Hometown vs Phanpy
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Phanpy
Minimalistic opinionated Fediverse ⁂ web client
| Feature | Hometown | Phanpy |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 81 · Excellent | 84 · Excellent |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 100 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 823 | ★ 1,492 |
| First released | 2019 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon | Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads |
What are Hometown and Phanpy?
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
Phanpy
Minimalistic opinionated Fediverse ⁂ web client.
Hometown vs Phanpy: key differences
Hometown is written in Ruby, while Phanpy is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Hometown versus MIT for Phanpy. Phanpy is the lighter option, starting around 100 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Hometown. Hometown is the more established project (first released 2019), while Phanpy arrived in 2024. Hometown lists first-class Docker deployment; Phanpy does not.
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 Phanpy if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Hometown or Phanpy better?
Phanpy is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Hometown if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Hometown and Phanpy free and open-source?
Yes. Hometown is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Phanpy under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Hometown and Phanpy with Docker?
Hometown: yes. Phanpy: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Hometown or Phanpy?
Phanpy has the smaller minimum footprint at 100 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Hometown. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.