Glitch-soc vs Khatru Pyramid
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Glitch-soc | Khatru Pyramid |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 81 · Excellent | 8 · At risk |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Unlicense |
| Language | Ruby | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 50 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 803 | ★ 33 |
| First released | 2017 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon | Mastodon, Twitter |
What are Glitch-soc and Khatru Pyramid?
Glitch-soc
Glitch-soc is a community-maintained fork of Mastodon that adds experimental features and customization options ahead of upstream. It federates fully with the rest of the fediverse over ActivityPub.
- Extra customization options
- Experimental features
- Full fediverse federation
- Themeable interface
Khatru Pyramid
A nostr relay with a invite hierarchy. Contribute to github-tijlxyz/khatru-pyramid development by creating an account on GitHub.
Glitch-soc vs Khatru Pyramid: key differences
Glitch-soc is written in Ruby, while Khatru Pyramid is built with Go. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Glitch-soc versus Unlicense for Khatru Pyramid. Khatru Pyramid is the lighter option, starting around 50 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Glitch-soc. Glitch-soc is the more established project (first released 2017), while Khatru Pyramid arrived in 2024. Glitch-soc has the considerably larger community, at 803 GitHub stars versus 33. Glitch-soc lists first-class Docker deployment; Khatru Pyramid does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Glitch-soc if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Ruby
Choose Khatru Pyramid if…
- Released under the Unlicense license
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 50 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Glitch-soc or Khatru Pyramid better?
Neither is universally better. Glitch-soc has the larger community, while Khatru Pyramid is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Glitch-soc and Khatru Pyramid free and open-source?
Yes. Glitch-soc is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Khatru Pyramid under Unlicense. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Glitch-soc and Khatru Pyramid with Docker?
Glitch-soc: yes. Khatru Pyramid: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Glitch-soc or Khatru Pyramid?
Khatru Pyramid has the smaller minimum footprint at 50 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Glitch-soc. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.