Pleroma 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.

Not the right match-up?
FeaturePleromapump.io
CategorySocial NetworksSocial Networks
LicenseAGPL-3.0Apache-2.0
LanguageElixirJavaScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcebare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 2,200★ 2,239
First released20172013
ReplacesTwitter, TumblrTwitter

Why pick each one

Choose Pleroma if…

  • Runs on small servers
  • Compatible with Mastodon apps
Pleroma details

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
pump.io details

Frequently asked questions

Is Pleroma 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 Pleroma and pump.io free and open-source?

Yes. Pleroma 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 Pleroma and pump.io with Docker?

Pleroma: yes. pump.io: check the project docs for container support.

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