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Plume vs ActivityPub for WordPress

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?
PL Plume Federated blogging engine for the fediverse VS AC ActivityPub for WordPress Turn a WordPress blog into a fediverse actor
FeaturePlumeActivityPub for WordPress
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupRead-the-docs project
Health score22 · At risk80 · Excellent
CategorySocial NetworksSocial Networks
LicenseAGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageRustPHP
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcesource
GitHub stars★ 2,223★ 583
First released20182019
ReplacesMedium, WordPress.comTwitter, Medium

What are Plume and ActivityPub for WordPress?

Plume

Plume is a free, open-source, federated blogging platform written in Rust. Multiple authors can publish on shared blogs, and posts federate across the fediverse via ActivityPub.

  • Federated blogging
  • Multiple authors per blog
  • ActivityPub support
  • Markdown editor

Read the full Plume guide →

ActivityPub for WordPress

The ActivityPub plugin lets a self-hosted WordPress site federate with the fediverse, so people can follow blog posts from Mastodon and other ActivityPub software. It also delivers comments back as replies.

  • Federates WordPress posts
  • Follow blogs from Mastodon
  • Comments as replies
  • Official Automattic plugin

Plume vs ActivityPub for WordPress: key differences

Plume is written in Rust, while ActivityPub for WordPress is built with PHP. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Plume versus MIT for ActivityPub for WordPress. Plume has the considerably larger community, at 2,223 GitHub stars versus 583. Plume lists first-class Docker deployment; ActivityPub for WordPress does not.

Why pick each one

Choose Plume if…

  • Lightweight Rust backend
  • Collaborative blogs

Watch out for

  • Development has slowed
  • Small ecosystem
Plume details

Choose ActivityPub for WordPress if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Written in PHP
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
ActivityPub for WordPress details

Frequently asked questions

Is Plume or ActivityPub for WordPress better?

Neither is universally better. Plume has the larger community, while ActivityPub for WordPress is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Plume and ActivityPub for WordPress free and open-source?

Yes. Plume is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and ActivityPub for WordPress under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Plume and ActivityPub for WordPress with Docker?

Plume: yes. ActivityPub for WordPress: check the project docs for container support.

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