Fedify vs Invidious
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?
| Feature | Fedify | Invidious |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0-only |
| Language | TypeScript | Crystal |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 50 MB |
| Deployment | source | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,017 | ★ 22,442 |
| First released | 2024 | 2023 |
| Replaces | YouTube |
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 Invidious if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0-only license
- Mature project with 22.4k GitHub stars
- Written in Crystal
- Tiny footprint — runs in 50 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Fedify or Invidious better?
Neither is universally better. Invidious has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Fedify and Invidious free and open-source?
Yes. Fedify is licensed under MIT and Invidious under GPL-3.0-only. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Fedify and Invidious with Docker?
Fedify: check the project docs for container support. Invidious: check the project docs for container support.