Glitch-soc vs Misskey
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Misskey
Decentralized fediverse platform with rich features
| Feature | Glitch-soc | Misskey |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 81 · Excellent | 93 · Excellent |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 803 | ★ 11,328 |
| First released | 2017 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon | Twitter, Tumblr |
What are Glitch-soc and Misskey?
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
Misskey
Misskey is a free, open-source, decentralized social media platform powered by ActivityPub. It is known for its customizable UI, reactions, and interactive features beyond standard microblogging.
- ActivityPub federation
- Custom emoji reactions
- Highly customizable UI
- Built-in pages and widgets
Glitch-soc vs Misskey: key differences
Glitch-soc is written in Ruby, while Misskey is built with TypeScript. Misskey is the more established project (first released 2014), while Glitch-soc arrived in 2017. Misskey has the considerably larger community, at 11,328 GitHub stars versus 803.
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 Misskey if…
- Rich, playful feature set
- Active development
Watch out for
- Resource-intensive
- Complex configuration
Frequently asked questions
Is Glitch-soc or Misskey better?
Neither is universally better. Misskey has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Glitch-soc and Misskey free and open-source?
Yes. Glitch-soc is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Misskey under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Glitch-soc and Misskey with Docker?
Glitch-soc: yes. Misskey: yes.