Glitch-soc vs pump.io
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 | pump.io |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 81 · Excellent | 48 · Fair |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Ruby | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 803 | ★ 2,237 |
| First released | 2017 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon |
What are Glitch-soc and pump.io?
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
pump.io
pump.io is a stream server that lets users post activities to their followers and to the web, implementing the Activity Streams format. It can be self-hosted as a personal social networking node.
- Activity Streams social server
- Personal social networking node
- Federation support
Glitch-soc vs pump.io: key differences
Glitch-soc is written in Ruby, while pump.io is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Glitch-soc versus Apache-2.0 for pump.io. Pump.io is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Glitch-soc. Pump.io is the more established project (first released 2013), while Glitch-soc arrived in 2017. Pump.io has the considerably larger community, at 2,237 GitHub stars versus 803. Glitch-soc lists first-class Docker deployment; pump.io 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 pump.io if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Active community (2.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Glitch-soc or pump.io better?
pump.io is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Glitch-soc if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Glitch-soc and pump.io free and open-source?
Yes. Glitch-soc is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and pump.io under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Glitch-soc and pump.io with Docker?
Glitch-soc: yes. pump.io: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Glitch-soc or pump.io?
pump.io has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Glitch-soc. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.