pump.io vs snac
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | pump.io | snac |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | JavaScript | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,237 | ★ 900 |
| First released | 2013 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon |
What are pump.io and snac?
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
snac
snac is a minimalist, lightweight ActivityPub instance server written in C with very low resource requirements. It implements the core fediverse features without a database or heavy runtime.
- Tiny C implementation
- No database needed
- ActivityPub federation
- Runs on minimal hardware
pump.io vs snac: key differences
Pump.io is written in JavaScript, while snac is built with C. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for pump.io versus MIT for snac. Snac is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for pump.io. Pump.io is the more established project (first released 2013), while snac arrived in 2022. Pump.io has the considerably larger community, at 2,237 GitHub stars versus 900.
Why pick each one
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
Choose snac if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is pump.io or snac 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 pump.io and snac free and open-source?
Yes. pump.io is licensed under Apache-2.0 and snac under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run pump.io and snac with Docker?
pump.io: check the project docs for container support. snac: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, pump.io or snac?
snac has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for pump.io. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.