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.
Not the right match-up?
Hometown
Mastodon fork with local-only posting
VS
Phanpy
Minimalistic opinionated Fediverse ⁂ web client
| Feature | Hometown | Phanpy |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | ★ 819 | ★ 1,472 |
| First released | 2019 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon | Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads |
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.