Honk 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 | Honk | Phanpy |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | ISC | MIT |
| Language | Go | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 100 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 400 | ★ 1,492 |
| First released | 2019 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon | Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads |
What are Honk and Phanpy?
Honk
Honk is an opinionated, single-user ActivityPub server written in Go that federates with the wider fediverse. It deliberately omits algorithmic feeds and trends in favor of a simple chronological timeline.
- Single-user fediverse server
- Chronological timeline
- SQLite storage
- Minimal dependencies
Phanpy
Minimalistic opinionated Fediverse ⁂ web client.
Honk vs Phanpy: key differences
Honk is written in Go, while Phanpy is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — ISC for Honk versus MIT for Phanpy. Phanpy is the lighter option, starting around 100 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Honk. Honk is the more established project (first released 2019), while Phanpy arrived in 2024. Phanpy has the considerably larger community, at 1,492 GitHub stars versus 400.
Why pick each one
Choose Honk if…
- Released under the ISC license
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
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 Honk or Phanpy better?
Phanpy is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Honk if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Honk and Phanpy free and open-source?
Yes. Honk is licensed under ISC and Phanpy under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Honk and Phanpy with Docker?
Honk: check the project docs for container support. Phanpy: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Honk or Phanpy?
Phanpy has the smaller minimum footprint at 100 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Honk. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.