Friendica vs Socialhome
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Friendica
Decentralized social network with broad federation
VS
Socialhome
Federated personal social home pages
| Feature | Friendica | Socialhome |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 84 · Excellent | 59 · Fair |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,690 | ★ 381 |
| First released | 2010 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Facebook, Twitter | Tumblr, Facebook |
What are Friendica and Socialhome?
Friendica
Friendica is a free, open-source decentralized social network. It connects to the fediverse and other networks, offering a Facebook-style experience with groups, photos, and events.
- Federates with many networks
- Groups and forums
- Photo albums and events
- Addon system
Socialhome
Socialhome is a federated, open-source social network where users build a customizable home page of content. It federates over ActivityPub and the Diaspora protocol.
- Customizable home page grid
- ActivityPub and Diaspora federation
- Content streams
- Markdown support
Friendica vs Socialhome: key differences
Friendica is written in PHP, while Socialhome is built with Python. Friendica is the more established project (first released 2010), while Socialhome arrived in 2016. Friendica has the considerably larger community, at 1,690 GitHub stars versus 381.
Why pick each one
Choose Friendica if…
- Connects to multiple protocols
- Facebook-like experience
Watch out for
- Dated interface
- Smaller user base
Choose Socialhome if…
- Unique personal-page focus
- Multi-protocol federation
Watch out for
- Small community
- Slower development
Frequently asked questions
Is Friendica or Socialhome better?
Neither is universally better. Friendica has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Friendica and Socialhome free and open-source?
Yes. Friendica is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Socialhome under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Friendica and Socialhome with Docker?
Friendica: yes. Socialhome: yes.