Hometown vs Iceshrimp
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?
Hometown
Mastodon fork with local-only posting
VS
Iceshrimp
Lightweight Misskey-derived fediverse server
| Feature | Hometown | Iceshrimp |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 819 | ★ 300 |
| First released | 2019 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon | Twitter, Mastodon |
Why pick each one
Choose Hometown if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Ruby
Choose Iceshrimp if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Hometown or Iceshrimp better?
Neither is universally better. Hometown has the larger community, while Iceshrimp is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Hometown and Iceshrimp free and open-source?
Yes. Hometown is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Iceshrimp under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Hometown and Iceshrimp with Docker?
Hometown: yes. Iceshrimp: yes.