Hometown vs Shuttlecraft
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Hometown
Mastodon fork with local-only posting
VS
Shuttlecraft
Single-user IndieWeb blog with ActivityPub support
| Feature | Hometown | Shuttlecraft |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Networks | Blogging Platforms |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 819 | ★ 271 |
| 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 Shuttlecraft if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Hometown or Shuttlecraft better?
Neither is universally better. Hometown has the larger community, while Shuttlecraft is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Hometown and Shuttlecraft free and open-source?
Yes. Hometown is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Shuttlecraft under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Hometown and Shuttlecraft with Docker?
Hometown: yes. Shuttlecraft: yes.