Forte 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 | Forte | Invidious |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | Unlicense | GPL-3.0-only |
| Language | Crystal | |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 50 MB | 50 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | — | ★ 22,442 |
| First released | 2025 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Facebook, Threads, Tumblr | YouTube |
Why pick each one
Choose Forte if…
- Released under the Unlicense license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Tiny footprint — runs in 50 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 Forte or Invidious better?
Neither is universally better. Invidious has the larger community, while Forte is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Forte and Invidious free and open-source?
Yes. Forte is licensed under Unlicense and Invidious under GPL-3.0-only. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Forte and Invidious with Docker?
Forte: check the project docs for container support. Invidious: check the project docs for container support.