Fedify vs Honk
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?
Fedify
ActivityPub server framework for TypeScript
VS
Honk
Opinionated single-user ActivityPub server
| Feature | Fedify | Honk |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | MIT | ISC |
| Language | TypeScript | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,017 | ★ 400 |
| First released | 2024 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon |
Why pick each one
Choose Fedify if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (1k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose Honk if…
- Released under the ISC license
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Fedify or Honk better?
Neither is universally better. Fedify has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Fedify and Honk free and open-source?
Yes. Fedify is licensed under MIT and Honk under ISC. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Fedify and Honk with Docker?
Fedify: check the project docs for container support. Honk: check the project docs for container support.