Sharkey vs Wafrn
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Sharkey | Wafrn |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 600 | ★ 283 |
| First released | 2023 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon | Tumblr, Twitter |
What are Sharkey and Wafrn?
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
Wafrn
Wafrn is an open-source, federated social network with a Tumblr-inspired reblog-and-tag experience. It connects to the fediverse over ActivityPub so users can interact with Mastodon and other servers.
- Tumblr-style reblogs
- Tag-based discovery
- Fediverse federation
- Custom themes
Sharkey vs Wafrn: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Wafrn's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Sharkey is actively maintained. Both projects are written in TypeScript. Wafrn is the lighter option, starting around 1,024 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Sharkey. Sharkey has the considerably larger community, at 600 GitHub stars versus 283.
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 Wafrn if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Sharkey or Wafrn better?
Neither is universally better. Sharkey has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Sharkey and Wafrn free and open-source?
Yes. Sharkey is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Wafrn under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Sharkey and Wafrn with Docker?
Sharkey: yes. Wafrn: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Sharkey or Wafrn?
Wafrn has the smaller minimum footprint at 1,024 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Sharkey. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.