Elk vs WriteFreely
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
WriteFreely
Minimalist federated blogging platform
| Feature | Elk | WriteFreely |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Vue | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,027 | ★ 5,216 |
| First released | 2022 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Twitter app | Medium, Tumblr |
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 WriteFreely better?
Neither is universally better. Elk has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Elk and WriteFreely free and open-source?
Yes. Elk is licensed under MIT and WriteFreely under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Elk and WriteFreely with Docker?
Elk: check the project docs for container support. WriteFreely: yes.