Firefish 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?
Firefish
Customizable fediverse microblogging platform
VS
Invidious
Alternative front-end to YouTube
| Feature | Firefish | Invidious |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0-only |
| Language | TypeScript | Crystal |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 50 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,300 | ★ 22,442 |
| First released | 2022 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon | YouTube |
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
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 Firefish 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 Firefish and Invidious free and open-source?
Yes. Firefish is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Invidious under GPL-3.0-only. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Firefish and Invidious with Docker?
Firefish: yes. Invidious: check the project docs for container support.