Hometown vs Mastodon
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
Mastodon
Decentralized open-source microblogging server
| Feature | Hometown | Mastodon |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Ruby | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 819 | ★ 50,177 |
| First released | 2019 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon | Twitter, X |
Why pick each one
Choose Hometown if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Ruby
Frequently asked questions
Is Hometown or Mastodon better?
Neither is universally better. Mastodon has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Hometown and Mastodon free and open-source?
Yes. Hometown is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Mastodon under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Hometown and Mastodon with Docker?
Hometown: yes. Mastodon: yes.