SHSelfHostIndex

Firefish vs Sharkey

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 SH Sharkey Feature-rich Misskey fork for the fediverse
FeatureFirefishSharkey
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
CategorySocial NetworksSocial Networks
LicenseAGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageTypeScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM2,048 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 1,300★ 600
First released20222023
ReplacesTwitter, MastodonTwitter, Mastodon

What are Firefish and Sharkey?

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

Sharkey

Sharkey is a feature-rich fork of Misskey that adds quote posts, improved moderation, and additional customization for fediverse instances. It supports a rich timeline with reactions and drive file storage.

  • Quote posts and reactions
  • Drive file storage
  • Extensive customization
  • Improved moderation

Firefish vs Sharkey: key differences

Both projects are written in TypeScript. Firefish has the considerably larger community, at 1,300 GitHub stars versus 600.

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 Sharkey if…

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

Frequently asked questions

Is Firefish or Sharkey better?

Neither is universally better. Firefish has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Firefish and Sharkey free and open-source?

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

Can I run Firefish and Sharkey with Docker?

Firefish: yes. Sharkey: yes.

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