook, Mastodon |
What are diaspora* and Streams?
diaspora*
diaspora* is a free, open-source, privacy-aware decentralized social network. It is organized into independently operated pods that federate, giving users ownership of their data.
- Federated pod network
- Aspects for sharing control
- Hashtag-based discovery
- Data ownership focus
Streams
Streams is a free, decentralized social communication server that supports nomadic identity, letting accounts move and clone between instances. It federates with the fediverse and offers fine-grained permissions.
- Nomadic identity
- Account cloning across servers
- Fediverse federation
- Granular permissions
diaspora* vs Streams: key differences
Diaspora* is written in Ruby, while Streams is built with PHP. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for diaspora* versus MIT for Streams. Diaspora* is the more established project (first released 2010), while Streams arrived in 2021. Diaspora* has the considerably larger community, at 13,649 GitHub stars versus 100.
Why pick each one
Choose diaspora* if…
- Strong privacy ethos
- Established network
Watch out for
- Limited fediverse interoperability
- Slower development
Choose Streams if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in PHP
Frequently asked questions
Is diaspora* or Streams 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 diaspora* and Streams free and open-source?
Yes. diaspora* is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Streams under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run diaspora* and Streams with Docker?
diaspora*: yes. Streams: yes.