Honk vs Iceshrimp
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?
Honk
Opinionated single-user ActivityPub server
VS
Iceshrimp
Lightweight Misskey-derived fediverse server
| Feature | Honk | Iceshrimp |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | ISC | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 400 | ★ 300 |
| First released | 2019 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon | Twitter, Mastodon |
Why pick each one
Choose Honk if…
- Released under the ISC license
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Choose Iceshrimp if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Honk or Iceshrimp better?
Neither is universally better. Honk has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Honk and Iceshrimp free and open-source?
Yes. Honk is licensed under ISC and Iceshrimp under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Honk and Iceshrimp with Docker?
Honk: check the project docs for container support. Iceshrimp: yes.