Epicyon vs Hometown
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Epicyon | Hometown |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 300 | ★ 823 |
| First released | 2019 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon | Twitter, Mastodon |
What are Epicyon and Hometown?
Epicyon
Epicyon is a modern, minimalist ActivityPub server designed to be lightweight, accessible, and easy to run on small hardware. It focuses on a no-JavaScript interface and strong moderation controls.
- No-JavaScript interface
- Runs on small servers
- Strong moderation tools
- Accessible by design
Hometown
Hometown is a friendly fork of Mastodon that adds local-only posting, full-text content support, and other community-oriented features. It is aimed at small, close-knit fediverse instances.
- Local-only posts
- Full-text content
- Mastodon compatibility
- Small-community focus
Epicyon vs Hometown: key differences
Epicyon is written in Python, while Hometown is built with Ruby. Epicyon is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Hometown. Hometown has the considerably larger community, at 823 GitHub stars versus 300. Hometown lists first-class Docker deployment; Epicyon does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Epicyon if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose Hometown if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Ruby
Frequently asked questions
Is Epicyon or Hometown better?
Neither is universally better. Hometown has the larger community, while Epicyon is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Epicyon and Hometown free and open-source?
Yes. Epicyon is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Hometown under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Epicyon and Hometown with Docker?
Epicyon: check the project docs for container support. Hometown: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Epicyon or Hometown?
Epicyon has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Hometown. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.