Mbin vs Tesseract
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Mbin
Community-driven fork of the kbin aggregator
VS
Tesseract
Archived
Media-focused alternative web interface for Lemmy
| Feature | Mbin | Tesseract |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Svelte |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 429 | ★ 3 |
| First released | 2023 | 2023 |
| Replaces |
What are Mbin and Tesseract?
Mbin
Mbin is a free, open-source, federated content aggregator and microblogging platform, forked from kbin and maintained by the community. It supports threads, microblogs, and ActivityPub federation.
- Threads and microblogging
- ActivityPub federation
- Magazine communities
- Community-driven governance
Tesseract
Tesseract is an alternative front-end for Lemmy that emphasizes inline media playback and a richer browsing experience. It connects to any existing Lemmy instance via the public API.
- Media-rich Lemmy front-end
- Inline video and image playback
- Works with any instance
- Modern Svelte interface
Mbin vs Tesseract: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Tesseract's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Mbin is actively maintained. Mbin is written in PHP, while Tesseract is built with Svelte. Tesseract is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Mbin. Mbin has the considerably larger community, at 429 GitHub stars versus 3.
Why pick each one
Choose Mbin if…
- Active community fork
- Regular releases
Watch out for
- Heavier deployment
- Smaller ecosystem
Choose Tesseract if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Svelte
Frequently asked questions
Is Mbin or Tesseract better?
Neither is universally better. Mbin has the larger community, while Tesseract is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Mbin and Tesseract free and open-source?
Yes. Mbin is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Tesseract under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Mbin and Tesseract with Docker?
Mbin: yes. Tesseract: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Mbin or Tesseract?
Tesseract has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Mbin. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.