Ktistec vs pump.io
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Ktistec | pump.io |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 79 · Good | 48 · Fair |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Crystal | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 436 | ★ 2,237 |
| First released | 2020 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon |
What are Ktistec and pump.io?
Ktistec
Ktistec is a single-user ActivityPub server written in Crystal, designed to be easy to deploy and maintain. It provides a personal fediverse presence with a simple, self-contained runtime.
- Single-user design
- Self-contained runtime
- SQLite storage
- ActivityPub federation
pump.io
pump.io is a stream server that lets users post activities to their followers and to the web, implementing the Activity Streams format. It can be self-hosted as a personal social networking node.
- Activity Streams social server
- Personal social networking node
- Federation support
Ktistec vs pump.io: key differences
Ktistec is written in Crystal, while pump.io is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Ktistec versus Apache-2.0 for pump.io. Pump.io is the more established project (first released 2013), while Ktistec arrived in 2020. Pump.io has the considerably larger community, at 2,237 GitHub stars versus 436.
Why pick each one
Choose Ktistec if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Written in Crystal
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose pump.io if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Active community (2.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Ktistec or pump.io better?
Neither is universally better. pump.io has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Ktistec and pump.io free and open-source?
Yes. Ktistec is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and pump.io under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Ktistec and pump.io with Docker?
Ktistec: check the project docs for container support. pump.io: check the project docs for container support.