Hometown vs Mitra
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Mitra
Federated microblogging server with crypto integration
| Feature | Hometown | Mitra |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Ruby | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 823 | ★ 200 |
| First released | 2019 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon | Twitter, Mastodon |
What are Hometown and Mitra?
Hometown
Hometown is a friendly fork of Mastodon that adds local-only posting, full-text content support, and other community-oriented features. It is aimed at small, close-knit fediverse instances.
- Local-only posts
- Full-text content
- Mastodon compatibility
- Small-community focus
Mitra
Mitra is a lightweight, federated microblogging server written in Rust that implements ActivityPub. It is designed for small instances and includes optional integration with cryptocurrency-based features.
- Lightweight Rust server
- ActivityPub federation
- Small-instance focus
- Low resource usage
Hometown vs Mitra: key differences
Hometown is written in Ruby, while Mitra is built with Rust. Mitra is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Hometown. Hometown is the more established project (first released 2019), while Mitra arrived in 2021. Hometown has the considerably larger community, at 823 GitHub stars versus 200.
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 Mitra if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Rust
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Hometown or Mitra better?
Neither is universally better. Hometown has the larger community, while Mitra is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Hometown and Mitra free and open-source?
Yes. Hometown is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Mitra under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Hometown and Mitra with Docker?
Hometown: yes. Mitra: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Hometown or Mitra?
Mitra has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Hometown. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.