Sharkey 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 | Sharkey | snac |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 600 | ★ 900 |
| First released | 2023 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon | Twitter, Mastodon |
What are Sharkey and snac?
Sharkey
Sharkey is a feature-rich fork of Misskey that adds quote posts, improved moderation, and additional customization for fediverse instances. It supports a rich timeline with reactions and drive file storage.
- Quote posts and reactions
- Drive file storage
- Extensive customization
- Improved moderation
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
Sharkey vs snac: key differences
Sharkey is written in TypeScript, while snac is built with C. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Sharkey versus MIT for snac. Snac is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Sharkey. Sharkey lists first-class Docker deployment; snac does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Sharkey if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in TypeScript
Choose snac if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Sharkey or snac better?
Neither is universally better. snac has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Sharkey and snac free and open-source?
Yes. Sharkey is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and snac under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Sharkey and snac with Docker?
Sharkey: yes. snac: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Sharkey or snac?
snac has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Sharkey. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.