Elk vs Pixelfed
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?
Elk
Progressive web client for Mastodon and Pleroma
VS
Pixelfed
Federated photo-sharing social platform
| Feature | Elk | Pixelfed |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Vue | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,027 | ★ 7,055 |
| First released | 2022 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Twitter app |
Why pick each one
Choose Elk if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Mature project with 6k GitHub stars
- Written in Vue
Frequently asked questions
Is Elk or Pixelfed better?
Neither is universally better. Pixelfed has the larger community, while Elk is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Elk and Pixelfed free and open-source?
Yes. Elk is licensed under MIT and Pixelfed under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Elk and Pixelfed with Docker?
Elk: check the project docs for container support. Pixelfed: yes.