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.
Not the right match-up?
| Feature | Sharkey | snac |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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.