Epicyon vs pump.io
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Epicyon | pump.io |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 300 | ★ 2,237 |
| First released | 2019 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon |
What are Epicyon and pump.io?
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
pump.io
pump.io is a stream server that lets users post activities to their followers and to the web, implementing the Activity Streams format. It can be self-hosted as a personal social networking node.
- Activity Streams social server
- Personal social networking node
- Federation support
Epicyon vs pump.io: key differences
Epicyon is written in Python, while pump.io is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Epicyon versus Apache-2.0 for pump.io. Pump.io is the more established project (first released 2013), while Epicyon arrived in 2019. Pump.io has the considerably larger community, at 2,237 GitHub stars versus 300.
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 pump.io if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Active community (2.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Epicyon or pump.io better?
Neither is universally better. pump.io has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Epicyon and pump.io free and open-source?
Yes. Epicyon is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and pump.io under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Epicyon and pump.io with Docker?
Epicyon: check the project docs for container support. pump.io: check the project docs for container support.