Khatru Pyramid vs Streams
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Khatru Pyramid | Streams |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | Unlicense | MIT |
| Language | Go | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 50 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 33 | ★ 100 |
| First released | 2024 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Mastodon, Twitter | Facebook, Mastodon |
What are Khatru Pyramid and Streams?
Khatru Pyramid
A nostr relay with a invite hierarchy. Contribute to github-tijlxyz/khatru-pyramid development by creating an account on GitHub.
Streams
Streams is a free, decentralized social communication server that supports nomadic identity, letting accounts move and clone between instances. It federates with the fediverse and offers fine-grained permissions.
- Nomadic identity
- Account cloning across servers
- Fediverse federation
- Granular permissions
Khatru Pyramid vs Streams: key differences
Khatru Pyramid is written in Go, while Streams is built with PHP. Licensing differs — Unlicense for Khatru Pyramid versus MIT for Streams. Khatru Pyramid is the lighter option, starting around 50 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Streams. Streams is the more established project (first released 2021), while Khatru Pyramid arrived in 2024. Streams has the considerably larger community, at 100 GitHub stars versus 33. Streams lists first-class Docker deployment; Khatru Pyramid does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Khatru Pyramid if…
- Released under the Unlicense license
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 50 MB RAM
Choose Streams if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in PHP
Frequently asked questions
Is Khatru Pyramid or Streams better?
Neither is universally better. Streams has the larger community, while Khatru Pyramid is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Khatru Pyramid and Streams free and open-source?
Yes. Khatru Pyramid is licensed under Unlicense and Streams under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Khatru Pyramid and Streams with Docker?
Khatru Pyramid: check the project docs for container support. Streams: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Khatru Pyramid or Streams?
Khatru Pyramid has the smaller minimum footprint at 50 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Streams. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.