pump.io 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.
| Feature | pump.io | ActivityPub for WordPress |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 48 · Fair | 80 · Excellent |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | JavaScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,237 | ★ 583 |
| First released | 2013 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Medium |
What are pump.io and ActivityPub for WordPress?
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
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
pump.io vs ActivityPub for WordPress: key differences
Pump.io is written in JavaScript, while ActivityPub for WordPress is built with PHP. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for pump.io versus MIT for ActivityPub for WordPress. Pump.io is the more established project (first released 2013), while ActivityPub for WordPress arrived in 2019. Pump.io has the considerably larger community, at 2,237 GitHub stars versus 583.
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 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
Frequently asked questions
Is pump.io or ActivityPub for WordPress better?
Neither is universally better. pump.io 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 pump.io and ActivityPub for WordPress free and open-source?
Yes. pump.io is licensed under Apache-2.0 and ActivityPub for WordPress under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run pump.io and ActivityPub for WordPress with Docker?
pump.io: check the project docs for container support. ActivityPub for WordPress: check the project docs for container support.