Mastodon vs yarn.social
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?
Mastodon
Decentralized open-source microblogging server
VS
yarn.social
Self-Hosted, Twitter™-like Decentralised micro-logging platform
| Feature | Mastodon | yarn.social |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 50,177 | — |
| First released | 2016 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Twitter, X | — |
Why pick each one
Choose yarn.social if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in Go
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Mastodon or yarn.social better?
Neither is universally better. Mastodon has the larger community, while yarn.social is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Mastodon and yarn.social free and open-source?
Yes. Mastodon is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and yarn.social under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Mastodon and yarn.social with Docker?
Mastodon: yes. yarn.social: check the project docs for container support.