SHSelfHostIndex

Firefish vs Hometown

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?
FI Firefish Customizable fediverse microblogging platform VS HO Hometown Mastodon fork with local-only posting
FeatureFirefishHometown
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
CategorySocial NetworksSocial Networks
LicenseAGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageTypeScriptRuby
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM2,048 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 1,300★ 823
First released20222019
ReplacesTwitter, MastodonTwitter, Mastodon

What are Firefish and Hometown?

Firefish

Firefish is an open-source, decentralized social media platform built on ActivityPub with extensive interface customization. It includes a built-in post translator, reactions, and a flexible timeline.

  • Highly customizable UI
  • Post reactions
  • Built-in translation
  • Federated timelines

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

Firefish vs Hometown: key differences

Firefish is written in TypeScript, while Hometown is built with Ruby. Hometown is the more established project (first released 2019), while Firefish arrived in 2022.

Why pick each one

Choose Firefish if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (1.3k GitHub stars)
  • Written in TypeScript
Firefish details

Choose Hometown if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in Ruby
Hometown details

Frequently asked questions

Is Firefish or Hometown better?

Firefish is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Hometown if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Firefish and Hometown free and open-source?

Yes. Firefish is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Hometown under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Firefish and Hometown with Docker?

Firefish: yes. Hometown: yes.

Related comparisons